India is working towards becoming among the top 3 tourism economies by 2047
In a conversation by Suman Billa, additional secretary, tourism, Government of India, at the Sustainable Tourism Summit, organized by FHRAI and PHDCCI.
“I t’s a pleasure to be here because two of the leading business associations have come together to speak about sustainability, the FHRAI and the PHD CCI, and I think that’s really the kind of convergence that we need to see for us to be able to achieve our goals.
Let me first set the context. Today tourism the world over is growing rapidly, but none as fast as India is growing rapidly. The situation today is that demand is outstripping supply by a big margin in India. So even though there are some issues like fixing the capital structure and states to take a more entrepreneurial position, ease of doing business is there, but fundamentally, the point that we need to understand is that we are at the beginning of a long-term growth cycle for tourism and hospitality in India. And that growth is going to happen. That growth is a given. So, the question that is before us is are we just going to grow bigger or are we going to grow better? And I think that is really the challenge that is sitting before us. For us, growth is not the challenge. The challenge that is before us is the direction that we take. How do we build a tourism ecosystem that is responsible, that is inclusive and sustainable?
The second point that I would like to make is that tourism in India should not be seen as just an economic activity. It is an economic activity. But more importantly and possibly which takes priority about being an economic activity is that we should view it as a shared responsibility towards the people, towards places and towards the planet. If tourism is left unmanaged, it can lead to over consumption. It can lead to resource stress; it can lead to cultural dilution. And therefore, if you are able to manage this well, and if you are able to design our tourism growth in a mindful manner, we will be able to make tourism a regenerative force, which will revive our heritage, which will empower our communities and which will also champion sustainability.
The third point that I would like to flag before you is the initiative that the Honourable Prime Minister has placed before us within this context, and that is Mission Life. And I think the beauty about Mission Life is not about making grand declarations, that we will go from zero to a hundred in such and such a year, but it’s basically about small daily actions that can collectively transform the world. And I think what the Honourable Prime Minister has really said in that is how do we shift from a culture that is used and discard to something that focuses on reuse and respect? How do we move from a paradigm that is mindless consumption to mindful living? And I think the most important thing for us in this room to do is that the tourism sector should internalize this ethos because everything that we do should essentially start from this basic understanding.
The fourth point is that flowing from the guidance that the Honourable Prime Minister has given, the Ministry of Tourism has launched its own sustainability criteria, which is called Travel for Life. And Travel for Life, again, is something more than a campaign. It is a movement to build a community of green travellers. And the idea is to inspire behavioural change through education, through innovation and through participation. Now, what does travel for life do? Travel for life urges travellers to choose eco sensitive experiences, to reduce single use plastic, to offset carbon footprint, to respect local traditions and biodiversity and support local economies and crafts. And this is something that if you are able to bring it into the lens of everything that we look at, it can have a transformative change. And these simple steps can create powerful ripples for transformation. And what we should try to do is to see as to how we can make every traveller a steward for sustainability on this planet.
The fifth point is to talk a little bit about infrastructure. If sustainability is our destination, we must start rethinking our journey because how do we build infrastructure that is resilient, that is inclusive, that is sustainable, and that is future ready? And I think if we have these as the end goals that we need to achieve, then the way in which we are going to plan for these has to change. I think when we do tourism development, we need to ask some tough questions of ourselves. Is it climate resilient? Does it reduce energy and water intensity? Does it consider carrying capacity and ecological limits? And are we using local materials, using local architectural norms? And are we bringing communities into the centre space of the infrastructure that we build? And I think therefore, whatever it is that we do, it has to form the very core of our thinking. We will have to integrate that into the blueprint stage itself rather than to add it as an afterthought. You cannot have a project and then say, let me add some sustainability features to this as a garnish.
