National Tourism Awards were recently announced in New Delhi, wherein 74 winners were announced in the various segments of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. The chief guest of the event, Sumitra Mahajan, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, congratulated the tourism sector for its performance as an industry. She said, “I think the government is doing great work in promoting our country. Everyone involved in the industry are flag bearers of the country. But more than the numbers, we shall concentrate on making an impact on the tourists that travel here. I am happy that there have been certain new categories like Women Chef’s Award and Best Guide Award that talk about the progressive aspects of this industry.” She also expressed her happiness that rural tourism has also been accorded due importance in this award ceremony and cited the example of rural tourism in the Konkan region.
Dr Mahesh Sharma, minister of state for tourism and culture, Government of India, congratulated and thanked all the people who have helped him take this industry to greater heights. He said, “I congratulate all the winners today and hope they continue to strive for the best. New categories are added to the awards every year to involve the growing parts of the industry. While the e-tourist visa is a reality today, we will continue to work and make it more friendly. We also plan to give a welcome kit to the foreign tourist arrivals at airports that informs about dos and donts in the country. We hope to create a new vision of India among people of the world.”
Vinod Zutshi, secretary, Ministry of Tourism mentioned in his welcome address about how the industry has been contributing to the GDP growth. He said, “Foreign tourists arrivals have now touched a new height and our domestic tourism is also booming. Many new initiatives by the government in past two years are remarkable and we hope to work in the same direction and attract tourists in all segments of tourism, be it medical, business or experiential travel.”
Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana tourism came out to be the major winners in various categories. Some of the new categories that have been added in the past years were “Tour Operators Promoting Niche segments”, “Best Civic Management of a Tourist Destination in India”, “Best Maintained and Disabled Friendly Monument”, “Best Responsible Tourism Project”, “Best Heritage City” and “Best Heritage Walk”.
