New Delhi : Faced with a bleak tourist forecast, the Centre will be pulling all out stops to aggressively promote India at the domestic and international level, including declaring 2009 as the year to ‘Visit India’. Incentives from leading hotels like Taj and Oberoi besides packages from the government itself are on the anvil.

According to estimates, the growth of tourism in India is likely to come down to 8% from 14% last year. The number of foreign tourist arrivals has already dropped by 2.1% for November as compared to the same period last year. India however is still better off than the world tourism growth rate that has plummeted from 6% in 2007 to 2-3 % in 2008.

 

To woo travellers, the tourism ministry will provide one, two or three-day stay at a wellness resort, rural stay or a taste of adventure tourism. The number of days will depend on the weightage given to the ticket that is where the tourist has arrived from.

 

“There is a proposal to give weightage on purchase of air ticket depending on the distance of the travel foreign tourists. However, a final decision is to be taken after consultation with all concerned,” Ambika Soni, minister for tourism and culture, said. “Among others, adventure tourism, rural tourism, Buddhist sites and other products will be offered to tourists in various packages,” she said.

 

Soni on Monday chaired a National Tourism Advisory Council convened by her ministry, which was attended by representatives from the travel and tourism industry, civil aviation and hospitality sector among others.

 

It was decided to form a committee of representatives of trade associations and officers of the concerned ministries to look for ways to improve visitor experience at important monuments.

 

“We have decided to allow public private participation (PPP) in developing basic amenities around tourist spots, including monuments,” said Soni. The ministry will also invite foreign media to experience the difference at tourist sites.

 

The ministry also actively considered extending the market development assistance scheme to the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Events) segment, which has emerged as a significant component of growth in inbound tourism.

 The ministry further decided that it will also encourage private operators in the tourism trade so that they can organise annual travel fairs.