Lok Sabha Question No. 1031 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-02-08
Subject: MoU Signed with Other Countries to Promote Tourism
Ministry: TOURISM
Asked by: Ravindra Kushawaha

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF TOURISM

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.†1031

## ANSWERED ON 08.02.2021

## MoU SIGNED WITH OTHER COUNTRIES TO PROMOTE TOURISM

†1031. SHRI RAVINDRA KUSHWAHA:

Will the Minister of TOURISM be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  signed  any  MOUs  with  other countries to promote tourism in the Country;
- (b)
- if so, the Country-wise details thereof;
- whether  the  number  of  tourists  from  these  countries  have
- (c) increased during the last two years; and
- (d)
- if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR TOURISM (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) (SHRI PRAHLAD SINGH PATEL)

(a) & (b): The signing of Agreements/Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with various countries is an ongoing process and  the  Ministry  of  Tourism  has  signed  Agreements/MoUs  in  the field  of  tourism  cooperation  with  other  countries  and  multilateral fora. Details of MoUs / Agreements/Letter of Intent (LoI) signed with various  countries  for  bilateral  and  multilateral  cooperation  in  the field of tourism may be seen at Annexure-I.

The  main  objective  of  such  Agreements/MoUs  signed  by  the Ministry  of  Tourism  is  primarily  to  promote  tourism  between  both sides. The important components of the Agreements / MoUs include the following:

- i)
- Exchange of information and data related to tourism.
- ii) Cooperation between tourism stakeholders including hotels & Tour operators.
- iii) Exchange of visits of Tour Operators/Media/Opinion Makers for promotion of two way tourism.
- iv) Exchange programmes for cooperation in Human Resource Development.
- v) Investment in the Tourism and Hospitality sector.
- vi) Exchange  of  experience  in  the areas  of promotion, marketing, destination development and management.
- vii) Participation  in  travel  fairs/exhibitions  in  each  other's country.

(c) & (d): The  tourist  arrival  figures  for  the  year  2018  and  2019 from the countries with whom the Ministry of Tourism has entered into  Agreement/MoU  may  be  seen  at  Annexure-II.  The  nationalitywise foreign tourist arrival during the year 2020 is not yet available.

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ANNEXURE-I

STATEMENT  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  AND  (b)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO. †1031 ANSWERED  ON  08.02.2021 REGARDING MoU SIGNED WITH OTHER COUNTRIES TO PROMOTE TOURISM

Agreements  /  Memorandum  of  Understanding  signed  with  foreign countries by the Ministry of Tourism

|   Sl. No | Name of the country with whom MoU/ Agreement/Protocol signed   | MoU / Agreement / LoI   | Date of signature   |
|----------|----------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------|---------------------|
|        1 | Iraq                                                           | Protocol                | 25.10.1986          |
|        2 | Portugal                                                       | Agreement               | 29.07.1991          |
|        3 | Syria                                                          | Agreement               | 08.10.1991          |
|        4 | Israel                                                         | Agreement               | 18.05.1993          |
|        5 | Singapore                                                      | Agreement               | 24.01.1994          |
|        6 | Russia                                                         | Agreement               | 30.06.1994          |
|        7 | Iran                                                           | MoU                     | 18.04.1995          |
|        8 | Mexico                                                         | Agreement               | 28.03.1996          |
|        9 | Cyprus                                                         | Agreement               | 07.11.1996          |
|       10 | Greece                                                         | Agreement               | 13.01.1998          |
|       11 | Indonesia                                                      | MoU                     | 08.02.2000          |
|       12 | Italy                                                          | Agreement               | 26.06.2000          |
|       13 | Sri Lanka                                                      | MoU                     | 23.01.2004          |
|       14 | Brazil                                                         | Agreement               | 25.01.2004          |
|       15 | Serbia                                                         | MoU                     | 02.11.2004          |
|       16 | IBSA Tripartite Agreement                                      | Agreement               | 15.10.2008          |
|       17 | Poland                                                         | Agreement               | 25.04.2009          |
|       18 | ASEAN                                                          | MoU                     | 12.01.2012          |
|       19 | Mauritius                                                      | MoU                     | 12.03.2013          |
|       20 | Japan                                                          | Memorandum              | 22.01.2014          |
|       21 | Nepal                                                          | MoU                     | 25.11.2014          |
|       22 | France                                                         | LoI                     | 09.04.2015          |
|       23 | China                                                          | Agreement               | 15.05.2015          |
|       24 | Tanzania                                                       | MoU                     | 19.06.2015          |
|       25 | Turkmenistan                                                   | MoU                     | 11.07.2015          |
|       26 | Egypt                                                          | MoU                     | 24.08.2015          |
|       27 | U.A.E.                                                         | MoU                     | 03.09.2015          |

