14.62 mn jobs created by Tourism sector in last 4 years, says KJ Alphons

Union Minister for Tourism KJ Alphons said that the Tourism Sector alone has created 14.62 million job opportunities in the country in the last four years. The minister elaborated that the Tourism sector provides opportunities to skilled as well as unskilled job seekers thereby providing employment to all sections of society. Addressing media persons in New Delhi today, Alphons said that Tourism Ministry is now focusing on promotional activities to bring attention of the tourists about the unexplored areas of North Eastern states of India, like the largest cave network of Asia which is in Meghalaya.

Refuting the recent reports on ‘Safety of women in India’, the Minister ascertained that India is safe for tourists and added that Tourism Ministry has taken various initiatives to ensure safety and security of tourists. He further said that guidelines on safety and security of tourists have been issued for states/UTs and 14 states already have Tourist Police in one form or other.

In order to promote the country abroad, Alphons said, the Ministry has conducted several ‘Incredible India road shows’ in the US, Europe and few upcoming ones in China and Nordic countries, adding that three theme based 60 seconds Incredible India videos has been released till date and it has received huge viewership in social media platforms.

Further, he said that more focus is given to the Cruise Tourism sector with the Tourism Ministry investing Rs 100 crore and the Shipping Ministry contributing a corpus of Rs 250 crore to the sector.

The cruise ports are being developed at Mumbai where it is along with an entertainment complex, and also Cruise jetties in Goa, Cochin, Chennai and Visakhapatnam, he added.