By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, MAY 02, 2016: NO Central Tourism Act or Tourism legislation has been formulated by the Government of India. However, the National Tourism Policy has been formulated in 2002 for development and promotion of tourism sector which also contains basic principles for safeguarding the interest of tourists and tourism agencies. These principles include: (i) Government led, private sector driven and community welfare oriented actions (ii) sustainability (iii) earmarking a section of State Police to act as Tourist Police.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Tourism has taken following steps/initiatives for safeguarding the interest of tourists and tourism agencies:

i) Adoption of code of conduct for Safe and Hon'ble Tourism.

ii) Grant of Central Financial Assistance to the State Governments of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh for setting up of Tourist Facilitation and Security Organization (TFSO) on a pilot basis.

iii) Issue of Guidelines on Safety and Security of Tourists for State Governments/Union Territories and Tips for Travellers in September 2014.

iv) Formulation of a voluntary scheme for granting approval to hotel projects and classification of functioning hotels under Star System from the point of view of their suitability for international tourists.

v) Formulation of a voluntary scheme of approving Travel Agents, Tour Operators, Adventure Tour Operators and Tourist Transport Operators to encourage quality, standard and service in these categories.

vi) The launch of a 24x7 Toll Free Multi-Lingual Tourist Helpline in 12 Languages including Hindi & English on the toll free number 1800111363 or on a short code 1363 offering a “multi-lingual helpdesk” in the designated languages.

vii) Issue of advisory to State Governments/UT Administrations for creation of Tourist Police.

Besides the above, under the provision of Consumer Protection Act, a consumer can make complaint in any Consumer Court depending on the geographical and pecuniary jurisdiction, about any defective goods or deficient services which also includes tourism services.

This information was given by Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) and Minister of State for Civil Aviation in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.