The Ministry of Tourism, is the nodal agency for the formulation of national policies and programmes and for the co-ordination of activities of various Central Government Agencies, State Governments/UTs and the Private Sector for the development and promotion of tourism in the country.This Ministry is headed by the Union Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge).
The administrative head of the Ministry is the Secretary (Tourism). The Secretary also acts as the Director General (DG) Tourism. The office of the Director General of Tourism {now merged with the office of Secretary (Tourism)} provides executive directions for the implementation of various policies and programmes. Directorate General of Tourism has a field formation of 20 offices within the country and 14 offices abroad and one sub-ordinate office/project i.e. Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering (IISM)/ Gulmarg Winter Sports Project. The overseas offices are primarily responsible for tourism promotion and marketing in their respective areas and the field offices in India are responsible for providing information service to tourists and to monitor the progress of field projects.The activities of IISM/GWSP have now been revived and various Ski and other courses are being conducted in the J&K valley.
The Ministry of Tourism has under its charge a public sector undertaking, the India Tourism Development Corporation and the following autonomous institutions:
- Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM) and National Institute of Water Sports (NIWS)
- National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology (NCHMCT) and the Institutes of Hotel Management.
The Ministry of Tourism functions as the nodal agency for the development of tourism in the country. It plays a crucial role in coordinating and supplementing the efforts of the State/Union Territory Governments, catalyzing private investment, strengthening promotional and marketing efforts and in providing trained manpower resources. The functions of the Ministry in this regard mainly consist of the following:
All Policy Matters, including:
- Development Policies.
- Incentives.
- External Assistance.
- Manpower Development.
- Promotion & Marketing.
- Investment Facilitation.
Planning.
Co-ordination with other Ministries, Departments, State/UT Governments.
Regulation:
- Standards.
- Guidelines
Infrastructure & Product Development.
- Guidelines
Human Resource Development
- Institutions.
- Setting Standards and Guidelines.
Publicity & Marketing:
- Policy.
- Strategies.
- Co-ordination.
Research, Analysis, Monitoring and Evaluation
International Co-operation and External Assistance
- International Bodies.
- Bilateral Agreements.
- External Assistance.
- Foreign Technical Collaboration
Legislation and Parliamentary Work
Establishment matters.
Vigilance matters.
Implementation of official language policy.
Budget co-ordination and related matters.
Plan-coordination and monitoring.
The Functions of Attached Office viz. Directorate General of Tourism are as under [The office of DG (T) has now been merged with the office of Secretary (Tourism)]:
Assistance in the formulation of policies by providing feedback from the field offices.
Monitoring of Plan Projects and assisting in the Plan formulation
Coordinating the activities of field offices and their supervision.
Regulation:
- Approval and classification of hotels and restaurants.
- Approval of travel agents, Inbound tour operators and tourist transport operators, etc.
Inspection & Quality Control
- Guide service
- Complaints and redressal.
Infrastructure Development:
- Release of incentives.
- Tourist facilitation and information.
- Field publicity, promotion & marketing.
- Hospitality programmes.
- Conventions & conferences.
