Tourism Working Group (TWG)

Why in News?

• As part of India’s G20 presidency, Gujarat will host the first Tourism Working Group (TWG) meeting in the state’s Rann of Kutch from 7 to 9 February 2023.

Highlights

• One of the priorities through the G20 platform is to reach a consensus on how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) will be achieved by 2030.
• As a part of this, there will be emphasis on sustainable tourism which is important not only for the environment but also to create opportunities for local enterprise.
• The different places chosen for the G20 events will encompass different flavors like rural tourism (Ladpura Khas village, MP), archaeological tourism (Dholavira), and ecotourism(Khonoma Village,Nagaland) etc.
• Along with this, 3 mega tourism related events are being organized to take advantage of the G20 Presidency. 
• These include Global Investors’ Summit in April 2023, MICE Convention and Meeting of World Tourism CEOs Forum
• India is known for its diverse cultural heritage, rich history, and natural beauty, which attract millions of domestic and international tourists each year.
• India offers a wide range of tourism options, including eco-tourism, cruise trips, business travel, sports tourism, educational tourism, rural tourism, archaeology tourism and medical tourism.
• India was ranked 6th by the World Travel and Tourism Council in terms of the total contribution of Travel & Tourism to the country’s GDP.
• The sector contributed 5.8% to India’s GDP in 2021 and created 32.1 million jobs, which is equivalent to 6.9% of total employment in the country.