First tourism track meeting of G20 will be held in Rann of Kutch

As India hosts the G20 summit, sustainability will be one of the main priorities, according to Union Tourism Secretary Arvind Singh. The senior was speaking with reporters on the sidelines of an event at the UN House.

Udaipur district of Rajasthan will host the first meeting of G20 in the first week of December. The meeting of the G20 Sherpa will be the first of the meetings of G20 in India, an official said. The city has started the preparations with paintings on the walls depicting Indian culture and lighting up the heritage sites of the city.

The first meeting under the tourism track will be held in late January or early February in Rann of Kutch. “The second meeting (in this category) will be held in Siliguri, the third one in Srinagar, and the fourth one in Goa,” Singh added.

The tourism secretary told reporters that the preparations for the G20 meetings are “absolutely on track”.

He took part in a roundtable conference on Sustainable Tourism which was hosted by the Ministry of Tourism at the UN House. The roundtable conference brought together industry leaders, important stakeholders, participants from the environmental conservation sector, and NGOs to discuss a way forward.

The event was held in partnership with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Responsible Tourism Society of India (RTSOI) and was in alignment with the National Strategy for Sustainable Tourism and aims to increase engagement and participation of industry stakeholders in developing the sustainability of the tourism sector.

Arvind Singh further added that it’s high time that India takes the leadership position in responsible tourism.

With inputs from PTI