President of India urges for Green and Sustainable Tourism
New Delhi : President of India Pranab Mukherjee has urged travel trade professionals to be conscious about and practise Green and Sustainable Tourism. He also advocated tourism stakeholders in India to design and promote socially-responsible tourism products for sustainable development of tourism in the country.
The President was addressing people present at the National Tourism Awards ceremony, held 0n March 19 in Delhi. Lauding the institution of the Awards, the President said that the initiative would offer the required impetus and encouragement to stakeholders of a very important segment of the economy.
Terming the ‘Incredible India’ branding and marketing campaign as a “unique” one, Mukherjee stressed upon the need for an “effective mechanism” to keep destinations and heritage sites clean. Making a special mention of India’s regional cuisines, he said that regional cuisines were the “biggest asset” of the country, and the same needed to be promoted.
President Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented National Tourism Awards for the year 2011-12 amidst a function here.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 of Tourism 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. – PIB/ India and TBM
