In its ongoing effort to strengthen the Hospitality & Tourism Industry especially in the times of the pandemic, the Ministry of Tourism signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cleartrip and Ease My Trip on 15th April 2021.

The primary objective of this MoU is to provide extensive visibility to accommodation units which have self-certified themselves on SAATHI (System for Assessment, Awareness & Training for the Hospitality Industry) on the OTA platform. The MoU also outlines both parties to encourage Units to register on NIDHI and thereby on SAATHI and encourage local tourism Industry with appropriate safeguards for curbing spread of COVID-19. Varanasi Administration Urges Tourists to Cancel Trip in April Amid Rise in COVID-19 Cases.

The idea is also to gather more information on accommodation units in order to gain actionable insights & designing evidence based & targeted policy measures and to promote safe, honourable and sustainable tourism.

The signing ceremony was conducted in the presence of Shri Rakesh Kumar Verma, JS, MoT;Shri B.B. Dash, Director (H&R), MoT; Dr. A Raj & Shri Mohit Singh from Quality Council of India (QCI); Mr. Vipin Shah, Vice President, Ease My Trip and Mr. Sriram V, Business Head, Cleartrip Private Limited.

The Ministry of Tourism & the Online Travel Companies will endeavour to take necessary steps to encourage and promote strategic and technical co-operation in the tourism sector for overall benefit in the identified areas through the MoU. It is expected that more such MOUs will be signed in the future order to strengthen the Hospitality & Tourism Industry.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 16, 2021 01:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).