DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

Dharamshala Declaration 2022 & Tourism In India

A recent three-day national tourist conference saw the introduction of the "Dharamshala Declaration 2022."

Details about the news

• In the National Conference, the Center announced a comprehensive plan for the tourism industry.
• By 2024, tourism will have returned to its pre-pandemic level.
• $250 billion in GDP contribution by 2030, and
• By 2047, India will be the tourism powerhouse of the world.
• As per the Declaration of Dharamshala, by 2047, when the nation reaches 100, a long-term revenue target of $1 trillion is included.

Travel Clubs:

• State governments were urged by the Union Minister of Tourism and Culture to begin on "a war footing" by forming tourism clubs,.
• At the district and mandal levels, Yuva Tourism groups will be created, according to the idea.
• In addition to using the PM Gati Shakti initiative, private actors may also be involved in unique circumstances.

Restoration to pre-pandemic levels:

• By the middle of 2024, tourism in the majority of the states will return to its pre-pandemic levels, especially as foreign visitors begin to arrive; J&K, Uttarakhand, and Goa have already seen an increase in visitors.

• Foreign visitors: The biggest source markets for foreign visitors continue to be the Gulf nations, the UK, the US, and Germany. Even if the numbers have decreased, the trend has not changed.

The Indian tourism industry

Role & Importance:

• The tourism industry plays a crucial role in both the Indian and global economies.
• A key tenet of the Make in India initiative is tourism.
• One of the greatest employers in India is the travel and tourism industry, which employed roughly 12.75% of all employment in 2018–19 (direct and indirect employment combined).
• The creation of infrastructure with multiple uses is frequently encouraged by tourism.
• Think of the infrastructure for transportation (aircraft, highways, shipping, and railroads), hotels, resorts, and restaurants, as well as healthcare services.

Opportunities:

• India boasts 668 protected areas, over 200 beaches, and 38 UNESCO World Heritage sites that can draw a lot of tourists.
• The Travel and Tourism Competitive Index (TTCI) for 2021 places India at number 54.
• TTCI is a World Economic Forum publication (WEF).
• As visitor exports, tourism and hospitality are expected to generate $50.9 billion by 2028, up from $28.9 billion in 2018.
• Compared to the 43 million jobs directly associated with travel and tourism in 2018, there will be over 53 million jobs in this sector by 2029 (8.1% of all employment).
• India is anticipated to rank among the top 5 markets for business travel by 2030.
• Additionally, specialty industries including religious tourism, medical tourism, eco-tourism, and the gem and jewelry business may experience growth.
• The accessibility of top-notch medical facilities with elite physicians, individualized nursing care, and giving specialist treatments for a cost of one-fourth that of wealthy nations.

Landscape:

• Whether a traveller is looking for adventure, wellness, culture and heritage, or cuisines, the national landscape possesses a gracious natural beauty and can accommodate practically every sort of traveller.
• Due to the service-based nature of the tourism business, the availability of a sizable labour force, both skilled and unskilled, can function as a catalyst.

Government initiatives to boost tourism sector in India:

Swadesh Darshan Scheme:

• Launched by the Ministry of Tourism (MoT)
• Central Sector Scheme
• Aim: Integrated development of theme-based tourist circuits in the country in 2014-15.

National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) Scheme:

• Launched in 2015
• Focus on identifying and developing pilgrim sites across the country to promote religious tourism.

‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’:

• Announced in 2015 on the occasion of the 140th birth anniversary of Sardar Patel.
• Aim: To enhance the bonding between the states and strengthen the unity and integrity of India.
• It showcases the rich heritage, culture, customs and traditions of the paired states.
• Through student exchange programs, it enables people to have a better understanding and appreciate the diversity of the nation.

Dekho Apna Desh initiative:

• Organises webinars, quiz, pledge, discussions to keep people connected with the stakeholders and to encourage citizens to travel within the country.

Adopt Heritage Project:

• Launched in 2017 as a collaborative effort by the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), State/UTs Governments.
• It envisages the development and maintenance of tourist amenities at heritage sites and making them tourist-friendly.

Destination North East-2020

• It is an annual event of the Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region.
• The event highlights various potentials like eco-tourism, culture, heritage and business of the North East Region.

