Missions flag constraints as govt moves to shut tourism offices

Most of India’s overseas tourism offices have been gradually closed down since 2018. Now, the last seven of them – London, Tokyo, Beijing, Dubai, Singapore, New York and Frankfurt – will also be shut down by March-end.

Last week, Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy stated in Parliament that six officers are posted in Overseas India Tourism Offices against the sanctioned posts of 31. He said the Ministry of External Affairs has designated Tourism Officers in all the important source markets to carry out overseas promotional activities in the tourism-generating markets.

For 20 of its major source markets — Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Oman, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Netherlands, the UK and the US — India has posted Tourism Officers in its missions more than a year ago.

The Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture report on the subject ‘Role of Indian Missions Globally for the Growth of Tourism in India’, which was presented in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, states that several missions and overseas offices have raised concerns on the manpower crunch and budgetary constraints hindering their activities.

India Tourism, Beijing, has suggested having more India-based staff to run the office properly. “It’s very difficult to run an office smoothly especially when there is a lack of manpower. Only one India-based officer is not justice with this office as China is a very big region, which is biggest outbound market for the world,” it said in its response. It also added that the Indian officer who is selected to work in China should be encouraged to learn the Chinese language to understand the market.

The Dubai office said, “Posts have to be filled for more efficient tourism promotion.”

The parliamentary panel noted that some missions had requested that the overseas offices may be kept open and the vacant posts be filled. It questioned if the government decision (to close down all India tourism offices) had been taken in consonance with the Indian missions abroad.

The Indian Embassy in Rome said it “is in agreement with the recommendations made by the House panel and strongly recommended reopening of India tourism office either in Milan or Rome for promotion of India tourism in Italy”.

“Since the overseas tourist offices are closed, the onus of promoting Indian tourism is solely on the Indian missions,” the committee noted, adding that the general feeling among the Indian missions is that the role of tourism promotion has been allocated to them without proper financial and human resource augmentation. It also sought a response from the ministry on whether the vacancies in the missions relating to tourism promotion have been filled up and adequate funds have been provided to carry out promotional activities.

In this regard, the Indian Embassy in Paris said, “The tourism office, which the Ambassador of India to France, Jawed Ashraf, requested for continuation and resource amplification, was instead closed down in October 2020. A thorough review of geographies where tourist offices are required should be carried out in consultation with the missions.”

The committee has now sought detailed information on “the alternative methods of promotion of Indian tourism overseas consequent to the closing of the overseas tourist offices”.