Indian High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami inaugurates India pavilion at World Travel Market in London

London: India's High Commissioner to UK, Vikram Doraiswami on Tuesday (local time), inaugurated the India pavilion and several state tourism pavilions at the World Travel Market (WTM) London.
He made the inaugurations along with Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and state leaders from Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka. High Commission of India in London tweeted, "HC @VDoraiswami inaugurated @incredibleindia pavilion, and several State tourism pavilions, at the @WTM_London, with Arvind Singh, Secretary @tourismgoi and State leaders from Odisha, MP, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka et al. @MEAIndia."
Notably, World Travel Market London 2022 is taking place at ExCel London from November 7-9. The theme of this year`s exhibition is 'The Future of Travel Starts Now.'
It is pertinent to mention here that the Ministry of Tourism has launched the "Incredible India 2.0" campaign which covers important source markets for Indian tourism and takes into account emerging markets with significant potential. Notably, India is a tourist destination for travellers to explore architectural heritage sites, ghats and tiger reserves.
Earlier on November 7, the Ministry of Tourism in a tweet stated that dandiya performances and yoga sessions took place at World Travel Market London.
Sharing videos and images of the performances on Twitter, the Ministry of Tourism said, "A glimpse of the Indian culture and hospitality at the Indian Cultural Evening along with Dandiya performances and yoga sessions."
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a press release issued on November 5 said that the Ministry of Tourism is participating in World Travel Market (WTM) 2022. It stated that 16 stakeholders, including officials from state governments, other Central ministries, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as the industry partner, DMCs, tour operators, hoteliers, travel agents, online travel agents, facilitators of medical value travel are participating as co-exhibitors in the India Pavilion.
The MEA in the press release called World Travel Market "one of the largest international travel exhibitions." It further said, "With the reopening of the country to foreign tourists, after a gap of almost 2 years, this year`s participation of India is particularly significant. After the world's largest vaccination drive, the country is ready for international tourists. India is participating in WTM 2022 to showcase itself as a preferred destination for tourism."
The Ministry stressed that the objective of India's participation in WTM is to showcase the diverse tourism products and services including Medical Value travel, luxury trains and the gamut of tourism products to the international business community.
It further stated, "The Indian Government is cognizant of the country's potential in the tourism industry and has taken several steps to make India a global tourism hub."
According to the release, the Indian delegation led by Arvind Singh, Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism will showcase the varied tourism offerings of India to global tourism industry stakeholders including tour operators, travel agents and media.
The MEA said that the visit will allow the Indian government delegation to showcase investment opportunities and potential that India offers to global investors.
The MEA noted that the contribution of travel and tourism to India's GDP was 5.19 per cent of the total economy in 2019. Furthermore, the Indian tourism sector accounted for 79.86 million jobs (direct and indirect employment) in 2018.
The Ministry further said, "The consistent efforts of the Central and the State Governments have helped the tourism industry to gradually recover from the Covid-19 pandemic shock to the pre-pandemic levels."
Notably, India is also gearing up for the G20 presidency which is due to begin on December 1. (ANI)