Gati Shakti Master Plan

• It is a project for developing ‘holistic infrastructure’.
• It will incorporate the infrastructure schemes of various Ministries and State Governments like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, inland waterways, dry/land ports, UDAN etc.
• Economic Zones like textile clusters, pharmaceutical clusters, defence corridors, electronic parks, industrial corridors, fishing clusters, agri zones will be covered to improve connectivity & make Indian businesses more competitive.

Draft Indian Nutrition Rating (INR)

The country's top food regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), has published a draft regulation for front-of-pack labeling.

Major Points

This draft notification addresses front-of-pack labelling in an effort to deter customers from purchasing packaged foods that are heavy in sugar, salt, and fat.

Indian Nutrition Rating (INR):

• According to the rule, pre-packaged goods must have a star design next to the brand name that ranges from 12 to 5.
• Food items are rated from 12 stars for the least healthy to 5 stars for the healthiest.

Guidelines for Scoring

• Energy contribution per 100 g of solid or 100 ml of liquid meals for saturated fat, sugar, sodium, fruit and vegetables (FV), nuts, legumes, and millets (NLM), dietary fibre, and protein.
• Solid food will receive 0.5 stars if it receives a score of more than 25, and 5 stars if it receives a score of less than minus 11 (-11).

The star system for energy efficiency is comparable.

• The system will be comparable to the one used by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency to evaluate electrical equipment energy efficiency.

Exempted Items:

• The star rating will not need to be visible on foods like milk and milk products, whey, butter oil, ghee, vegetable oil and fat, fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables, fresh and frozen meat, egg, fish, flour, and sweets.
• The letter states that carbonated drinks devoid of any sugar or energy will also be ineligible for rating declaration.
• Company Procedures: The notification indicated that food establishments may add interpretive information next to the star-rating logo, providing details of the energy, sugar, saturated fat, and salt contents. This is not required.
• Food enterprises must submit nutritional profiles of the products in question to the FSSAI's FoSCoS (Food Safety Compliance System) portal in order to generate the star-rating mark for the product.

Worldwide experience

• In some Latin American nations that adopted such warning labels, there was a change in consumption habits.
• Chile reported a 24% decrease in the usage of sugary drinks.
• In comparison to traffic lights and nutri-score labels, nutrient warning labels are more effective, according to a meta-analysis of 100 studies that was published last year.

Nutritional Rating: Its Importance

• Customers beware: Foods with warning labels on them that are rich in sugar, salt, or fat are more likely to deter consumers from eating them. Through "warning" labels, the consumer has to be warned about junk food.
• Making a healthy choice is made easier by warning consumers about potentially dangerous components in food products.
• Consumer Education: It will inform customers about the nutritional makeup of the food they are eating.
• Making an informed decision is possible thanks to the warning signs' repeated educational message, which rings a warning bell even whether purchasing street food or cooking at home.

E-SIM Technology

The eSIM (or embedded SIM) is quickly becoming mainstream due to fitness-oriented smartwatches and smartphones.

What is an eSIM?

• An eSIM is an embedded SIM, essentially the same hardware of a regular SIM card chip, but now a permanently embedded part of the motherboard of a watch or smartphone.
• eSIMs were first established a decade ago in 2012, but despite their futuristic use-cases, have not completely made physical SIMs obsolete yet.

Advantages of eSIMs

• Convenience: It will also save a trip to a telecom store/ service centre when you visit a different state or country where you may want to switch to another operator.
• Security: When a phone with a physical SIM card is lost or stolen ,the SIM card can be used in illegal activities .
• An eSIM prevents this, as there is no physical element to pull out and use in another device.
• One less opening on your phone: Having an eSIM also means there is one less opening on the frame of your phone, in theory, which should reduce the likelihood of elements like dust and water entering the phone from yet another slot.

Disadvantages of eSIMs

• Emergencies: Traditional SIMs can be quickly pulled out of the affected/Damaged phone and into another backup device or secondary phone. It is not possible with eSIMs.
• Unusable in countries with no eSIM support: It can not be used in a country where the telecom operators simply don’t support the technology yet.
• Support only available in premium phones: In India, eSIM support is currently available on more expensive devices like the Apple iPhones, Google Pixel series etc .