The Ministry of Tourism, a branch of the Government of India, is the apex body for the formulation and administration of the rules, regulations and laws relating to the development and promotion of tourism in India. It facilitates the Indian department of tourism. The head of the ministry is the Minister of Tourism, held by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
History The potential for tourism in India was first recognized with the setting up of a Tourist Traffic Committee, an ad-hoc body, in 1948, to suggest ways and means to promote tourism in India. Based on its recommendations, a tourist traffic branch was set up the following year, with regional offices in Delhi and Mumbai, and in 1951, in Kolkata and Chennai. A separate department of tourism under the government was first created on 1 March 1958, that was put under the ambit of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. It was headed by a Director General in the rank of joint secretary. Simultaneously, Tourism Development Council, an advisory body, was constituted and was chaired by the minister in charge of tourism.
After a fall in the number of tourists entering India in 1961 from the preceding year, the government constituted a committee headed by Lakshmi Kant Jha, then secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs, under the Ministry of Finance, to find and examine the reasons. The committee attributed it to the Chinese aggression in the backdrop of the Sino-Indian War that year. Subsequently, as per the committee's recommendations, visa norms were liberalized, and the India Tourism Development Corporation was established in 1966 as a functional agency of the Department of Tourism. Further, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi convened a conference in October that year, the deliberations of which resulted in the creation of the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation. Karan Singh was appointed the first minister.
Despite his skills as an orator and scholarly knowledge in the Sanskrit language, Singh failed to take tourism on a growing path during the initial years, owing mostly to failure in getting funds for the promotion and infrastructure of tourism. He subsequently persuaded Air India to get their officers involved in promotion of tourism to India. Region-wise targets for arrivals were given and Air India chiefs were given powers to oversee the working of overseas tourist offices of India; 'Operation Europe' for the said region was later extended to other areas. Air India's failure to take this forward owing to losses in revenue "collision" of "egos of tourist officers" led to slump in the growth of tourism. Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi later took charge of the ministry before quitting in favour of other ministers who, Pran Nath Seth in Successful Tourism wrote, "felt that the tourism portfolio was a demotion", as Civil Aviation was separated from the ministry. During this time, the Tourism was tied with Commerce Ministry, and later under V. P. Singh's ministry, in 1991 with Agriculture, when it was headed by Chaudhary Devi Lal. It was again tied with Civil Aviation that year, headed by Madhavrao Scindia, before the Deve Gowda government in 1996 attached it with the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. Tourism was then combined with culture portfolio when it was headed by Jagmohan. The latter was separated in 2002 and an independent ministry for tourism has been active since.
Organisation
Divisions Administration & Information Technology Division Destination Development Division Facilitation & Standards Division Integrated Finance Division Marketing, Promotion & International Cooperation Division Monitoring and Coordination Division Research & Analytics Division Skilling & Capacity Building Division Strategy & Product Development Division
Statutory Professional Bodies
National Council For Hotel Management and Catering Technology Institutes of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management
Autonomous Bodies National Institute of Water Sports
Central Public Sector Undertakings
India Tourism Development Corporation Hotel Corporation of India
Institutes Indian Culinary Institute
Campaigns National Tourism Day The Ministry of Tourism, along with each state's own tourism department, celebrate the nation's national tourism day on January 25 annually, as it aligns with the philosophy of Atithi Devo Bhava ('a guest is akin to a god') and that travel within the country can be transformative.
Incredible India
The Ministry of Tourism's joint secretary Amitabh Kant collaborated with Ogilvy & Mather to create the Incredible India marketing initiative, aiming to promote India's image as a high-end tourist destination.
Incredible India 2.0 was launched on September 27, 2017 by President Ram Nath Kovind, on the occasion of World Tourism Day.
Cleanliness Index Union Tourism Ministry is planning to introduce "Cleanliness Index" for all cities in India. This index will declare the best performers which will motivate other cities to work on this aspect of their appeal. The methodology has been already formulated and will be implemented in 6 cities on a pilot basis.Retrieved from 'The Hindu' on 20 September 2014
Tourism campaign at ITB Berlin In 2011, Indian tourism department had launched a major tourism campaign at the ITB Berlin (the world's largest travel trade show) under the guidance of Mr Sanjay Kothari and Mr Anand Kumar and Mr M.N. Javed.
