President Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented
National Tourism Awards for the year 2011-12 here today.
Speaking on the
occasion Union Tourism Minister Shri K. Chiranjeevi said that Tourism Industry has immense
potential to increase tourism arrivals.
He said, “For this, we need to constantly monitor trends and re-invent
our products for the marketplace”. Referring to the safety of tourists, the
Minister said a code of conduct for Safe and Honourable Tourism has been
adopted by the Ministry and stakeholders. He said the code has been
incorporated in the guidelines governing the approval of various categories of
travel trade and related service providers as well as for the classification of
various categories of accommodation including hotels. Shri
Chiranjeevi said “The objective of the Code is to
follow internationally accepted best practices of safe tourism applicable to
both tourists and local residents giving special emphasis to safety of women
and children”.
The Tourism Minister
said his ministry is working towards the electronic delivery of more than half
a dozen services online; to enable anyone desirous of visiting India from any
part of the world plan their trip to India and make actual bookings from the
comfort of their home. He said “To provide round the clock information to
international tourists, the Ministry is also setting up a tourism information
line which would be a multi lingual helpline in nine world languages”.
Shri Chiranjeevi said this year we have come out with a very
important paradigm shift in our strategy to promote India within the country
and abroad. He said “The ‘Go Beyond’ campaign focuses on promoting lesser known
destinations to domestic as well as international tourists. The other campaign,
themed as “Find what you Seek”, targets the
international tourists who imagine a need and find its realization in India. In
the short span of four months our campaign has won international accolades”.
Shri Chiranjeevi said the Ministry of Tourism continues its
holistic and integrated approach to marketing, branding and advertising that is
designed to bring more visitors to our country.
The Minister congratulated the awardees and expressed the hope that
together we will achieve our target of being a world tourism destination in the
near future.
Andhra Pradesh
has bagged the best state award for comprehensive development of tourism in the rest of
India category of National Tourism Award 2011-12. The Best Heritage city award has gone to Warangal(AP). Amritsar Heritage Walk and Delhi Heritage Walk
have been declared joint winner of the best Heritage Walk Award. Every year the
categories of awards are reviewed with new categories being added to recognize
excellence in diverse fields, in accordance with the requirements of changing
times. It is an ongoing endeavour of the
Ministry to diversify the tourism products of the country by developing and
promoting new niche segments, so as to attract different categories of tourists
with diverse interests and to promote India as a year - round destination. In
keeping with this thrust of the Ministry, new categories of awards for “Medical
Tourism Facilities” and for “Tour Operators Promoting Niche segments”
were introduced in 2011.
In an attempt to encourage
States and Union Territories to adopt effective mechanisms for maintaining
cleanliness at tourist destinations, a new category of award for “Best
State : Campaign Clean India” was introduced
in 2012. New categories of awards for “Best Heritage City” and “Best
Heritage Walk” were also introduced in 2012. Recognising the importance
of Cinema as a powerful tool for the development and promotion of the
destinations, the Ministry has instituted a National Tourism Award for “Best
Tourism Film”. The Tourism Ministry has also announced special National
Tourism Award for Mr. Yann Martel, author of the Book
“Life of Pi”, for promoting India (Puducherry and Munnar) through the film.
The Ministry of Tourism,
Government of India annually presents National Tourism Awards to various
segments of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. These awards are
being given since the early 1990s and are presented to State Governments /
Union Territories, classified hotels, heritage hotels, approved travel agents,
tour operators and tourist transport operators, individuals and other private
organizations in recognition of their performance in their respective fields
and also to encourage healthy competition with an aim to promote tourism.
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