The union minister for tourism, Kumari Selja on Thursday unveiled the code of conduct for safe and honourable Tourism in New Delhi.

Addressing the event, Selja said, even though such code of ethics for tourism has earlier been developed by world bodies like UNWTO, the code of conduct unveiled today is based on meeting country’s futuristic needs and challenges. She said she would call it “our own innovation inspired by the existing code of ethics of UNWTO”. This code of conduct was developed by the ministry of tourism in association with  PATA India Chapter, Save the Children – India, United Nations Office on Drugs & Crimes (UNODC) and Equitable Tourism Option (EQUATIONS).

The minister said, her ministry has been running the social awareness campaign under the theme “Athithi Devo Bhavah” which also addresses issues relating to treating our women travellers with dignity. A similar campaign needs to be initiated to sensitise the incoming tourists to refrain from indulging in any such activity which might disturb the social fabric of the country.

Selja urged all the stakeholders to adopt the code at the earliest.

The code has been evolved keeping in mind the following objectives-  encourage tourism activities to be undertaken with respect for basic rights like dignity, safety and freedom from exploitation of both tourist and local residents, aid the prevention of prostitution, sex tourism and forms of sexual exploitations in tourism in particular women and children and to enhance prevention of activities like forced or involuntary drug use, manipulated and incorrect information, cultural and social intolerance which could increase vulnerability to crime.