Minister meets stakeholders for promoting 'Incredible India' post-Covid

Union Minister of Tourism and Culture Prahlad Singh Patel on Tuesday held a brainstorming session on promotion of Incredible India' campaign post COVID-19 with influencers and travel media organisations here, an official statement said.

Around 30 influencers and travel media representatives participated in the session.

It was the first physical meeting with stakeholders during COVID-19 pandemic which followed all precautions and social distancing norms of the government's SOP, the statement said.

Patel urged the stakeholders to inform him about the problems they were facing due to the pandemic and assured them that the ministry would help them in any way possible to speed up tourism-related activities.

We all should be prepared for the post COVID-19 world where we can serve tourists a better and safe environment to enhance their travel experiences. People are very positive and ready to explore the beauty of India with all precautions. We should create an environment where they could trust us during the pandemic, the minister said.

During the session, different influencers and travel media representatives shared their experiences and provided suggestions to make tourism safer, friendly, accessible, responsible and affordable for all tourists, especially for women.

Some participants gave suggestions to focus on domestic tourism and less popular sites of India. They said India is the home for hidden gems and we should promote tourism in these areas by providing information and facilities in these lesser known great tourist destinations, the statement said.

One participant suggested opening more sites for camping with safety measures so that we can promote adventure tourism in India. Suggestions regarding promoting experiential tourism also came from a participant, the statement said.

We have noted your suggestions and these will be incorporated in our future policy planning. I hope that India will emerge again as a favourite tourist destination after COVID-19 era till then we should focus on our domestic tourism because now those Indians who were to visit foreign destinations will visit only domestic destinations which will give strength to our tourism industry, the minister said in the statement.