Domestic tourism expected to attract Rs 50,000 cr investment

The Dollar Business Bureau

India’s domestic tourism sector is expected to attract an investment of around Rs 50,000 crore from 600 projects during the 3 day investors’ summit later this month. This was revealed to the media by the Union Minster for Tourism Mahesh Sharma, today. The minister claimed that India’s image as a tourist destination improved considerably outside the country with the visits of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said the country saw a growth upto 40% from tourists from those places that the PM had visited.

The summit, Incredible India Tourism Investors Summit is to be inaugurated by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on 21^st September. The Summit will have 144 investors from 70 countries confirming to attend the event. The Tourism minister said that the image of the country has improved considerably among the tourists with the PM projecting and portraying the Indian identity in all the countries he had visited.

An investment desk to help and guide the investors is being established in the ministry. The tourism industry will further progress with better roads, new airports and railway stations the minister expressed. With regard to furthering tourism in the northeast, the minister expressed that helicopter areas would begin in areas that are remote and inaccessible by any other mode of transportation.

He said India has "everything that a country should have to attract tourists" but admitted that a "lot needs to be done" for building world-class tourism infrastructure in the country. With regard to the security of the tourists visiting the country he said that, ‘security is of prime concern and we will be the first country to launch  a round-the-clock helpline number in 12 languages’.