Khajuraho, Sep 5 (IANS) India’s tourism industry has witnessed ‘great buoyancy’ in recent times and it is for the various stakeholders involved to leverage on this to ensure further growth, a government minister said at an industry conclave in this tourist town here Friday.

‘The tourism sector in the country has witnessed great buoyancy in recent times… Tourism is a multi-billion dollar market and India is mapping a path to ensure that the country’s tourism industry continues to create jobs and contribute to the fast-growing economy,’ Minister of State for Tourism Kanti Singh said.

She was delivering the inaugural address on the opening day of a two-day World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) India Initiative retreat on ‘Mapping the future’.

‘We need to take a look at all segments of tourism in India. The future mapping should take care of the fact that the destinations most visited and promoted do not get saturated with oversell. Our thrust presently is to develop circuits in an integrated and comprehensive manner,’ the minister maintained.

The retreat, the fourth to be held in India, has brought together a cross-section of experts from the tourism, hospitality and aviation sectors, as also film makers, politicians and bureaucrats to devise a roadmap to take the tourism sector forward in a rapidly globalising world.

Among those participating in the retreat at WTTC president Jean-Claude Baumgarten, Sri Lanka Tourism chairman Renton de Alwis, India’s Tourism Secretary Sheelbhadra Banerjee, Kerala’s special commissioner for industries Amitabh Kanth, film directors Shekhar Kapur and Shyam Benegal, former civil aviation minister Rajeev Pratap Rudy and Rajya Sabha MP Jay Panda.

Explaining the concept of the retreat, WTTC India Initiative secretary general Rathi Vinay Jha said it was a ‘unique platform that brings together industry leaders and policy makers to identify best practices and find constructive solutions for the growth of tourism in India’.

Jha has just completed a hugely-successful stint as director general of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) that saw the organization scaling dizzying heights.

Pointing to the boom in the tourism sector, Minister Singh said foreign tourism arrivals had increased to 5.08 million in 2007 against a mere 2.73 million in the previous year, with foreign exchange earnings rising by 18.7 percent.

At the same time, ‘domestic tourism continues to remain the backbone of Indian tourism’, she added.

In his address, WTTC head Baumgarten noted that ‘things have changed and the major players have now become the minority.

‘The economic environment has changed and we have to adapt to these changing fundamentals. Previously, there were masses of tourists going to a few spots. Now, there are thousand of niche travelers whose individual needs have to be addressed,’ Baumgarten maintained.

According to him, what was urgently required was synergy between the industry, the media, and the bureaucracy ‘to ensure we all pull in the same direction’.

WTTC launched the India Initiative in February 2000 to raise awareness of the crucial role that travel and tourism plays in the development and growth of the country’s economy.

On its part, the India Initiative has identified these priorities in a manifesto titled ‘The Tourism Imperative and India Impact of Travel and Tourism on Jobs and the Economy’.

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