The 2nd meeting of Tourism Working Group (TWG) under India’s G20 Presidency successfully concluded today. The 3-day meeting, held in Siliguri and Darjeeling in West Bengal, witnessed engaging discussions among the participating delegations from G20 members, guest countries and invited International Organisations on the five priority areas of TWG viz. Green Tourism, Digitalisation, Skills, Tourism MSMEs and Destination Management.

The meeting was inaugurated by Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region Shri G. Kishan Reddy and Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Shri John Barla. Shri Reddy, during his address, reiterated India’s commitment to ensuring sustainable and responsible growth of tourism-sector in the country and highlighted key initiatives of the Government of India for making India a seamless, modern and smart tourism destination. Welcoming the foreign delegates to India, Shri Barla noted with satisfaction that “Empowering youth with skills for jobs and entrepreneurship in tourism sector” features among the five priority pillars of the TWG under India’s G20 Presidency.

During the working sessions, G20 delegates deliberated and focussed on a potential roadmap which would link Tourism-sector with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and would leverage tourism-development for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It may be recalled that “Accelerating progress on SDGs” is among the key priorities of India’s G20 Presidency. The delegates also held detailed discussions on each of the five priority areas of TWG, while sharing their experiences, best practices and learnings from initiatives and policies of their respective countries.
On the sideline, G20 delegates participated in a panel discussion which focussed on development of “Adventure Tourism” and its transformative power in achieving SDGs. Case studies from UK, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Japan, Brazil as also from the Indian state of Uttarakhand were presented during the panel discussion.

As part of “Janbhagidari” and aimed at highlighting vast tourism-potential of the region, G20 delegates flagged-off a Himalayan Drive Car Rally in Siliguri. They visited the historic Makaibari Tea Estate in Kurseong, the word’s first tea factory and also experienced a ride of the famous Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (Toy Train), a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Siliguri
April 03, 2023