Islamic Travel Newswire: With foreign tourist inflows hitting the five million mark in 2007, domestic tourism on the rise, and the "Incredible India" campaign leading to immense interest and awareness, India is preparing for the task of managing significantly larger numbers of visitors travelling to and within the country.
Upgrading the infrastructure, particularly at the key destinations / circuits of national importance, has now become a matter of priority for the Ministry of Tourism.
Twenty tourist mega destinations / circuits are to be developed in a holistic and integrated manner to ensure adequate infrastructure that can yield visitors a satisfying and memorable experience.
These destinations / circuits of national importance have been identified in consultation with the State Governments on the basis of data indicating present and potential arrivals. They include:
1. Agra - Revitalization of Taj (Uttar Pradesh)
2. Varanasi - Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh)
3. Bodhgaya - Rajgir - Nalanda (Bihar)
4. Illumination of monuments of Delhi (Delhi)
5. Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu)
6. Puri - Bhubaneswar - Konark-Chilka (Orissa)
7. Haridwar-Rishikesh (Uttarakhand)
8. Hampi (Karnataka)
9. Gangtok (Sikkim)
10. Ajmer - Pushkar (Rajasthan)
11. Kurukshetra (Haryana)
12. Charminar area of Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh)
13. Jagdalpur-Tirathgarh-Chitrakoot-Barsoo (Chattisgarh)
14. Dwarka (Gujarat)
15. Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh)
16. Churches of Goa
17. Ganga Heritage River Cruise Circuit (West Bengal)
18. Vidarbha Circuit (Maharashtra)
19. Aurangabad (Maharashtra)
20. Amritsar (Punjab)
Under this new initiative, the Ministry of Tourism will provide financial assistance up to Rs.25 crore for development of a mega destination and Rs.50 crore for a mega circuit. Moreover, the Ministry is working with other central government ministries and related state governments to achieve convergence and synergy with other government programmes in order to maximise the impact of investment on these destinations. One such programme is the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, which is responsible for overseeing the development of urban civic infrastructure.
The Ministry of Tourism has already sanctioned Rs.102 Crore for mega projects at Agra, Varanasi-Sarnath, Bodhgaya-Rajgir-Nalanda, and Illumination of monuments of Delhi, Mahabalipuram, Kurukshetra & Charminar area of Hyderabad.
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