Indians to prefer local travel in post-pandemic phase: Naidu

Everyone must have a passion, hesaid.Responding to a students question, Naidu said thehardest decision he made in life was to leave a public lifeand take over the constitutional responsibility as vicePresident.

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu onTuesday said the country's tourism sector will get a boost inthe post-pandemic phase as most of the Indians would prefer to''travel local''.

Addressing an event at the Institute of HotelManagement at Porvorim near here, Naidu said India has almost2.6 crore outbound tourists.

''I assume that in the immediate post COVID-19 phase,most of them would prefer to travel local. This presents ahuge opportunity for the Indian hospitality industry,'' hesaid.

India has over 200 beaches, 38 UNESCO world heritagesites and 668 protected areas which can attract significanttourism activities, he said.

Naidu said the COVID-19 pandemic has definitely causeda big setback to the global tourism sector.

''However, I am confident that the slow down caused bythe pandemic will be temporary and the tourism and hospitalityindustry will bounce back,'' he said.

''After remaining confined to their homes for a longtime, people will naturally be eager to travel for pleasureonce the situation returns to normalcy,'' Naidu said.

It will naturally provide a huge opportunity to putthe Indian tourism industry back on track and all thestakeholders, including institutes of hotel management, willhave a major role in contributing towards the revival of thetourism and hospitality industry, he said.

''India has a robust domestic tourism market whichcould certainly help soften the impact, as compared to nationsthat rely solely on international tourists. The government ispaying the highest level attention to promoting domestictourism,'' he said.

Naidu said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has time andagain appealed to fellow citizens to travel and explore thecountry.

''In his Independence Day address to the nation in2019, he suggested to citizens in the country to travel to atleast 15 destinations by the year 2022,'' he said.

Naidu said the Union Ministry of Tourism has createdthe National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry(NIDHI) to get a clear picture of geographical spread of thehospitality sector, its size, structure and existing capacity.

''It will serve as a common repository of data from theMinistry of Tourism, state departments of tourism and industryand enable the central and state governments to deliver bettersupport and services including policies and strategies.

''I am told that 32,624 units have registered underthis portal,''he said.

Naidu said that as India seeks to restart tourism, itis important to build confidence and trust of tourists.

In this connection, the health and tourism ministrieshave already notified COVID-19 safety and hygiene protocols.

''The ministry has put in place a System forAssessment, Awareness and Training in Hospitality Industry(SAATHI) to ensure compliance with COVID-19 safety and hygieneguidelines and to ensure safety and health of employees/customers,''the vice president said.

''TheSAATHI initiative aims to assist in thepreparedness of hotels to continue operations safely and alsorestore the confidence of guests and enhance the image of thehotel as a responsible hotel,'' he said.

As on date, 6,352 accommodation units have registeredunder SAATHI,he added.

Addressing the hotel management students, Naidu alsosaid he is the son of a farmer and never dreamt of becomingthe country's vice president, ''but I had an ambition that Imust excel somewhere''.

Naidu credited his values of discipline and concernfor society to what he learnt in the Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS).

''I am fortunate that I became something. Everyone mustaim high, dream high and work hard,'' he said.

Naidu advised students to take their profession as a''mission''. ''Even a politician, journalist, they should treatwhat they do as mission. Everyone must have a passion,'' hesaid.

Responding to a student's question, Naidu said thehardest decision he made in life was to leave a public lifeand take over the constitutional responsibility (as vicePresident).

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)