“Cruise Tourism is one of the fastest growing components of the leisure industry worldwide. Thirty million passengers are expected to travel on cruise during 2019 world over.

India, which has tremendous potential to become a global hub for cruise tourism in the years to come, has lately created a buzz all over the world by bringing cruise tourism to the centre stage of India Tourism. The policy initiatives and bold reforms made by the Central Government over the last four years have instilled tremendous energy and optimism among the stakeholders of cruise tourism. Ministry of Shipping and Tourism Ministry have jointly brought about series of initiatives viz constitution of task force; operationalizing standard operating procedures; extension of e-visa policy to five major sea ports; setting up of immigration counters at these ports; exemption for e-visa cruise tourists from biometric enrolment; reduction of port charges; no levy on priority, ousting and shifting charges for berthing; preferential berthing to home port cruises; setting up of port level facilitation committees; and relaxation of cabotage rule.

“Tourism Sector, globally, is primarily driven by the private sector with Government acting as a facilitator and a hand holder. The optimal model is that Government should engage itself in formulating policies, aimed at openness and easy access; seamless travel; building core infrastructure viz roads, rail and air connectivities; creating tourism infrastructure with basic amenities and facilities at the destinations and developing social infrastructure with focus on cleanliness, hygiene, safety and good communication. Government should leave the rest of the activities to private sector.

North India is blessed with huge repository of Nature, Heritage and Spiritual tourism.

Jammu & Kashmir, with unimaginable natural beauty, Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand with snow-capped Himalayas, hills and forests and the ‘City beautiful’, Chandigarh are some of the illustrative examples of Nature Tourism in this region.

The region is also a rich hub of Spiritual tourism. The holy city of Amritsar and Anandpur Sahib are pilgrimages for Sikhs; Uttarakhand, also called as Devbhoomi, with the famous Char Dham and holy towns of Haridwar and Rishikesh are famous destinations in Hindu pilgrimage circuit; Hazratbal in Kashmir is a famous Muslim Shrine; Dharamshala and Mcleodganj in Himachal Pradesh are considered as Mecca of Tibetan Buddhism; and Kurukshetra in Haryana is the land of Bhagwad Geeta and part of Krishna Circuit.

“India has earned a significant place in World’s Tourism Map because of its great potential to attract tourists to the diversity of tourist sites spread all over the country. What India requires now is greater ease of access, seamless connectivity, comfortable modes of travel, tourist friendly facilities at destinations, ease of doing business and welcoming people.

To address these issues, India needs special focus on development of high quality core infrastructure, tourism infrastructure and social infrastructure. Although Union Government and State Governments are investing huge amount of funds for development of required infrastructure, however, the financial resources of the Governments can never be enough to address this issue in a vast country like India, having destinations in plenty.

“Amongst various travel trends, spiritual and religious tourism has been growing in India at an unprecedented rate. Spiritual and Religious tourism today has almost 60 percent share in the total domestic tourist visits within India, which means that out of 180 crore domestic tourist visits, recorded during 2018, more than 100 crore visits by Indians were for religious and spiritual purposes.

It is not only Indians who are travelling to popular pilgrimage sites, the International travellers are also travelling to India, now in larger number, for spiritual and religious retreat.

Yoga, an integral component of Spiritual & Wellness tourism has also become one of the major attractions for International travellers. Announcement by United Nations in 2015, to celebrate 21st June every year, as International Yoga Day, has resulted in greater inflow of Yoga travellers into India.

Ministry of Tourism being aware of the virtues of spiritual tourism has sanctioned more than Rs. 800 crores worth of projects under Swadesh Darshan Scheme for spiritual circuits in various States. Ministry has also created Ramayan, Krishna and Buddha Circuits under which huge amount of money is being invested to develop tourism infrastructure around the religious destinations falling under these circuits. PRASHAD is another flagship scheme of the Ministry which is solely aimed to rejuvenate pilgrimage and to augment the spiritual heritage of our country. So far more than Rs. 700 crores worth of projects have been sanctioned in large number of PRASHAD cities.

