Tourism Master Plan 2020

Plan and predict

Anupama Sushil - New Delhi

At a time when India is witnessing an exponential growth, it is essential to have a master plan that will enable the industry to foresee and act accordingly. Speaking on the same was Arjun Sharma, managing director, Le Passage to India, who said that the industry had not considered having a master plan until now and appropriate steps should be taken to construct the plan with immediate effect.

The next challenge is of improving the product quality being offered. Enhancing the current products therefore becomes an inseparable part of the entire plan. The industry has now prepared a wish list that it feels is necessary to have in place for the smooth and profitable running of the industry as a whole and should include: a proper budget for tourism promotion and a board determining the same, a federal structure of working where the Centre and the state work in tandem, and a national tourism organisation.

Considering human resource to be the spine of the industry, KG Mohanlal, managing director, Kerala Tourism Development Corporation, emphasised on creating employment opportunities. An industry-led accreditation system along with human resource building measures remains a top priority for the industry and the lean period should be utilised for training, he added.

With increasing domestic tourism, creating an ideal mix of heritage, technology and modern approach remains the factor for success, said Rakesh Saini, managing director, Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation. An ideal master plan, keeping in mind all the aspects of tourism, will certainly be able to attract repeat tourism. Also, the government's role as a facilitator has to go up. Speeding up the process by decentralisation of power would determine the industry's capability of responding to a particular situation and its rate of progress.

Also speaking at the session was EM Najeeb, president, IATO, Kerala chapter and Kapil Kumar chairperson, faculty of history and tourism studies at Indira Gandhi National Open University, who insisted on restricting government's role as a facilitator and also modernising age-old policies with the changing profiles of tourists.

Speaking at the valedictory session of the convention, the Cabinet Minister for Aviation, Government of India, Praful Patel, said that aviation and tourism being the sunrise sectors, can promise the young generation better career options.

He added that tourism till now had not got the attention it deserved. Therefore, creating the right amount of awareness becomes necessary. Vision 2020 is a long-term goal, he said, while the immediate aim is to work aggressively to create economic activity. Speaking on the existence of numerous airstrips and private airports, he said that they should be lent out for commercial use as well, which will help in increasing the connectivity within the country.

The immediate aim, Patel said, is to have an airport in each city supported by more hubs, aircrafts and airlines.