U’khand govt to involve MLAs, MPs to boost tourism in state
DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand government will involve legislators in identifying potential tourism sites in their constituencies.
A questionnaire will be distributed among legislators to get their suggestions on locations that can be developed as tourism sites, sources in the state tourism department said.
“The idea behind this plan is to involve all legislators, including parliamentarians, in tourism development. There are still a large number of areas across the state, specially in hills, which are yet to be explored,” said tourism minister Satpal Maharaj.
“Once the questionnaire is handed to the legislators, we hope that they will try to identify sites in their constituencies for tourism development,” he said. The questionnaire will seek information about places to be developed as religious and non-religious tourist sites, adventure sports and other avenues that can attract visitors. Maharaj said not much work has been done to create new tourism circuits or sites even after over 16 years of the state’s formation.
Uttarakhand’s Char Dham — Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri — draws tourists every year.
Tourism, especially religious tourism, is one of the biggest sources of income in Uttarakhand and amounts to around 5% of the gross state domestic product (GSPD). The tourism economy got a setback after the 2013 floods.