Union Tourism Minister K. Chiranjeevi today stressed the need for intra-regional and inter-regional cooperation for the growth of the tourism sector.
Speaking at a meeting hosted here by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, the Tourism Minister said for sustainable development, the policy makers should establish effective communication channels for sensitising the masses and taking stakeholders along.
The local governments and communities and youth can play a big role to take forward the agenda of sustainability, he felt.
He said India is one of the first countries to have developed guidelines for sustainable tourism and norms for hotel classification encouraged the industry to adopt eco-friendly practices.
While mentioning that India is among the first countries to have finalised the guidelines for sustainable tourism, he highlighted the importance of tourism in its ability to provide jobs and contributing to economy.
Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, said Hyderabad is playing a host for a number of mega conferences such as Conference of Parties 11 meet on Biodiversity and the current meeting on Tourism.
He said that the State attracts highest number of tourists by any State in the country. Last year, AP attracted 137 million tourists, but most of this traffic is to the pilgrim centres.
The 25th Joint meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Far East Asia and The Pacific and the Commission for South East Asia is being held during April 12 to 14.
The Inaugural session of the event was attended by delegates from 24 countries. The participants include members from the travel and hospitality.
The UNWTO event is being hosted in Hyderabad after nine years. The city earlier hosted the 73rd session of UNWTO Executive Council in July 2004.