The Ladpura Khas village of Madhya Pradesh, Khonoma village of Nagaland and heritage sites like Dholavira will be showcased as success stories of rural and archaeological tourism by India during the first tourism working group meeting of the G-20 nations to be held at the Rann of Kutch.
Rural tourism and archaeological tourism will be the topics for two side events at the first tourism ministerial meeting of the G-20 from February 7 to 9 where India will highlight the most successful and innovative initiatives of these from various parts of India, Tourism Secretary Arvind Singh said on Friday.
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The Ladpura Khas village of Madhya Pradesh was nominated as the Best Rural Tourism Village by the UNWTO. In this village, the State government developed homestays in villages under the Responsible Tourism Mission of the State.
Success stories will be presented of Kevadiya, Gujarat and some sensitive areas of Jammu and Kashmir like Poonch where OYO Hotels and tribal homestays have been developed.
India will also present the innovative model of community based Astrotourism that involves rural homestays and community spaces that are completely run by villagers and provides travellers an integrated experience of stargazing along with cultural immersion in the Himalayas, while Nagaland’s Khonoma Village will present the model of Ecotourism Management Board that develops Rural Tourism Products and promotes responsible travel.
The success of developing many rural tourism products in and around Rann of Kutch will also be presented.
“The idea is to present rural tourism as a means of community empowerment and poverty alleviation,” Mr. Singh said.
India will also showcase its success in archaeological tourism and discuss shared cultural heritage with the G-20 delegates. The delegates will be taken to Dholavira which is the southern centre of the Harappan civilisation.
Officials said that the guests would be presented with gifts made under the One District One Product programme to showcase Indian heritage and culture.
The first tourism working group meeting in the Kutch would also work on a Goa Roadmap and Action Plan for Tourism as a vehicle for achieving Sustainable Development Goals. Goa would be the venue for the G-20 ministerial meeting of tourism in June this year.
The meeting will provide a vision, roadmap and guidance for accelerated growth of tourism sector beyond pandemic based on the five key building blocks of Sustainability, Digitalisation, Skills, MSMEs and Destination management towards achieving SDGs, the Secretary said.
