Minister for Tourism G. Kishan Reddy chaired the BRICS Tourism Ministers’ meeting on Tuesday, as part of India’s BRICS chairship.

The Ministers of all the member countries viz. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africaparticipated in the meeting.

India organized the BRICS Tourism Ministers’ Meeting as an effective means to promote tourism cooperation among BRICS countries.

The meeting reviewed the intra BRICS Tourism cooperation.The significant aspect of the meeting was the adoption of the Ministers’ Communique, an outcome document on cooperation and promotion of tourism between the BRICS countries.

The Ministers’ Communique recognized that the COVID-19 pandemic has severely endangered public health and has presented immense challenges to the implementation of sustainable development goals.

Tourism Minister Reddy stressed on the importance of the BRICS member States to have a good understanding of each other’s tourism products and offerings so as to encourage further growth of tourist inflow between the BRICS member countries.

Reddy also mentioned that the common tourism products in BRICS countries such as heritage & culture tourism, nature, wildlife, Eco tourism etc., present an opportunity for greater cooperation and exchange of information and best practices.

Further, to promote tourism for the future, it was recognized that BRICS alliance for Green Tourism can accelerate the recovery and development of tourism on sustainable lines.

Some of the key elements of the BRICS alliance for green tourism are mainstreaming sustainability into the tourism sector policies, conservation efforts, sustainable development goals, shift towards renewable source of energy, conservation efforts for green tourism which will encourage investment in nature based solutions and supporting the fragile eco systems.

The BRICS Tourism Ministers’ Meeting also highlighted the importance of strengthening cooperation in tourism in the areas of promoting responsible and sustainable tourism, investment in tourism infrastructure, close interaction between tourism enterprises and human resource development.

The Ministers resolved to work together to realise the full potential of BRICS countries through cooperation in the tourism sector.