Tourism ministry signs MoU with TAAI, FLO

The tourism ministry has virtually signed an MoU with the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) to promote tourism as a sustainable livelihood model for the economic empowerment of women, a statement issued by the ministry said on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said the memorandum of understanding (MoU) will provide an opportunity to increase the participation of women in the tourism sector and make them an integral part of the tourism workforce in the country.

"Women in our country are excelling in different fields. We have the best of women doctors, pilots, scientists, businesswomen. Women have also excelled in various adventure-related activities and sports like mountaineering, trekking, bicycling, etc. Today, women form an important component of our armed forces. And we are a nation where women have assumed positions of the prime minister and president."

"There is a need to organise and popularise training and skill development programmes targeting women, including those in rural and remote areas, make them aware of digital technologies and facilitate them to be a part of decision making at the community level. Therefore, it becomes our moral responsibility to ensure that women in the travel and tourism sector are encouraged to come forward and participate in the development of tourism, which would not only benefit the sector, but also help in their upliftment and empowerment," he said.

Patel said there are many areas in tourism where women can excel, like homestays, tourist facilitators, catering business and more. He expressed happiness to see the work being done for the betterment of women by the TAAI and FLO through their chapters across the country.

The main components proposed under the initiative are to encourage travel to at least 15 destinations within the country under the "Dekho Apna Desh" initiative. This will be a mandate for the membership base of over 8,000 women of the FLO? and TAAI and their family support systems.

They will also conduct community-based tourism activities around an iconic monument or tourist landmark in each state. Women will be tour guides, they will run food stalls, souvenir stalls with their own arts and crafts, handle the overall accounts and running of the landmark.

The FLO and TAAI chapters will raise awareness on sustainable tourism practices and focus on tourism as a vital sustainable livelihood tool for women empowerment by way of advocacy and awareness, educational workshops, seminars and panel discussions. They will also tie up with training agencies for tourism workshops for training women about concepts on food safety, health and hygiene, sanitation, environment, culinary and entrepreneurship skills. 

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