JOIN USState to promote health tourism
“We have a new tourism policy that will be presented to the Government in the next couple of weeks. The main focus among other things will be on Wellness and Health Tourism in the State. Destinations such as Dharmasthala and others will be projected in Karnataka for propagating tourism in the new policy,” said Principal Secretary, Tourism Department, K Jyothiramalingam.
He was addressing mediapersons here on Monday about the India Association of Tour Operators (IATO) convention to be held in Bangalore from September 3 to 5, 2009
The Principal Secretary said greater importance will be given to private players in tourism. Under the aegis of the Department of Tourism, Government of India, the Department of Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani and Homeopathy) and the Board of Hospitals will be consulting with the respective State Governments to prepare guidelines for Wellness Tourism in the country.
Also on the agenda are talks between the Tourism and Transport Secretaries from eight Southern States and Union Territories to prepare a joint platform for promoting tourism in South India.
“We will be conducting a conference of Tourism Secretaries in Bangalore shortly before the beginning of the IATO convention to discuss on possibilities of a common platform for Southern States for tourism. The meeting will be followed by a Ministerial conference for discussing the possibilities of co-operation,” said Karnataka Tourism Director, Vishwanatha Reddy.
No growth
India Association of Tour Operators president, Vijay Thakur said although nationwide, the tourism sector did not see growth, there were signs to indicate a revival by the year-end. “Following the Mumbai terror attacks, there has been a fear among foreign tourists to come to India. While this was a temporary setback, owing to recession, there has been a downturn of almost 30 per cent in inbound traffic to the country,” said Thakur.
IOTA has said that in order to quell fears of terrorism, the apex body of tour operators had organised four to six road shows across 10 nations to present India as a safe destination.
“We are trying to market Bangalore as a BPO City to a Tourism destination,” said Vijay Thakur.
However, local tour operators said that till April this year there was a considerable demand for tourism in the State and it was only during the lean period since then till July that there has been a fall in revenues for the tour operators.
Addressing concerns of the Economic Slowdown, the association will be brainstorming at the convention to work out new packages and better tour operation.