The Ministry of Tourism places special emphasis on the development through promotion of tourism and attracting domestic and international tourists towards the North Eastern Region, by providing financial assistance to this region under different schemes such as Swadesh Darshan; PRASHAD; Assistance to Central Agencies for Tourism Infrastructure Development; Domestic Promotion and Publicity including Hospitality (DPPH); etc.  The new initiatives taken by the Ministry of tourism to attract domestic and international tourists include; (i) financial assistance for construction of a Convention Centre at Aizawl to encourage Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions (MICE) Tourism, (ii) development of View Points along highways in the  North Eastern States, (iii) identification of 15 destinations have been in the North East for holistic development under Swadesh Darshan 2.0 scheme, (iv) holding International Tourism Marts (ITMs) annually for showcasing the tourism potential of the region etc. The last ITM was held in Shillong, Meghalaya from 21^st – 23^rd November 2023.

Considering the importance of cleanliness of tourist sites, Ministry of Tourism has framed Swachhta Action Plan, which carries out awareness activities on cleanliness, with emphasis on students and other tourism stake holders. In addition, Swacchta Pakhwada and Swchhta hi Sewa events are celebrated every year.  In the north east, 113 cleanliness related activities have been organised by various institutions of the Ministry. The development of amenities at View Point on the highways in North East States also helps in providing necessary infrastructure to tourists. Effective and adequate connectivity is one of the important aspect for developing a tourist destination. For this purpose, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India has launched RCS-UDAN scheme, whose primary objective is to facilitate/stimulate regional air connectivity by making it affordable. Ministry of Tourism has collaborated with the Ministry of Civil Aviation to extend financial support in the form of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) under the Champion Service Sector Scheme (CSSS), with the purpose of further improving connectivity to important tourist places including Iconic sites. At present, 61 Tourism RCS (T-RCS) routes have been approved by the Ministry of Tourism, out of which 53 are already operational. Ministry of Tourism has taken up the matter with all State Governments/Union Territory (UT) Administrations for setting up of dedicated Tourism Police. With the efforts of Ministry of Tourism, the State Governments/UT Administrations of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh have deployed tourist police in one form or the other.

(i)        Ministry of Tourism through Indian Institute of Tourism & Travel Management (IITTM) got a study conducted naming “Functioning of Tourist Police in States/UTs & Documentation of Best Practices”, to understand the requirement of tourist police and sensitizing the tourist police towards the needs of the tourists, which was sent to all the States/UTs. A training module, as given by IITTM for imparting training was also forwarded to Ministry of Home Affairs, which was further circulated to the Chief Secretaries of all State Governments/UT Administrations.

(ii)        With the objective of implementation of Uniform Tourist Police across all the States/ UTs to create a safer ecosystem for the tourists, Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Bureau of Police Research and Development organized a National Conference on Tourist Police Scheme of Director Generals (DGs)/Inspector Generals (IGs) of Police Department of all the States/UTs on 19.10.2022 in New Delhi.

(iii)       The Ministry of Tourism has set up a 24×7 Multi-Lingual Tourist Info-Helpline on the toll free number 1800111363 or on a short code 1363 in 12 Languages including 10 international languages (German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic), Hindi & English for domestic and foreign tourists to provide support service in term of information relating to Travel in India and to offer appropriate guidance to tourists in distress while travelling in India.

(iv)       The Ministry of Tourism along with all stakeholders, including the Tourism Departments of all States and UTs, have adopted the ‘Code of Conduct for Safe & Honourable Tourism’ which is a set of guidelines to encourage tourism activities to be undertaken with respect for basic right like dignity, safety and freedom from exploitation of both tourists and local residents in particular, women and children.

This information was given by Union Minister for Culture, Tourism and DoNER Shri G. Kishan Reddy in Lok Sabha today.

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