Tourism Ministers' meeting of BRICS member countries was held virtually

The Tourism Ministers' meeting of the BRICS member countries was held virtually on Monday. It was attended by Gangapuram Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Department of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER).

China took the presidency of the BRICS Council in 2022 from India. The Ministers' meeting was after two levels of Senior officers met held virtual in August and September.

The Tourism Ministers' of the other countries viz Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa participated in Meeting and adopted the Communique on the theme "Green Growth, Sustainable Development and Resilient Recovery."

During India's chairship of BRICS in 2021 key emphasis was put on sustainability, shift to renewable resources, job creation, and encouraging green and sustainable tourism practices for accelerating tourism recovery.

Gangapuram Kishan Reddy, Tourism Minister stated that India had launched the BRICS alliance for Green Tourism during the BRICS chairship of India last year.

It promotes measures which can shape a more resilient, sustainable and inclusive tourism sector. It can accelerate the recovery and development of tourism on sustainable lines.

India also attaches great importance to implementing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to promoting sustainable development in the tourism sector to address the challenges in environmental protection and climate change.

The Ministry's approach is to focus on post-COVID growth and development of the tourism sector and priority areas like Cultural Tourism, Adventure tourism, MICE, Medical, Wellness Tourism and Rural Tourism for which the following major initiatives have been identified-- Green Growth and sustainable development, Digital Tourism, Destination Management, Tourism and Hospitality Skill Development & MSME Development.

This will also be reflected in India's SCO Presidency and G20 Presidency in 2022-23, informed the Ministry of Tourism release, as reported by ANI, a partner of TV BRICS.

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