Under the subject "Tourism and green investment" for World Tourism Day 2023, the UNWTO emphasises the need for additional and better-targeted investments in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN's blueprint for a better world by 2030. Instead of only making the conventional investments that support and foster economic growth and productivity, fresh and creative solutions.
Since 1980, September 27 has been observed as World Tourism Day. This date was selected to fall on the anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Statutes in 1970, a significant turning point in global tourism. The UNWTO is a specialised agency of the UN tasked with promoting ethical, sustainable, and easily accessible travel. The fact that World Tourism Day falls at the conclusion of the peak travel season in the northern hemisphere and the start of the season in the southern hemisphere makes its timing particularly suited.
Objectives:
The day's goals are to raise consciousness and inspire travel. Because it thinks that tourism makes the world's population even more unified and connected.
Importance:
The World tourist Day acknowledges the special contribution made by the travel and tourist industry to the preservation of cultural and natural assets around the globe. It supports the preservation of habitat and threatened species. It discusses the significance of the tourism industry in supplying jobs and opportunities, primarily for women and young people, in both rural and urban areas.
2023's World Tourism Day:
The UNWTO emphasises the need for bigger and more precisely targeted investments for people, the earth, and prosperity on World Tourism Day 2023. Instead of only making the conventional investments that support and foster economic growth and productivity, fresh and creative solutions are now required.
What is the Indian tourism market scenario?
Due to its storied wealth, India used to draw a lot of tourists. An illustration of this is the visit of devoted Chinese Buddhist Hieun-tsang.
Emperors like Ashoka and Harsha began constructing rest houses for pilgrims, which gave pilgrim travel a boost.
The Arthashastra stresses the value of the state's transport system, which was crucial in the past.
After independence, the Five Year Plans (FYP) continued to include tourism.
After the sixth FYP, various types of tourism, including business tourism, health tourism, and wildlife tourism, were introduced in India.
According to a report by the World Travel and Tourism Council from 2021, India's tourism industry placed sixth in terms of its contribution to global gross domestic product (GDP), contributing USD 178.0 billion.
India's tourist industry generated USD 6.96 billion in foreign exchange in 2020. Following the pandemic, an increase in this is anticipated.
39 million jobs, or 8.0% of all employment in India in FY20, were related to the tourist industry. It is anticipated to support around 53 million jobs by 2029.
India ranks sixth in the world in terms of the number of sites on the "World Heritage List," with 40 (32 cultural, 7 natural, and 1 mixed site).
The most recent ones are in Dholavira and Ramappa Temple (Telangana).
