Parliament Question: Establishing national service quality benchmarks

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF TOURISM RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2378 ANSWERED ON 12.03.2026 ESTABLISHING NATIONAL SERVICE QUALITY BENCHMARKS 2378 SHRI BABUBHAI JESANGBHAI DESAI: DR. SUMER SINGH SOLANKI: SHRI KESRIDEVSINH JHALA: SHRI UJJWAL DEORAO NIKAM: SHRI MAYANKKUMAR NAYAK: SHRI NARAYANA KORAGAPPA: SHRI JAGGESH: Will the Minister of TOURISM be pleased to state: (a) the steps taken to establish national service quality benchmarks and professional standards for frontline tourism service providers particularly in major tourism State like Maharashtra; (b) whether any independent audit or third-party monitoring mechanism has been proposed or implemented to periodically review compliance with statutory and judicial directions in the tourism sector; (c) if so, the details thereof; (d) whether any assessment has been undertaken regarding skill gaps in specialised tourism services including language-based guiding, adventure tourism safety and destination management services; and (e) if so, the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF TOURISM (SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT) (a) to (e): To ensure standardized services for tourists, the Ministry of Tourism in accordance with its guidelines gives recognition to different categories of frontline tourism service providers in the travel and hospitality industry across the country including the State of Maharashtra. The Ministry of Tourism conducts hospitality and tourism related short-term training certificate courses including language-based guiding programme for skilling, up skilling and re-skilling of trainees of both genders, local communities, tribal areas, etc. across the country under its “Capacity Building for Service Providers (CBSP)”. The Ministry of Tourism has conducted a third-party evaluation of the CBSP scheme through Quality Council of India in 2025. The evaluation confirms that the CBSP scheme has significantly strengthened India’s tourism and hospitality workforce by training over 1.68 lakh individuals and placing more than 36,000 across multiple segments from Financial Year 2020-21 to 2024-25. The Ministry of Tourism, in association with the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India has formulated Model Adventure Safety Guidelines with an aim to establish a comprehensive and standardized framework to ensure safety in the Adventure Tourism sectoracross India. These guidelines have been circulated to all States and Union Territories for adoption and formulation / updation of safety protocols. All the States / Union Territories (UT) have been requested to maintain a strict watch on all adventure related activities and ensure strict adherence to safety regulations and licensing norms by all the operators. The Ministry of Tourism, through its ongoing Central Sector Schemes of ‘Swadesh Darshan (SD)’, ‘Swadesh Darshan 2.0 (SD 2.0)’, ‘Challenge Based Destination Development (CBDD)’ a sub-scheme of Swadesh Darshan 2.0 scheme, ‘Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD)’, ‘Assistance to Central Agencies for Tourism Infrastructure Development (ACA)’ supplements the efforts of the States/UTs/Central Agencies by providing financial assistance for the development of tourism related infrastructure in consultation with them. The implementation of projects sanctioned under the aforementioned schemes, including their operation and maintenance, rests with the concerned State/UT Governments and Central Agencies. The projects sanctioned under the above- mentioned schemes are subject to audit as per the applicable rules and procedures. Also, the third-party assessment for completed projects are carried out at periodic intervals. *******