Goa hosts G20 tourism working group’s concluding and fourth meeting on June 19

The concluding and fourth meeting of the G20 tourism working group will begin in Goa on Monday.

This meeting will be followed by Tourism Ministerial Meeting.

A side event on making cruise tourism a model for sustainable and responsible travel will be also organised on the first day of the tourism working group meeting, a senior official said on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference here, V Vidyavathi, secretary of the Union tourism ministry, said the working group will pass the Goa roadmap for tourism as a vehicle for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) during the four-day meeting.

The ministers’ meeting will have the G20 tourism ministers’ declaration, she said.

The Ministry of Tourism has made positive progress on finalising the two key deliverables of the tourism working group, the official said.

Three meetings of the working group have already been held in the past, she said.

“Under India’s G20 tourism track, the tourism working group is working on five interconnected priority areas of green tourism, digitalisation, skills, tourism MSMEs and destination management,” Vidyavathi said.

These priorities are key building blocks for accelerating the transition of the tourism sector and achieving the targets of the 2030 sustainable development goals, she said.

There will also be side events to discuss issues such as cruise tourism and the circular economy of plastic in tourism among others, she said.

G20 members countries, invited countries, international organisations and industry stakeholders will participate in the event to promote cruise tourism.

“A panel discussion featuring esteemed speakers from G20 countries and guest countries will shed light on the country-specific policies and initiatives on varied aspects of cruise tourism, its growth and the need to make cruise tourism sustainable and responsible,” an official said.

Tourism ministry’s additional secretary Rakesh Verma said the registration of 150 delegates from eight countries has been confirmed for the tourism working group meeting.

There will be bilateral meetings during the event, including one between India and the US, he said.

The working group meeting and tourism ministers meeting in Goa aim to strengthen economic growth, preserve cultural heritage, and promote sustainable development of the region, he said.

The tourism ministry is committed to creating a lasting legacy from India’s G20 presidency by harnessing the potential of tourism in achieving the SDGs, Verma said.