DARJEELING: To boost employment in the travel and tourism sector after the coronavirus pandemic crippled businesses, Union Tourism and Culture Minister Prahlad Patel launched the Ministry of Tourism’s campaign on Monday to encourage host families across the country, the he will give up on rural “Aatmanirbharta (self-dependence)”.
Patel also announced the establishment of a “Tourism Highway” – a 250 kilometer racetrack with 13 destinations – on which the ministry worked with Google to identify and geotag relevant monuments along national and state highways for road travelers to use induce to visit India’s lesser known cultural, archaeological and religious sites. He added that the Archaeological Survey of India has started the process of re-listing ASI protected state monuments, an initiative that will allow the public to recommend lesser known monuments for possible inclusion on the ASI protected list.
Launched the three-day skills improvement workshop for host families in the Darjeeling area, the first in a series to roll out in the rest of India, Patel said that staying at home will encourage unconventional, experiential tourism and expand opportunities for both locals and people international tourists.
While the start of the homestay workshop in Darjeeling is related to the upcoming polls in West Bengal, in which Patel has been campaigning for the past few days, the choice of Darjeeling for the workshop is not a political one. “When I chose Darjeeling, I had no politics in mind. It’s an old and popular tourist destination that needs support to grow and get better, ”he said.
The minister also asked travel service providers to register on the ministry’s NIDHI (National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry) portal. The comprehensive register of hotel accommodations would help tour operators find consumers around the world.
Surjan Pradhan, President of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration’s Travel and Tourism Association, told TOI: “We asked the minister for a training module of this kind because host family businesses in Darjeeling, although popular, are very fragmented. The aim is to improve the standards with the help of the Ministry of Tourism and to create an umbrella organization for them. ”
On Monday, Patel also opened the Ministry of Culture’s three-day Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav, which aims to provide a platform to nurture local talent and bring the hills’ music, dance and culture to a wider audience.