The Indian Tourism Ministry plans to share the Goa roadmap and outcome document that emerged from the two recent G20 events with other ministries to take forward the vision of sustainability and resilience across sectors. The G20 Tourism Working Group Meeting and the G20 Tourism Ministerial Meeting were held in Panaji, the capital of Goa, from 19th to 22nd June. The Goa Roadmap and Action Plan, and an Outcome Document and Chair’s Summary were issued after the G20 ministerial meeting in Panaji. These documents include five inter-related key priorities of the G20 tourism track — green tourism, digitisation, destination management, skills and tourism MSMEs — that were endorsed by all G20 countries for achieving sustainable, resilient and inclusive tourism.
The Union Tourism Secretary, V Vidyavathi, said the initiative is to ensure how they can keep the momentum going. She added that these five priority areas are all-encompassing and action on these lie with many ministries as well. Since everyone plays a part, sharing the documents with other ministries will make all of them key players, making it a collective document.
The Goa Roadmap and Action Plan are aimed at providing national governments in the G20 countries and beyond as well as other tourism players with voluntary tools and recommendations to leverage the sector’s capability to progress the Sustainable Development Goals. Furthermore, the document incorporated the LiFEÂ (Lifestyle for Environment) movement, which refers to having a lifestyle that respects the environment and was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi had also addressed G20 delegates during the Tourism Ministerial Meeting in Goa through a video message.
The tourism ministry stated that about 15 bilateral meetings were held on the sidelines of the G20 Tourism Working Group Meeting and the G20 Tourism Ministerial Meeting in Goa. Almost 200 G20 meetings are being hosted at 50 locations across the country. The G20 Dashboard that is being made in partnership with UNWTO, inputs have been received from G20 countries, and in the next two-three months, it should be up and running. Additionally, the upcoming National Tourism Policy will have elements from the Goa roadmap. The five pillars in it emanate from the draft National Tourism Policy. The policy will take the vision forward.
Overall, the initiative aims to maintain the momentum of the G20 events and share its vision of sustainable and resilient tourism across sectors. The documents produced from the events contain key priorities, voluntary tools, and recommendations for all tourism players to progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
