PM Modi asks ministry to showcase India's tourism potential

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the tourism ministry to launch a campaign from October 5 to 25 to showcase the country's tourism potential. The tourism ministry will work with various central ministries on the programme, called Paryatan Parv.

“Paryatan Parv is basically a celebration of tourism and it will be about bringing tourism at the centre stage in those 21 days,“ Suman Billa, joint secretary at the tourism mi nistry, told ET. “The campaign will revolve around elements like tourism for all, which means not just for international tourists but also people within the country, making tourism everybody's business, and not just confining it to hotels and tour operators.“ The tourism ministry will work alongside other ministries like human resources development as well as youth and sports affairs on the campaign. It will also hold cultural activities in states.

“We will choose one iconic site in each state and will focus our activities there,“ Billa said. The ministry has also introduced another initiative, adopt a heritage site. Under this, companies can use funds under their corporate social responsibility programmes to maintain monuments of national interest.

“We have created a framework in which corporates can come forward and invest in the upkeep of these monuments,“ Billa said. “We have graded the monuments into three categories depending on their size and what facilities are required.We have also bundled them as we know that some of them will be attractive and some may not be that attractive.