In order to draw optimal benefits of our strongest USP, it is necessary that we build ‘tourist friendly ecosystems’ around spiritual and religious destinations. Ease of access, Direct connectivity, Ease of travel, Good Tourism infrastructure and Tourist friendly facilities will enhance the visits of domestic and international travellers considerably. We also need to address the issues of maintaining hygiene and cleanliness, preventing exploitation of pilgrims, ensuring safety and security of visitors (including safety from natural calamities), providing good lodging and fooding for all sections of travellers and creating facilitation centres at these destinations.

In order to provide boost to Yoga Tourism, the National Medical and wellness Tourism Board under Ministry of Tourism should bring in its priority agenda, issues related to facilitation and promotion of Yoga Tourism, that could include Setting up of Task Force; Constructing database and Online directory of Yoga & Wellness Centres/ Meditation Camps in the country and to develop robust mechanism of Certification and Accreditation of Yoga service providers.”

It was a pleasure to be at Rishikesh, the yoga capital of the world on 21st June 2019, the International Yoga Day, to address Travel and Tourism fraternity at ‘International Conference on Religious, Pilgrimage, Wellness & Spiritual Tourism’ and to celebrate International Yoga Day, on the banks of Holy Ganga at India Travel Mart.

“India, in order to unfold its tourism potential and to position itself as a world leader in tourism will have to enhance its focus on integrated and all round development of infrastructure. The future tourism policy must therefore lay special emphasis on the issues of
• Core infrastructure: namely, international openness, ease of access, hassle-free travel, good connectivity and multi-model seamless transportation. 
• Tourism infrastructure including accommodation, parking, shelters, restaurants, wi-fi, certified guides, toilets and ATMs, &
• Social infrastructure: with focus on safety, hygiene, cleanliness, ease of communication, sustainability and responsibility.

‘New India’ will see tourism sector growing much faster than many other sectors in the country. Tourism today, is a priority on India’s national political and economic agenda and has emerged as a major engine of economic growth and employment. As fastest growing economy in the world, India would also be one of the top most tourism destinations in times to come.

Participated in Panel discussion on ‘Tourism in New India’ at DD National.

“With a vast coastline of 7500 kms, India has a beautiful seascape to tap the cruise tourism segment. The past one year has shown reasonable progress on all fronts towards developing cruise tourism in India…. Global Consultant appointed by Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of Tourism submitted the action plan for development of cruise tourism in India recommending (a) dedicated cruise terminals at five sea ports, (b) customer friendly and hassle free rules and procedures for cruise operators, (c) single window clearance for all pre-cruise requirements of operators and (d) promote cruise shipping in India at the global level…. Indian Cruise Line Association (InCLA), a new multi member association, engaged itself with Government at various levels and proactively followed up for the acceptance of the white paper recommendations submitted to the Ministry of Shipping suggesting reforms in policy, customs, taxation and regulatory laws…. The Government meanwhile has allowed foreign-flagged cruise ships to call at Indian Ports without prior license from DG, Shipping. Government is also in the process of reviewing the implementation of standard operating procedures and has taken steps for developing dedicated cruise terminals and other related infrastructures at major ports. Government has also allowed e-visa facilities from five sea ports…. The efforts of all stakeholders have shown positive results, with COSTA cruises entering the 3rd year of its cruise operations between Mumbai and Maldives, AANGRIYA having commenced its cruise operations in October 2018, JALESH cruises set to begin their operations between Mumbai and Goa from April 2019 and many more global cruise liners looking forward to commence operations with India as a home port.”

“Collectors & District Magistrates of Districts, who are also designated as District Election Officers and Returning Officers, are key election officials, entrusted by law to lead the election machinery for effectually conducting Lok Sabha elections and to coordinate, supervise and monitor the entire election process…. They are also responsible for ensuring electoral integrity by maintaining healthy electoral roll; ensuring free access to voters to polling stations; conducting elections in fair, free, peaceful, non-partisan and transparent manner; providing ‘level playing field’ to all political parties and candidates and ensuring equal opportunity for all participants…. DEOs & ROs must also ensure freedom from any kind of fear or intimidation for everyone involved in the election process and should themselves display an ethical and impartial conduct during elections.”