Tourism ministry, Yatra sign MoU to strengthen hospitality industry

The Ministry of Tourism has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with travel portal Yatra to strengthen the country's hospitality and tourism industry, an official statement said on Monday.

The primary objective of the MoU, signed on July 2, is to provide extensive visibility to accommodation units, which have self-certified themselves on SAATHI (System for Assessment, Awareness and Training for the Hospitality Industry) on the OTA platform, the statement from the ministry said.

“The MoU also outlines both parties to encourage units to register on NIDHI and thereby on SAATHI and encourage the local tourism industry with appropriate safeguards for curbing the spread of COVID-19,” the ministry said.

“The idea is also to gather more information on accommodation units in order to gain actionable insights and designing evidence-based and targeted policy measures and to promote safe, honorable and sustainable tourism,” it added.

The Ministry of Tourism and Yatra will endeavour to take necessary steps to encourage and promote strategic and technical co-operation in the Indian hospitality and tourism sector for overall benefit in the identified areas through the MoU, it said.

“It is expected that in the future more OTAs will come forward for signing such MoUs in order to strengthen the hospitality and tourism industry of India,” it said.