Amitabh Kant, managing director, Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, was the lead presenter on the Plenary Three session titled ‘New realities of travel’ being conducted at the moment at the China World hotel in Beijing this morning. The plenary forms part of the on-going Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) 60th anniversary and Conference event.

An extremely insightful and salient talk by Kant led to a couple of questions from Richard Quest, namely:

RQ: So, are you optimistic about the future of the travel and tourism industry?

AK: Yes, I am; tourism is a highly resilient and dynamic sector. IT (information technology)will be the key driver of growth and employment in India and China.

RQ: How much damage will we do before we get it right?

AK: I think mass tourism does immense damage. Having been secretary, tourism, for Kerala, I can tell you that there was mass devastation on Kovalam beach. I’m against low-value tourism; I’m fairly elitist in my approach.