Though Chhattisgarh has a large number of tourist spots, the number of tourists visiting the state is quite low due to lack of infrastructure facilities, he said.
Currently, 1,500 foreign tourists and 100,000 Indian tourists visit Chhattisgarh every year. "We are now targeting to raise this number to 5,000 and 200,000 respectively over the next two years," he said, adding they were looking for more tourists from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Towards this, the board is strengthening its tourism information networks in these states. The Chhattisgarh Tourism board is operational at Hyderabad, Vizag, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, and Bhubaneswar among other states.
The government has allotted 5-12 acres for each motel, which will have 6-8 rooms including other facilities. Upon completion, the government will hand over these motels to private parties, he said.