Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: A roadmap and an action plan for tourism as a vehicle for achieving sustainable development goals and a ministerial communique endorsing it will be released after the last meeting of the G20 tourism working group in Goa in June, officials said on Friday.
The first G20 meeting under the tourism track is slated to be held in Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch from February 7-9, followed by two more meetings in April and May. The last meeting will be held in Goa.
India is currently chairing the influential bloc and more than 200 meetings will be held across 55 locations, culminating with the annual G20 summit on September 9-10.
After the last tourism working group meet, the ministerial meet will take place in Goa.
A senior official of the Union Tourism ministry on Friday said, “There will be two key deliverables. At the end of our working group meetings and the ministerial meeting, we are going to declare a Goa Roadmap and Action Plan for tourism as a vehicle for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs).
“There are five priorities, and building on them, we are going to target the role of the tourism sector in accelerating the achievement of SDGs.” There will be a “ministerial communique” that will be released at the end of the tourism working group and other deliberations which will endorse the Goa roadmap, he said.
There are five key priority areas so far as the G20 tourism track meetings are concerned — greening of the tourism sector; harnessing the power of digitalisation; empowering youths with skills; nurturing tourism MSMEs, startups and private sector; and rethinking the strategic management of destinations, the official said.
“These are the priorities in continuation of the previous presidencies but we have consolidated them and made them more comprehensive during our presidency,” he added.
India assumed the presidency of the influential bloc on December 1, setting the tone for the Tourism ministry’s calendar this year.
“Building on these five priorities, we are going to target the role of the tourism sector in accelerating the achievement of SDGs. There will be a ministerial communique that will be released at the end of the working group meetings, which will endorse the Goa roadmap,” the official said.
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