The growth of Karnataka tourism in the last five years, the challenges and the way forward was discussed at Connect 2008, a public private partnership convention, on Thursday.
Speaking on the occasion, BIAL CEO Albert Brunner compared the international tourists arriving in various countries like France, (75 million), Spain (52 million), US (46 million) etc. to India which has merely four million tourists a year approximately.
He said a tourist can spend approximately $1,000-1,300 per person and increase in tourists to say 20 million, can generate a revenue of $25 billion.
Connectivity
The challenges of connectivity by road, rail and waterways and projects in the pipeline to address these issues as well as new ones were discussed.
Karnataka is set to encourage development of inland waterways for goods and passengers, including tourists, said PWD Principal Secretary Sudhir Krishna while chairing a session on ‘Challenges of Connectivity’.
Kabini will be notified soon for development of cruise-based tourism along with Krishna and surrounding Almatti region and Sangmi. The minor ports too will be linked with riverways, he said.
To improve road connectivity to various destinations in the State, the PWD will take up filling up potholes in roads in the entire State from February 1, he said. The NH48 will have two lanes completed by March. There will be an effort to put up signages and breaklights near speedbreakers on highways, he said.