President Ram Nath Kovind today said various segments of tourism like spiritual, medical, wildlife and adventure, have a tremendous potential for growth in India as he presented the national tourism awards here.
Underlining that the tourism industry can contribute significantly in generating permanent employment opportunities and eliminating poverty, he said in India too the livelihood of a very large number of people is linked to the tourism industry.
According to an assessment, he said an investment of Rs 10 lakh in tourism industry provides employment to about 90 people, while about 45 in agriculture, and about 13 people in manufacturing.
In the year 2016, tourism's contribution to the GDP was 9.6 per cent and 9.3 per cent to total employment in India, he said.
Due to India's various features like "gifted nature" and "cultural heritage", he said the country has a huge potential for growth of various tourism sectors, including medical, wellness, heritage, cultural, spiritual, wildlife, adventure and sports tourism.
He appreciated the Tourism Ministry's initiative in introducing Swachhta (cleanliness) awards, saying it gives emphasis to the importance of cleanliness in the tourism sector.
Referring to the initiatives taken by ministries of Civil Aviation and Railways in linking various cities with transportation, the president pitched for the need of collaborative efforts of people from fields to acquire faster growth of tourism.
Besides domestic tourism, he said efforts should be directed towards making India a center of attraction among the international tourists.
Kovind said tourism is one of the largest industries in the world and its evolution can be estimated from the fact that the number of tourists all over the world has increased from 2.5 crore in 1950 to 123 crore in 2016.
The tourism industry contributes 10.2 per cent of the world's GDP, he said, adding it is estimated that every 10th person in the world works in the tourism industry.
Noting that "inclusive tourism development" can strengthen the "inclusive economic development", he said every citizen should strive to provide a good experience to tourists at his or her own level.
In a tourism conscious society, the role of the government is only to provide direction and a facilitating environment, he said.
The president said 'Adopt a Heritage Project' which was launched today, has great potential to make India's rich and diverse heritage monuments tourist-friendly.
The project plans to entrust heritage sites to private and public sector companies and individuals for operations and maintenance of tourist amenities.
Besides presenting various tourism awards, Kovind also launched Incredible India campaign to promote India as a tourist destination.
Tourism Minister Alphons Kannanthanam, in his address, said tourism has various benefits like inherent capacity to create large scale employment, eradicate poverty and benefit local communities economically and socially.
Tourism Ministry presents National Tourism Awards to various segments of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry annually.
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