Putting tourism on the overdrive mode
Speaking at the FHRAI Annual Convention, RV Deshpande, Karnataka Tourism Minister puts forward thoughtprovoking points, and the steps that state has taken to boost tourism to garner more revenue and employment.
As the Guest of Honour at the convention, RV Deshpande, Minister for Tourism, Government of Karnataka, said, “In his very first speech, the PM stressed on the importance of tourism for creation of jobs, incomegeneration and he also stressed on cleanliness. We all know that these things cannot happen without budgetary support. The allocation of the Union Budget for the Tourism
` Ministry is just 1,882 crore. In Karnataka’s budget, our allo
` cation is around 400 crore. Besides this, we try to get structure and training the right human resource. Today, countries like China, Turkey and Thailand top tourist arrivals. India should aim at reaching 12 million foreign arrivals,” he added.
The Karnataka Tourism vision group consists of eminent citizens and people. Recommendations made by the vision group have been accepted by the Government and the Centre is also providing budgetary support to implement the vision group’s recommendations. They are bringing out a new investor-friendly tourism policy, with maximum concessions for private investors. Deshpande added, “I take this opportunity to invite entrepreneurs and investors. There will be complete transparency. We have relaxed land laws in an effort to boost growth. We are also coming up with the Tourism Facilitation Act. Under the new Tourism Act, Karnataka has come up with 20 tourism products to support investors. The products are mainly home-stay, rural tourism, agri-tourism, heritage tourism, golf tourism, eco-tourism, hotels and resorts, adventure, sports tourism, entertainment parks, yatri niwas, youth hostels, etc. We will also be providing tax concessions and reimbursement of land charges.”
Deshpande lamented on the lack of guides in India. He said in any destination in the world, guides are fluent in five to six languages. Here, except for regional languages, it is very difficult to find competent guides. The Government has taken the initiative to train them in foreign languages. He said, “We have been stressing on human resource development in this sector. We urge the MOT to delegate programme to states so that the latter can formulate training programmes based on needs.”