'This meet is very important, especially in the light of the global meltdown and its drastic effects on tourism. From January to June this year our foreign tourist arrival fell by 9.3 percent as compared to last year,' Selja said.

'However, our efforts to bring India back on the tourists' map, the several roadshows in different countries and promotion of niche tourism products has ensured that in June this year there was a positive growth of 0.2 percent in the foreign tourist arrival to India,' she added.

Selja further said that the meet, which will see overseas tourism officials and the private sector here interacting, is bound to throw up innovative ideas to attract more travellers to the country.