The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : India's tourism policy comes in for praise

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 09, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

India's tourism policy comes in for praise

By Our Special Correspondent

The Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the WTO Executive Council Chairman, Viacheslav Fetisov, the State Tourism Minister, Geeta Reddy, and the WTO Secretary General, Fransesco Frangialli, after the inaugural session of the 73rd Executive Counc il meeting of World Tourism Organisation in Hyderabad on Thursday. Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

HYDERABAD, JULY 8 . The 73rd session of the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organisation got off to a start with its Secretary General, Fransesco Frangialli, praising the country's tourism policy, the "Incredible India" campaign, and saying that he hoped the country would record the highest growth rate in tourist arrivals by the end of this year.

He said Indian tourism had undergone a rapid "transformation," mainly due to reforms and liberalisation policies. Infrastructure had been improved, tourist spots made more accessible, information services enhanced and Foreign Direct Investment increased. "The best thing to happen is the incredibly successful Incredible India campaign," Mr. Frangialli said.

Tourism Ministers and officials from about 40 countries are attending the three-day meeting.

Mr. Frangialli said the World Tourism Organisation and India had always enjoyed good relations, with India playing a "positive and constructive" role as a founding member of the organisation. It was because of this that the country was chosen to host the meeting of Executive Council. The EC session here was special as it was being held for the first time after the organisation had been recognised as a special agency of the United Nations, he said.

He said the organisation had special relations with Andhra Pradesh, having been involved in preparing the tourism development and management plan. Several recommendations have been implemented and "we are prepared to assist the State in future too," he said. Viacheslav Fetisov, chairman of the EC, WTO, spoke.

Inaugurating the session, the Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, said his Government's tourism policy would focus on positioning tourism as a major growth engine harnessing its "direct, indirect and multiplier effect" for employment generation, economic growth and poverty alleviation in an environmentally sustainable manner in the State.

He said the Government had started a process of reorienting tourism strategies that would simultaneously create and sustain infrastructure while preserving the inherent strengths of hospitality and culture. Some of the projects initiated were `Southern Splendour,' the circular tourist train traversing Southern states, a `Sea Cruise' between Visakhapatnam, Port Blair and Chennai, the lower Krishna Valley Buddhist Circuit, getting UNESCO's World Heritage Site recognition for a site in the State, and the creation of a one-stop tourist facilitation centre, `Paryataka Bhavan' in Hyderabad, he said.

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