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Everything official about this: Explore India from April 1

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will launch the Explore India Millennium Year in New Delhi on Tuesday, March 30, as India joins the world in using the turn of the century to draw people to tourist destinations.

The Explore India event will be from April 1, 1999 to March 31, 2000 and the country will offer visitors special packages, value-added services and special events, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Ananth Kumar said today.

He said international airlines, various embassies, tourism offices abroad and organisations will carry the message of the Explore India drive to people all over the world. India aims to achieve an eight per cent growth in tourist arrivals.

Ananth Kumar said tour operators and hotel chains had already agreed to give 40 per cent discount in tariff to foreign tourists from April to October at heritage hotels and 25 per cent at five-star establishments.

A meeting had been held with the home minister, Delhi lieutenant governor, chief minister and officials of the finance and civil aviation ministries to ease procedures. States had been asked to rationalise tax regimes to make India an attractive destination.

The Khajuraho millennium, 300th year of the Khalsa celebrations, the first ray of the millennium at Catchal in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the first sunrise of the millennium over the Kanchenjunga are the various events planned to draw tourists.

Ananth Kumar said 'focus states' had been identified for each month taking into consideration the cultural events there. Like: April had been allotted to Punjab and Assam because of the large number of cultural events there. A CD-ROM of the Explore India campaign was being sent all over the world to promote the event.

Impetus was also being given to infrastructure development. India needed at least 135,000 rooms to cater to a tourist arrival of five million. At present, there were 50,000 rooms in the country and 35,000 were in the pipeline.

The minister said that at a meeting, 39 international airlines had given an overwhelming response to carry the message, through logos and literature and at least 40 ambassadors had also supported the event.

Kumar said contrary to what was felt, tourist arrivals from countries like the United States, Canada, France, Australia and the United Kingdom had increased in the post-Pokhran period, although this fiscal year there had been a 0.7 per cent increase in tourist arrivals.

He said if incentives given to the software and textile industries were also given to tourism, it would make a major contribution to the social and economic well-being of the country.

The minister, in reply to a question, said he had held talks with the home minister and finance minister to consider visa relaxation for tourists. Details were being worked out in this regard, he added.

To put tourism on the national agenda, the ministry, besides organising the Explore India, was also going to hold a meeting of state tourism ministers within the next two months and a world tourism summit later.

Final shape was being given to the national tourism policy which will emphasise on creating tourism awareness, both inside and outside the country, and shift the focus of tourism from a sectoral issue to the mainstream.

UNI

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