Parliament Question: Tourism Service Quality Standardisation and Workforce Professionalisation

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF TOURISM LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2626 ANSWERED ON 09.03.2026 TOURISM SERVICE QUALITY STANDARDISATION AND WORKFORCE PROFESSIONALISATION 2626. SHRI MANOJ TIWARI: DR. NISHIKANT DUBEY: SMT. HIMADRI SINGH: SHRI VIJAY KUMAR DUBEY: SHRI SURESH KUMAR KASHYAP: SHRI RAVINDRA SHUKLA ALIAS RAVI KISHAN: SHRI RAJKUMAR CHAHAR: Will the Minister of TOURISM be pleased to state: (a) the details of the steps taken by the Government to establish national service quality benchmarks and professional standards for frontline tourism service providers across the country especially in hilly tourist destinations such as Himachal Pradesh including Shimla Lok Sabha Constituency; (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 along with separate action plan has been formulated for service quality improvement and work force professionalisation in hilly and sensitive tourism areas? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF TOURISM (SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT) (a) to (e): The Ministry of Tourism conducts hospitality and tourism related short-term training certificate courses for skilling, up-skilling andre-skilling under its “Capacity Building for Service Providers (CBSP)” scheme through Government institutes and empanelled private institutes including Indian Institute of Hotel Management, Food Craft Institutes, Indian Culinary Institute, etc. The skill development training courses includes Hunar Se Rozgar Tak, Entrepreneurship Programme, Skill Testing & Certification, Tourism Awareness Programme, etc. The programme offered include language based guiding, adventure related activities, etc. across the country, including Himachal Pradesh. These are compliant with National Skill Qualification Framework. The Ministry of Tourism conducted a third party evaluation 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 with enhanced service quality & professionalism across the country. Further, for achieving the objective of developing professionals of the highest standards of hospitality, service and care, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) were signed between 21 Central Institute of Hotel Management with 8 leading hospitality groups, these groups included Indian Hotels Company Ltd. IHG Hotels and resorts, Marriott Hotels, Lalit Hotel Group, ITC group of Hotels, Lemon Tree Hotels, Apeejay Surender Park Hotels and Radisson Hotel group. ******