From destination weddings to courses for tour guides: Updates from PM’s speech

While addressing the webinar via video conferencing, PM Modi said “out-of-the-box thinking” and “long-term vision” can take tourism to new heights, and added that villages in far-flung areas of India have now come up on the map of tourism

He added that this year’s budget aims to develop many tourist destinations in a competitive spirit as a challenge.

Key updates here from PM Modi’s speech:

PM Modi said India has a huge potential for tourism including coastal , beach, mangrove, Himalayan, adventure, wildlife, eco, heritage, and spiritual tourism.

Giving an example of reconstruction Varanasi’s Kashi Vishwanath Dham, he emphasised that rejuvenation of religious sites boosted tourism, and seven crore people visited the Vishwanath Dham last year. “Tourists are attracted when there is ease of travelling. Kashi Vishwanath Dham in Varanasi and Kedarnath Dham are live models,” he said.

“Some people think that tourism is a fancy word, for high-income groups, but in India, it has a long socio-cultural context,” Modi said, citing various yatras undertaken by the masses over the centuries.

PM also added that destination weddings offer a huge potential to tourism and exchange of intercultural wedding rituals amongst states can boost it further. “These days even the middle-class and upper-middle class are opting for destination weddings. Special packages can be announced for such destinations. This will encourage people to hold their wedding ceremony in different states,” he said.

PM also spoke on Sports tourism citing example of Qatar economy after FIFA world Cup. “We have to create infrastructure to cater the sports tourism. Just like Qatar’s economy benefitted from the FIFA World Cup, we can target opportunities in this sector as well, he said.

Further adding, the prime minister added that the country need to further modernize its tourists apps and digital connectivity and should be available in all UN languages and Indian languages.

PM also said certificate courses and competitions in local colleges for nurturing of professional tourist guides. “There is a need to frame a strategy for promoting more foreign travelers. A tourist guide is needed to understand what foreign tourists are looking for. There are many interested in bird watching and India offers a huge scope for bird watching,” he said.

PM in his address also added that the central government is working to support the home-stays, hotels, restaurants & other businesses located in the tourist locations near the villages & remote locations for enhancing India’s tourist destinations. 

Due to better infrastructure, our remote villages are now coming on the tourism map. The central government has started ‘Vibrant Village Yojana’ for the villages located near the borders.

The Union Budget had stated the promotion of tourism will be taken up in mission mode, with active participation of states, convergence of government programmes and public-private partnerships. At least 50 destinations will be selected through challenge mode and developed as a complete package of tourism. Sector specific skilling and entrepreneurship development will be dovetailed to achieve the objectives of the ‘Dekho Apna Desh’. The post-budget webinar being organised by the Ministry of Tourism will have six breakout sessions covering the priority areas identified in the Union Budget, officials said.