|   28. | Cambodia     | MoU       | 16.09.2015   |
|-------|--------------|-----------|--------------|
|    29 | Maldives     | MoU       | 10.04.2016   |
|    30 | Qatar        | MoU       | 05.06.2016   |
|    31 | South Africa | MoU       | 08.07.2016   |
|    32 | Kyrgyzstan   | MoU       | 20.12.2016   |
|    33 | Oman         | MoU       | 11.02.2018   |
|    34 | Bulgaria     | MoU       | 05.09.2018   |
|    35 | Malta        | MoU       | 17.09.2018   |
|    36 | Romania      | MoU       | 19.09.2018   |
|    37 | Colombia     | MoU       | 04.10.2018   |
|    38 | Uzbekistan   | Agreement | 01.10.2018   |
|    39 | Korea        | MOU       | 05.11.2018   |
|    40 | Argentina    | MoU       | 18.02.2019   |
|    41 | Saudi Arabia | MoU       | 20.02.2019   |
|    42 | Croatia      | MoU       | 26.03.2019   |
|    43 | Paraguay     | MoU       | 27.09.2019   |
|    44 | Philippines  | MoU       | 18.10.2019   |
|    45 | Finland      | MoU       | 21.11.2019   |

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ANNEXURE-II

STATEMENT  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (c)  AND  (d)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.†1031 ANSWERED ON 08.02.2021 REGARDING MoU SIGNED WITH OTHER COUNTRIES TO PROMOTE TOURISM

Tourist  arrival  figures  from  the  countries  with  whom  Ministry  of Tourism has signed Agreements/Memorandum of Understanding

|   Sl. No | Name of the country   |   Arrival in 2018 |   Arrival in 2019 |   Growth %age in 2019 over 2018 |
|----------|-----------------------|-------------------|-------------------|---------------------------------|
|        1 | Iraq                  |             68462 |             61907 |                           -9.57 |
|        2 | Portugal              |             74492 |             74743 |                            0.34 |
|        3 | Syria                 |              5139 |              5627 |                            9.5  |
|        4 | Israel                |             67366 |             73137 |                            8.57 |
|        5 | Singapore *           |            183581 |            190089 |                            3.55 |
|        6 | Russia                |            262309 |            251319 |                           -4.19 |
|        7 | Iran                  |             35596 |             33288 |                           -6.48 |
|        8 | Mexico                |             19909 |             20766 |                            4.3  |
|        9 | Cyprus                |              1940 |              2093 |                            7.89 |
|       10 | Greece                |             10656 |             10317 |                           -3.18 |
|       11 | Indonesia *           |             46867 |             50177 |                            7.06 |
|       12 | Italy                 |            126931 |            128572 |                            1.29 |
|       13 | Sri Lanka             |            353684 |            330861 |                           -6.45 |
|       14 | Brazil **             |             26579 |             25422 |                           -4.35 |
|       15 | Serbia                |              4521 |              4885 |                            8.05 |
|       16 | Poland                |             31555 |             33687 |                            6.76 |
|       17 | ASEAN                 |            886929 |            930339 |                            4.89 |
|       18 | Mauritius             |             42096 |             46814 |                           11.21 |
|       19 | Japan                 |            236236 |            238903 |                            1.13 |
|       20 | Nepal                 |            174096 |            164040 |                           -5.78 |
|       21 | France                |            261653 |            247238 |                           -5.51 |
|       22 | China                 |            281768 |            339442 |                           20.47 |
|       23 | Tanzania              |             23443 |             23774 |                            1.48 |
|       24 | Uzbekistan            |             21686 |             25339 |                           16.84 |
|       25 | Turkmenistan          |             25038 |             17859 |                          -28.67 |
|       26 | Egypt                 |             20486 |             21538 |                            5.14 |
|       27 | U.A.E.                |             59971 |             55415 |                           -7.6  |
|       28 | Cambodia *            |              7507 |              6271 |                          -16.46 |

|   29. | Maldives        |   62337 |   78587 |   26.07 |
|-------|-----------------|---------|---------|---------|
|    30 | Qatar           |    7353 |    6863 |   -6.66 |
|    31 | South Africa ** |   58613 |   57274 |   -2.28 |
|    32 | Kyrgyzstan      |    4056 |    4247 |    4.71 |
|    33 | Oman            |   95160 |   74564 |  -21.64 |
|    34 | Bulgaria        |    5824 |    5735 |   -1.53 |
|    35 | Malta           |    1596 |    1774 |   11.15 |
|    36 | Romania         |   12920 |   14064 |    8.85 |
|    37 | Colombia        |    7405 |    8396 |   13.38 |
|    38 | Korea           |  150536 |  149445 |   -0.72 |
|    39 | Argentina       |   16345 |   12844 |  -21.42 |
|    40 | Saudi Arabia    |   47546 |   48526 |    2.06 |
|    41 | Croatia         |    4059 |    3889 |   -4.19 |
|    42 | Paraguay        |     349 |     393 |   12.61 |
|    43 | Philippines *   |   53473 |   56393 |    5.46 |
|    44 | Finland         |   21239 |   18945 |  -10.8  |

*These  countries  have  been  included  in  the  ASEAN  group  of countries. ** Brazil and South Africa is included in the IBSA group of countries.

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