Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said- India will be among the top 10 tourism destinations in the world in 5 years

Special Correspondent, New Delhi: Union Minister of Tourism and Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said at ET’s World Leaders Forum on Saturday that India will not only become developed by the year 2047, but on the basis of its cultural strength, India will emerge as the most respected country in the world. he/she said that in the coming 5 years, India will be among the top 10 places in the world for tourism. Speaking on the topic ‘Destination India: Driving Tourism to New Heights’, Shekhawat said that the possibility of domestic tourism has increased due to the increased spending power of the people of the country. Also, the world’s attraction towards India has increased and search engines are showing that there has been an increase of about 48% in searches related to India’s tourism. he/she said that we have made plans to develop destinations for the coming 5 years. Now work is being done in this direction as to how to inspire the tourist coming from abroad to stay for one more day, how to provide new tourism trails and opportunities.

‘India will emerge as the most respected country by 2047’

Shekhawat said, ‘We are working together with private players on all these. We are attracting investments from private players. By creating new models in public private partnership, we are motivating the states to create new opportunities for tourism and promote new destinations. If we are able to do all this, then by 2030 you will see a changed scenario in the field of tourism in a changed India.’ he/she said, ‘We may not be able to become the economic power of the world by 2047. By 2047, India will be among the top 10 exporters of defense equipment. The way we are moving ahead in the field of technology, we will be in the league of such capable countries of the world, but on the basis of the specialty of our cultural power, by 2047 we will emerge not only as a developed India, but as the most respected country in the world.’

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‘We have everything, but…’ what did the Union Minister say

The Union Minister said that the contribution of tourism in the global economy is close to 10.4% and in comparison, the contribution of tourism in India’s economy is 7.9%. Of the foreign tourists who come to India, 65% come to 7 states from Rajasthan to Delhi. But there is a healthy competition for tourism in all the states and in the next 5 years, the contribution of tourism in our economy will surpass the global benchmark of 10 percent. Shekhawat said, ‘There is a huge potential for Buddhist tourism in India. We need to develop the infrastructure in that way. We have the potential for eco tourism, nature tourism, agri-based tourism. We have everything, but we are not able to showcase it properly, we are not able to conserve it properly.’

‘We need to work from the perspective of responsible tourism’

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said, ‘We need to work from the perspective of responsible tourism. Health and hygiene is a subject on which we are focused and the difference in behaviour due to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan can be clearly seen, but we need to work more on this. If we work on all these areas, then we can be included in the top 10 destinations of the world in the coming 5 years.’

‘The most ancient tourism potential is here’

Shekhawat said, ‘India is a country where there were possibilities of ancient tourism and ancient tourism existed. However, over time, it had to be paid for. Some of the people who came to know India, out of jealousy of India’s knowledge and intellectual property, came to loot India, to convert India, to erase the existence of Indian religion, to erase the existence of Indian civilization, but after overcoming all the challenges, India finally became independent in 1947 and today, after completing 75 years of independence, we are collectively united under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the resolve to make India a developed India.’