Yogi’s Tourism Policy For UP Aims At Increasing Foreign Tourists By 15 Per Cent, Creating Five Lakh Jobs

Projecting Uttar Pradesh as the land of ‘Unlimited Possibilities’, the Yogi Adityanath government has unveiled a new tourism policy aimed at attracting investment and increasing footfalls of domestic and foreign tourists in the state.

The new policy aims to make the state the top tourism destination in the country. It is currently the at the second spot, The Hindu reports.

As part of the new policy, framed for a period of five years, the government will work to increase the footfall of foreign and domestic tourists by 15 and 10 per cent, respectively. The policy also seeks to develop new infrastructure on the public-private partnership model to support the growing footfall and create livelihood opportunities for five lakh people in the tourism sector. Under the new policy, the government wishes to attract an annual investment of Rs. 5,000 crore.

The new tourism circuits that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government is working on include Ramayana, Krishna (Braj), Mahabharat, Shakti Peeth, Jain, Kabir, Buddhist, Bundelkhand, wildlife and eco-tourism. Hindu religious sites in Allahabad, Ayodhya, Vrindavan and Govardhan are among the top destinations for tourists.

The policy will promote national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in the state and will convert 10 heritage building to heritage hotels per year.

Under the new policy, the interest subsidy would be 5 per cent of the loan amount with a maximum of Rs 25 lakhs. The government will offer 100 per cent waiver on stamp duty, conversion and development charges and reimburse 100 per cent hospitality related courses fee up to Rs 10,000 per year, per person.

Among other things, the government will focus on reviving indigenous and scarce art, music, craft, folk dance and cuisine of the state by providing subsidies of Rs 5 lakh to individuals and groups working on these issues.

The policy also aims to make the Kumbh Mela an international event. It its budget, the government allocated Rs 1,500 crore for the Kumbh Mela in 2019.