And I think one of the things that the honourable minister also today mentioned is that when we start sanctioning projects across the country for developing public infrastructure, sustainability is one of the core criteria on which the states will have to qualify. And essentially no state is getting money just because they have a project, but they get the money because they have challenged and competed with proposals from other states. And they have established that their proposal delivers more bank for the buck in terms of what it achieves for green tourism, in terms of the number of jobs it creates, in terms of the number of livelihoods that it generates for the community. So that is a, that is a big shift that we have moved the entire infrastructure piece to be today.
The sixth point is that essentially how do we engage with communities as tourism continues to grow. We have to move from a paradigm where communities become from being bystanders, they become stakeholders. And I think one state that has done it exceptionally well is Kerala. And you know, that’s also the state where I have served several years. But the challenge before India today is that everybody looks to the tourism sector to do the heavy lifting, to create the much-needed jobs in the economy. Jobs is level one, level two and where we really need to go is how do we create livelihoods within the tourism ecosystem so that we are able to support local communities, we are able to create livelihoods and we are able to create better, deeper, more meaningful experiences for travellers who come to our country.
For example, if we have the local communities start doing home stays, you know, nature walks, cultural experience, et cetera, it’s adding a whole new dimension to the experience that a tourist undergoes. And that is outside just being the hotel or the beach that we are positioning. It’s about how do we interact respectfully with the local community and how do you take away an experience that’s really unique. And I think that depth of experience is something that we should do and that will really create the product that can be a world leading product for us.
So, let me talk about the next, which is the sixth point is about what should the private sector do? And I think the private sector should change its mindset from looking at the sustainability as something which needs to be complied with as something like a compliance to something like a commitment. And the reason why I say this is – as a speaker mentioned, it’s not a choice anymore. It is an imperative. I couldn’t agree with that more. 20 odd years ago when I went to WTM London, when I was director Kerala Tourism, that was the first time I’ve heard of responsible tourism being spoken in a seminar. When I came back to Kerala and had a conversation with our colleagues from the industry, they said that this is going to place an additional compliance cost and this is going to create an economic burden upon us.
But today, a lot of water is flown under the bridge. And the reason why Kerala thrives and stands heads and shoulders above the others in the global marketplace is because it is a responsible tourism as human beings, all things being equal, we will always choose a product that is sustainable, that is fair, that gives an opportunity to fellow human beings. And I think that is the position that we need to take. So, I think in whatever is it is that the private sector does, you need to start looking at green buildings. You need to start looking at how can we create operations that are largely carbon neutral? How can we create ethical and community and local sourcing? These are all things that we need to build into our businesses. And if you are able to do that, sustainability will no longer be a trade off, but it’ll become a big strategic advantage for us.
And I think this is an opportunity that India should recognise, and this is something that sits squarely with what India wants in trying to create communities, livelihoods in communities and jobs. And where we want to position our product in the world.
The seventh point that I want to make is about technology. And technology is a big enabler today. And we must embrace technology because there are smart data systems today. There is sensor-based monitoring, there is artificial intelligence that’s being used for waste and water management. We need to aggressively use technology to see as to how we can make our operations sustainable. On behaviour, again, today every traveller uses apps as a primary source of reference when he goes to any destination. Can we work with that ecosystem to create some digital nudges for people to elicit the right behaviour from the tourist?
Can we put a message which says for example, can you address your garbage more consciously? These are things that we can do. We can use technology. The only caution is that whatever we do to deploy technology, it must always be matched by human sensitivity. Otherwise, we miss losing the plot in tourism, which is essentially a human-to-human interface.
So, in conclusion, India aspires to be amongst the top three tourism economies in the world by the year 2047. So, our pathway to achieving that should be distinctive and responsible. We must create our own pathways out of our own ethos and something that works for us and our communities and our people. And how can we make that a sustainable engine of economic growth for India.
To my mind, Incredible India should strive to become Responsible India. And I think we must use our local genius and we must build global best practices that are rooted in our local wisdom. How do we bring that and build global best practices out of them? And I think we should endeavour not to lead by scale alone, but we must try to lead the world with the strength of our values. And I think there is no other time that is better than the present to be in the tourism sector in India.”
