The Centre and the state government will now work together to give a major boost to tourism in Uttar Pradesh.
Union minister for tourism Subodh Kant Sahay met UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Saturday and later the two addressed a joint press conference to announce the initiative.
“We are going to bring tourism on the political and economic agenda because it is the biggest employment generating sector. However to encourage tourism, we will need to collaborate with other departments and I am glad that the chief minister has also put tourism high on his priority list,” Mr Sahay said.
He disclosed that during his meeting with the chief minister, the Centre and the state governments had decided to fast track tourism and a detailed action plan for improving infrastructure, road network, aviation facilities and hotel industry had been discussed. “For the revenue generating infrastructure, we will opt for the PPP mode,” he added.
The Union minister for tourism disclosed that a theme park like the Sentosa Park in Singapore would be set up in Uttar Pradesh to attract tourists.
He said that the Buddhist circuit, Sufi circuit and the Hindu circuit would be further developed since these had immense tourist potential. The minister said that an important factor for foreign tourists remained hygiene and sanitation and for this, he proposed to involve the private sector.