Minister of state for tourism Ajay Bhatt on Wednesday lauded the efforts of the Centre to revive the tourism industry which suffered a major setback during the Covid-19 pandemic.
While delivering the keynote speech at the two-day Hindustan Times Tourism Conclave in Delhi, the minister congratulated the nation for administering one billion Covid-19 vaccine doses and for attempting to revive the tourism industry despite backlash from international communities.
A sudden influx of visitors in the hills prior to the second wave was seen as a major reason behind a sharp surge in Covid-19 infections between April and June, Bhatt said. Foreign media, he added, alleged that Covid-19 protocols and guidelines were not followed by domestic travellers.
“It was due to the efforts of health care workers, scientists and the public that we were able to emerge from it,” he said.
The 3rd edition of the Hindustan Times Tourism Conclave, held in New Delhi, is centred around the theme, ‘Reviving Tourism-Responsibly in the post-pandemic world’. This event has been organised in partnership with various state tourism agencies — Bihar Tourism, Gujarat Tourism, Chhattisgarh Tourism Board, IRCTC, Jharkhand Tourism, Maharashtra Tourism and Uttarakhand Tourism.