India Leads in Sustainable Tourism: Kishan Reddy

Hyderabad: Union Minister for Tourism G. Kishan Reddy has called for sustainable and eco-friendly tourism adding that when steps are taken to achieve this, sustainable development goals for tourism can be met.

Addressing the UN World Tourism Organization meeting as part of the UN High-Level Political Forum, representing India as the head of the G20 group of nations, Reddy said that this past decade has seen India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, work towards this end, which led to the country taking the lead for setting the international agenda for sustainable tourism.

He said the ‘Goad Road Map’, agreed to by all G20 nations at a recent meeting in Goa, stresses on green tourism, digitization and a framework to train youth for creating employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in the sector.

Inviting the UNWTO members to India to see the progress the country has made in the tourism sector, Reddy said the country has developed many new theme-based tourism circuits, including Himalayan, Ramayana, Buddhist and heritage circuits, which all become popular in a short period of time.