Buoyed by the surge in tourist arrivals, the Centre plans to embark on an ambitious project to speedily develop key tourism destinations and circuits to make 'Incredible India' a real experience.
Under the project, the government will be providing select tourist destinations and circuits additional funds of Rs 25 crore and Rs 50 crore each respectively.
"The Tourism Ministry will be selecting some 10 to 15 tourist destinations in the country where concerted efforts and concentrated investment will be made to make those places attractive," Tourism Secretary A K Misra told PTI ahead of World Tourism Day on September 27. It would be a centrally-driven project, he said, that adding Agra and Varanasi are among the first identified projects.
Misra said foreign tourist arrivals recorded a quantum jump of 24 per cent at 3.37 million last year and the target was five million in the current year. Seeking convergence of resources by state governments for all-round integrated development of destinations, he cited the success story of Ajanta-Ellora, where facilities were upgraded with the help of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation.
Similarly, Hampi in Karnataka and Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu were other destinations where large scale improvement brought about palpable impact, he said.
Keen on exploiting the huge potenial in medical tourism, Misra said the country had received 1.5 lakh people from abroad for treatment, mostly from neighbouring countries, last year. It would like to attract people from developed countries.
Observing that a task force under the chairmanship of Director General of Health Services has been set up to assess the opportunities for promoting India as health destination, he said CII has submitted a list of price banding by hospitals, which has been forwarded to the Health Ministry.
Noting that the open sky policy has increased the flow of tourists, Misra said efforts have been beefed up to increase hotel rooms and also rope in guest houses and private house owners to supplement efforts to provide accommodation.
While one lakh hotel rooms were available, another 34,000 rooms were under construction, he said adding the government has also initiated the process of registering and approving guest houses and encouraging stay-in facilities by private house owners. "We will be offering some incentives to upgrade the facilities," he said.
