By BW Hotelier

THE FEDERATION of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with Ernst & Young (EY) released a paper on ’Tourism Infrastructure: The Role States Play’ in New Delhi recently. The FICCI-EY paper was released by Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Civil Aviation Minister and Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Tourism and Culture and Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Govt. of India at the ’Tourism Investor’s Meet’ organized by FICCI in association with the Ministry of Tourism and Tourism Finance Corporation of India (TFCI).
The paper recommends a 6-point agenda to enable the States to achieve their potential in attaining the desired growth in tourist arrivals. The paper calls for introduction of a robust and inclusive tourism policy as the first step towards introducing the right set of initiatives and achieving the desired tourist inflow. The policy should focus on specific interventions, incentives offered to developers/private players and vision for development of tourism in the state, among others.
The paper emphasizes the importance of improvement in inter and intra-state connectivity through creation of rural roads, high speed passenger trains, identifying and equipping air strips, converting domestic airports into international, introducing inland waterway connectivity. These areas need to be explored for improving the connectivity between cities and states.
In terms of tourist facilities, the paper calls for easy availability of the visa offices/centres at all the key destinations experiencing high foreign tourist turnout. Provision of other facilities such as adequate parking and way side facilities is the need of the hour.
It suggests exploration of new concepts such as MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) to attract tourists. There is an increased focus in many states on the MICE sector as an engine of growth for the business tourism sector. To build upon this opportunity, connectivity and availability of world-class infrastructure should be ensured. Incentives and subsidies to attract investors may be proposed as part of the MICE strategy.
For setting up accommodation facilities in select unexplored destinations, upgrading the service levels of hotels, introducing theme based resorts, are some options that need to be explored. Some popular themes could be golf resorts, wild life resort, green/ clean technology resorts, etc.
Above all, the FICCI-EY paper stresses on collaboration with other governments. It is critical for a holistic growth of tourism, the paper notes, that the States combine and synergise their efforts and offer comprehensive services and solutions. To create an enabling environment, the States need to explore possibilities by initiating dialogue with key states/countries and creating roadmaps for implementation.

Photo:-L-R: Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Minister of Civil Aviation; Dr. Jyotsna Suri, President, FICCI and Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C), Ministry of Tourism, GoI.