ahmedabad the meeting of first tourism working group under indias g20 presidency which was held at the rann of kutch gujarat from february 710 concluded today the meeting included two side events an inaugural session two days of working group meetings on the five identified priorities a series of bilateral meetings and excursion visitsthe working group meeting was preceded by a side event on the evening of 7th february on the theme rural tourism for community empowerment and poverty alleviation at the panel discussion panelists gave presentations and held discussions highlighting the best practices success stories prospects and issues in the field of rural tourism at a separate event miya hussain gul beg head of dhordo village sarpanch highlighted the positive impact of the development of tourism infrastructure and tourism promotion activities like rann utsav on the village economy and creation of job opportunities in the areathe inaugural session was graced by the cm of gujarat bhupendra patel minister of tourism culture and doner g kishan reddy and the union minister parshottam rupala minister for fisheries animal husbandry and dairyingat the inaugural session the indian dignitaries shared their views on indian tourist destinations steps taken by government to promote tourism safety of tourists digitisation in the tourism sector and the impact of tourism on the local economy and employmentduring the working group meeting discussions were held on the indian presidency identified five priority themes including green tourism greening of tourism sector for a sustainable responsible and resilient tourism sector digitalization harnessing the power of digitalization to promote competitiveness inclusion and sustainability in tourism sector skills empowering youth with skills for jobs and entrepreneurship in tourism sector tourism msmes nurturing tourism msmes startups private sector to unleash innovation and dynamism in tourism sector and destination management rethinking the strategic management of destinations towards a holistic approach that delivers on the sdgs all the 5 key priority areas set for the deliberations were endorsed by all g20 members guest countries and international organisationson the last day of the working group meeting a second side event was organised on the theme promotion of archaeological tourism discovering shared cultural heritage speakers at the panel discussion shared their views on conservation of archaeological sites and challenges faced at such sites they also highlighted the benefits of promoting archaeological tourism for empowerment and sustainable livelihoods of local communities in his concluding remarks secretary tourism arvind singh said that archaeological tourism can provide socio economic development of local communities in a sustainable mannerduring their stay at dhordo tent city the delegates had an opportunity to attend a yoga session at sunrise at white rann the delegates also visited the harappan site of dholavira a unesco world heritage site where delegates were briefed about the effective and efficient water management at dholavira the delegates were also familiarized with the local kutchi art and traditions they also enthusiastically joined the folk artists in a dance permanence during a cultural eveningbefore their departure the delegates also paid a visit