PM invites G20 delegates to witness 'festival of democracy' during 2024 general elections

KUNAL DUTT, PTI, 21 June, 2023, Panaji : Asserting the ethos of 'Atithi Devo Bhava', Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday invited G20 delegates to visit India during the 2024 general elections and witness the "festival of democracy".

A recorded message from Modi was played at the inaugural session of the G20 Tourism Ministerial Meeting in Goa on Wednesday. In his message, the prime minister underlined that tourism has the potential to create a harmonious society.

"It is said that terrorism divides, but tourism unites," he said.

Modi said India's next general elections will be held in 2024 and he invited G20 delegates to visit the country to witness the "festival of democracy" in the "mother of democracy".

"With more than a million voting booths, there will be no shortage of places for you to witness this festival in all its diversity," he said.

He extended a warm greeting to the ministers and other delegates from various G20 countries, and said, "I welcome you all to incredible India".

Incredible India is also the tagline for a popular campaign run by the tourism ministry to promote tourism.

"Visiting India is not just about sightseeing, it's an immersive experience," Modi said in his video message for the G20 delegates noting that in India, guests are revered as gods -- 'Atithi Devo Bhava'.

In the last nine years, the central government has placed special emphasis on developing entire ecosystem of tourism in India, he said, adding, "We have kept tourism sector as focal point of our reforms".

"From transport infrastructure to the hospitality sector to skill development, and even in our visa systems, we have kept the tourism sector as a focal point of our reforms," Modi said.

He underlined that India's efforts in the tourism sector are centered on "preserving its rich heritage while creating a world-class infrastructure for tourism."

The prime minister emphasised the development of spiritual tourism as one of the focus areas in India. He said the infrastructure upgrade in the eternal city of Varanasi, one of the major spiritual centres, led to a "ten-fold increase in pilgrims taking the number to 70 million today".

India is creating new tourist attractions, Modi said as he cited the example of the Statue of Unity, the tallest statue in the world, which attracted about 2.7 million tourists within a year of its inauguration.

The prime minister expressed happiness that India is also recognising the relevance of the tourism sector for the speedy achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

He highlighted that the five inter-connected priority areas of green tourism, digitalisation, skill development, tourism MSMEs, and destination management "reflect the priorities of India as well as the global South".

In his nearly eight-minute-long message,  Modi also suggested greater use of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and augmented reality to drive innovation and highlighted that India is "working towards artificial intelligence enabling real-time translation of various languages spoken in the country".

He expressed confidence that collaboration among governments, entrepreneurs, investors and academia can accelerate such technological implementation in the tourism sector.

The prime minister also suggested working together to ease business regulations for tourism companies and assist them in increasing their access to finances and investing in skill development.

Modi expressed happiness that a G20 tourism dashboard is being developed in partnership with UNWTO which will be a first-of-its-kind platform bringing together the best practices, case studies and inspiring stories.

He also spoke of the the upcoming Sao Joao Festival in Goa and said, India is a "land of festivals".