On the occasion of the World Tourism Day, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan addressed a virtual meet on the theme of “Tourism and rural development”, along with Minister of State (I/c) for Tourism Shri Prahlad Singh Patel.
Minister Pradhan commended the Ministry of Tourism for its novel initiative ‘DekhoApnaDesh’ that promotes and encourages local heritage and tourist sites. He spoke about India's rich culture, history and ancient architectural marvels which offer immense scope for the growth of tourism industry. Talking about Internet’s role in making the world a global village, Shri Pradhan called for effective use of technology to further strengthen India's position as a global tourist hotspot.
Shri Pradhan said that tourism industry offers unprecedented potential for employment generation and empowerment of our youth, also in the rural areas. He said that every district of our country has a historic story to share or a legend to narrate, and as India celebrates 75 years of independence in 2022, we must work on creating more tourism sites around the heroism of our freedom fighters.
Minister Pradhan called for weaving sustainability with tourism and collaborating to switch prime tourist cities to 100% clean fuels, which will further help protect our monuments and ensure a cleaner environment for the tourists.