Bangalore: Union Minister of state for Tourism,
Sultan Ahmed today asked the tourism industry in southern
India to promote adventure tourism in the region
and strive to diversify tourism products.
Adventure tourism has immense potential for growth and to
encourage adventure sports including rock climbing, river
rafting and para gliding, the ministry in the last four years
has sanctioned several projects to the states, he said after
unveiling a road show "Destination-South India" here.
Referring to different initiatives taken by his Ministry,
Ahmed said Market Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme has been
extended to provide financial incentive to approved domestic
tour operators who participate in such events and also to
Medical Tourism providers as well as Wellness Tourism
providers to take part in overseas events.
Considering the importance of Wellness Tourism,the Ministry
has instituted a new category of "Best Wellness Center" award
for Wellness Centers, in the National Tourism awards.
He said, in a major move to encourage more travel industry
service providers to seek recognition from the Ministry,
guidelines for approval of inbound tour operators have been
relaxed in terms of space requirement and also manpower
employed.
Ahmed said, "The Visit India Year 2009", which was launched
in January 2009 in collaboration with all stakeholders
including state governments, airlines, hotels and
tour operators, is now being extended till March 2010.
He said while foreign tourist arrivals are subject to
various external factors, domestic travellers continue to be
the mainstay of tourism industry.
PTI
First Published: Friday, January 15, 2010, 21:28