Govt unveils ambitious new tourism policy
With focus on religiousheritage tourism, UP aims at investment worth ₹5,000 crore per annum
LUCKNOW: In the countdown to the Investors’ Summit, the state government unveiled on Monday a new tourism policy to attract investment and increase footfalls at various tourism spots.
The focus will be on religious and heritage tourism with fiscal incentives within 20 km radius of all tourist spots and 10 tourism circuits promoted by the state government, including Ramayan circuit, Braj circuit, Buddhist circuit, wildlife and eco-tourism circuit, Bundelkhand circuit, Mahabharata circuit, Shakti Peeth circuit, spiritual circuit, Sufi circuit and Jain circuit.
The state government has planned to motivate foreign tourists to participate in Diwali festival at Ayodhya this year. On February 23 and 24, chief minister Yogi Adityanath will showcase Holi festival at Barsana. The department has also launched a “Bed and Breakfast” scheme under the new policy.
Addressing a press conference, tourism minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi said the focus of the new policy was to promote PPP model in tourism sector. The state government had decided to open door to private players to develop tourist spots and provide facilities to the tourists. “The state government has granted industry status to tourism and the aim is to generate employment as well,” she said.
The tourism department has already signed MoUs worth ₹10,000 crore with private companies and has received 70 investment proposals. The department has set the target of ₹5,000 crore investment in the tourism sector per annum. While for investment up to ₹50 crore, the state government will give subsidy of Rs 7.5 crore, for investment above ₹50 crore it will give maximum subsidy of ₹10 crore. “The department has already arranged land bank for investment in various districts,” Joshi said.
A tourism department team will participate in Berlin Tourist Fair from March 7 to 11. Also, the state plans to showcase Kumbh Mela- 2019 in a big way, both nationally and internationally.
The tourism department has plans to construct a pathway between Taj Mahal and Agra fort to enable the tourists to visit both the monuments with ease, she said. Principal secretary, Tourism, Avinish Awasthi said, the department was aiming to increase the annual number of foreign tourists by 10% and domestic tourists by 15%.