Cabinet Ministers PortraitMinisterTerm of officePolitical party MinistryPrime Minister From To PeriodMinister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Karan Singh16 March196718 March1971 Indian National Congress Indira II Indira Gandhi 18 March19719 November1973 Indian National Congress (Requisitionists) Indira IIIRaj Bahadur9 November197322 December1976Kotha Raghuramaiah23 December197624 March1977 Purushottam Kaushik26 March197715 July1979 Janata Party Desai Morarji DesaiMorarji Desai(Prime Minister)15 July197928 July1979 Mohammad Shafi Qureshi30 July197914 January1980Janata Party (Secular) Charan SinghCharan SinghJanaki Ballabh Patnaik14 January19807 June1980 Indian National Congress (Indira) Indira IV Indira GandhiAnant Sharma8 June19802 September1982Minister of Tourism Khurshed Alam Khan(MoS, I/C)2 September198214 February1983Indian National Congress (Indira) Indira IVIndira GandhiMinister of Tourism and Civil Aviation Khurshed Alam Khan(MoS, I/C)14 February198331 October1984 Indian National Congress (Indira) Indira IVIndira Gandhi4 November198431 December1984 Rajiv I Rajiv GandhiRajiv Gandhi(Prime Minister)31 December198425 September1985 Rajiv IIMinister of TourismH. K. L. Bhagat25 September198512 May1986 Indian National Congress (Indira) Rajiv II Rajiv GandhiMufti Mohammad Sayeed12 May198615 July1987Rajiv Gandhi(Prime Minister)15 July198728 July1987Jagdish Tytler(MoS, I/C)28 July198714 February1988Mohsina Kidwai14 February198825 June1988Minister of Civil Aviation and TourismShivraj Patil(MoS, I/C)25 June19882 December1989Indian National Congress (Indira) Rajiv IIRajiv GandhiMinister of TourismV. P. Singh(Prime Minister)2 December19895 December1989 Janata Dal Vishwanath V. P. SinghArun Nehru6 December198910 November1990Chandra Shekhar(Prime Minister)10 November199021 November1990 Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) Chandra Shekhar Chandra ShekharChaudhary Devi Lal(Deputy Prime Minister)21 November199021 June1991Minister of Civil Aviation and TourismMadhavrao Scindia21 June19919 January1993 Indian National Congress (Indira) Rao P. V. Narasimha RaoGhulam Nabi Azad9 January199316 May1996V. Dhananjay Kumar1 May199616 May1996Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee IAtal Bihari VajpayeeMinister of TourismC. M. Ibrahim1 June199629 June1996 Janata Dal Deve Gowda H. D. Deve Gowda Srikant Kumar Jena29 June199621 April1997 21 April199719 March1998 GujralInder Kumar GujralMadan Lal Khurana19 March199830 January1999 Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee II Atal Bihari VajpayeeAnanth Kumar30 January199913 October1999Uma Bharti(MoS, I/C)13 October19992 February2000 Vajpayee IIIAnanth Kumar2 February200027 May2000Minister of Tourism and CultureAnanth Kumar27 May20001 September2001Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee IIIAtal Bihari VajpayeeMinister of TourismJagmohan1 September200118 November2001Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee IIIAtal Bihari VajpayeeMinister of Tourism and CultureJagmohan18 November200122 May2004Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee IIIAtal Bihari VajpayeeMinister of TourismRenuka Chowdhury(MoS, I/C)23 May200429 January2006 Indian National Congress Manmohan I Manmohan SinghAmbika Soni29 January200622 May2009Selja Kumari28 May200919 January2011 Manmohan IISubodh Kant Sahay19 January201127 October2012K. Chiranjeevi(MoS, I/C)28 October201226 May2014Shripad Naik(MoS, I/C)27 May20149 November2014 Bharatiya Janata Party Modi I Narendra ModiMahesh Sharma(MoS, I/C)9 November20143 September2017Alphons Kannanthanam3 September201730 May2019Prahlad Singh Patel(MoS, I/C)31 May20197 July2021 Modi IIG. Kishan Reddy7 July202111 June 2024Gajendra Singh Shekhawat11 June2024Incumbent Modi III
Ministers of State PortraitMinisterTerm of officePolitical party MinistryPrime Minister From To PeriodMinister of State for Tourism and Civil AviationSarojini Mahishi2 May19719 November1973 Indian National Congress (Requisitionists) Indira III Indira Gandhi Surendra Pal Singh10 October197423 December1976Minister of State for Tourism and Civil AviationP. Ankineedu Prasada Rao4 August197914 January1980Indian National Congress (Urs) Charan SinghCharan SinghKartik Oraon14 January19808 June1980 Indian National Congress (Indira) Indira IV Indira GandhiChandulal Chandrakar8 June198015 January1982Khurshed Alam Khan15 January19822 September1982Minister of State for Tourism and Civil AviationAshok Gehlot31 December198425 August1985Indian National Congress (Indira) Rajiv IIRajiv GandhiMinister of State for TourismGhulam Nabi Azad25 September198512 May1986 Indian National Congress (Indira) Rajiv II Rajiv GandhiSantosh Mohan Dev12 May198628 July1987Giridhar Gamang14 February198825 June1988Minister of State for TourismUsha Sinha21 November199010 April1991Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) Chandra ShekharChandra ShekharMinister of State for Civil Aviation and TourismM. O. H. Farook(Civil Aviation, from 2 July 1992)21 June199117 January1993 Indian National Congress (Indira) Rao P. V. Narasimha RaoSukhbans Kaur Bhinder(Tourism)2 July199216 May1996G. Y. Krishnan(Civil Aviation)15 September199516 May1996Minister of State for TourismOmak Apang20 March199813 October1999Arunachal Congress Vajpayee IIAtal Bihari VajpayeeMinister of State for Tourism and CultureVinod Khanna1 July200229 January2003 Bharatiya Janata Party Vajpayee III Atal Bihari VajpayeeBhavna Chikhalia29 January200322 May2004Minister of State for TourismKanti Singh6 April200822 May2009Rashtriya Janata Dal Manmohan I Manmohan SinghSultan Ahmed28 May200922 September2012Trinamool Congress Manmohan IIShripad Naik 7 July2021 5 June 2024 Bharatiya Janata Party Modi II Narendra ModiAjay BhattSuresh Gopi 11 June2024 Incumbent Modi III
Deputy Ministers PortraitMinisterTerm of officePolitical party MinistryPrime Minister From To Period Deputy Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation1Sarojini Mahishi18 March19712 May1971 Indian National Congress (Requisitionists) Indira III Indira Gandhi2Virbhadra Singh31 December197624 March1977 Deputy Minister for Tourism3Ashok Gehlot2 September198214 February1983Indian National Congress (Indira) Indira IVIndira Gandhi Deputy Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation4Ashok Gehlot14 February19837 February1984 Indian National Congress (Indira) Indira IVIndira Gandhi
See also India Tourism Development Corporation Public sector undertaking Visa policy of India
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