MoT takes initiatives to make India an attractive tourist destination

According to a PIB release, Sultan Ahmed, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism in a written reply to the Loh Sabha said that the Indian government has taken various steps to make India an attractive tourist destination. The steps are: Increasing availability of skilled manpower for the hospitality sector; Focusing on growth of hotel infrastructure, particularly that for budget hotels; Development of infrastructure at tourist sites with the cooperation of other Ministries/Departments and State/UT Governments; Enhancing connectivity through augmentation of air seat capacity and improving road infrastructure at major tourist destinations and launching social awareness campaigns like ‘Atithi Devo Bhavah.’

He also said that the estimated number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India during the last six months, that is from May-October 2009, was 2.19 million, which is 2.4 per cent less than the FTAs during the corresponding period of 2008. The decline in FTAs in recent months may be due to various reasons including H1N1 pandemic and global slowdown.