The Tourism Ministers’ meeting of the BRICS member countries was held virtually on 19 September. India’s Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and DONER, G Kishan Reddy also attended the meeting.
China took Presidency of the BRICS Council in 2022 from India. The Ministers’ meeting on Monday was after two levels of senior officers’ meet held virtually on August and September.
The tourism ministers of the other countries – Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa – participated in the meeting and adopted the Communique on the theme Green Growth, Sustainable Development and Resilient Recovery.
During India’s chairship of BRICS in 2021, key emphasis was put on sustainability, shift to renewable resources, job creation, and encouraging green and sustainable tourism practices for accelerating tourism recovery.
Reddy stated that India had launched the BRICS alliance for Green Tourism during its chairship of BRICS last year which promotes measures which can shape a more resilient, sustainable and inclusive tourism sector. It can accelerate the recovery and development of tourism on sustainable lines.
India also attaches great importance to implementing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to promoting sustainable development in the tourism sector to address the challenges in environmental protection and climate change.
The Ministry’s approach is to focus on post COVID growth and development of tourism sector and priority areas like cultural tourism, adventure tourism, MICE, medical tourism, wellness tourism and rural tourism.
The following major initiatives have been identified:
- Green Growth and sustainable development
- Digital Tourism
- Destination Management
- Tourism and Hospitality Skill Development & MSME Development
This will also be reflected in India’s SCO Presidency and G20 Presidency in 2022-23.
