In the
first edition of BRICS Tourism Working Group (TWG) Meeting India has formally
launched the tourism cooperation under BRICS 2026 Chairship, this meeting was
conducted as virtual mode. This initiative will bring together the
tourism agenda among the BRICS nations, focusing on innovation, resilience,
sustainability and people to people connectivity.
The 1st
BRICS 2026 Tourism Working Group Meeting was chaired by the Joint Secretary of
Tourism under the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. The virtual meeting served as the first
formal platform for the BRICS nations to discuss tourism collaboration under
India’s leadership. The theme for the
India’s BRICS tourism agenda is the Building for Resilience, Innovation,
Cooperation and Sustainability.
This
meeting has allowed member countries to present introductory remarks and align
themselves with the India’s priorities for strengthening tourism cooperation.
India has outlined four major thematic
priorities that will shape BRICS tourism cooperation in 2026.
Use of AI in Tourism: India puts strong
emphasized on the growing role of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transform
the tourism services. AI can improve
the personalized travel experiences, tourism forecasting and analytics and smart
destination management. Sustainable
and Responsible Tourism: Sustainable tourism is the need and India has
highlighted the need to encourage the Eco-friendly tourism practices;
Conservation based destination management.
Community participation and Reduced the environmental footprint
Tourism Skilling and Capacity Building
Recognizing tourism as the
employment-intensive sector, India proposed the stronger cooperation in to the Workforce
training; Hospitality skills development; Tourism entrepreneurship and
Knowledge-sharing initiatives
This could strengthen the employment
generation across BRICS nations.
After
the inaugural virtual meeting, India has also announced the next stages of
tourism cooperation.
2nd
BRICS Tourism Working Group Meeting
Date:
19-20 August 2026
Venue:
Jaipur, Rajasthan
This in
person meeting will help the members to deepen discussions and finalize
collaborative proposals.
BRICS
Tourism Ministers Meeting
Date:
21–22 August 2026
Venue:
Jaipur, Rajasthan
This
high-level ministerial gathering will provides the political direction to BRICS
tourism cooperation.