India's first international B2B magazine for hoteliers, BW Hotelier, was launched on Monday, January 12, 2015, in the presence of the creme de la creme of Delhi-NCR's hospitality industry by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism and Culture, Dr Mahesh Sharma, and the Secretary, Tourism, Government of India, Dr Lalit Panwar.

Speaking to a capacity audience, which had shown up on time on a chilly Monday morning at The Leela Palace New Delhi, Dr Sharma addressed the safety concerns of the industry and shared his new mantra: "Wherever tourism reaches, terrorism goes away, so let's counter terrorism with tourism."

To make international tourists feel safer, Dr Sharma said, the government has launched a scheme wherein every foreign tourist gets a welcome card at the immigration counter outlining do's and don'ts for international visitors. The government has also set up a 24x7 helpline for the assistance of foreign tourists. It operates in two languages, Hindi and English, but eventually it will be operational in 12 languages.

Dr Sharma lauded BW Businessworld for launching BW Hotelier in association with Hotelier International, which was being published from 29 countries before its arrival in India. He said: "The tourism ministry is lagging behind in its efforts to convey information about the country's tourism industry on different platforms, but the BW Hotelier team has achieved this successfully and introduced India's tourism industry to the world."

Outlining the tourism potential of the country, Dr Sharma said India has 50 per cent of the monuments worldwide and 50 per cent of places of natural beauty. "We have 73 per cent of the Himalayas and we have four distinct weathers, but what was lacking was the credibility of the tourism industry," the minister said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had greatly enhanced the credibility of India and Indians.

He quoted the Prime Minister's view that tourism is not just about visiting places. "It is about propagating our rich heritage and culture," Dr Sharma reiterated. The Prime Minister's vision is to promote tourism in seven holy cities of India, he reminded the audience, and said: "Our strength has been our religion and spirituality and international visitors should take back the wisdom and the beauty of this country."

Mr Sharma pointed out that the share of tourism is very less at present. It provides 6.8 per cent of the GDP, he said, and then invited the industry "to offer its guidance" to make the country's tourism policy and help itself grow. "Unless we make the industry stakeholders our partners, their problems cannot be solved," he said. Whether it is about giving industry status to the hospitality sector or financial support, the government, the minister said, needs the support of the stakeholders.