K'taka's new tourism policy to push new destinations

The policy is expected by January next

Karnataka's new tourism policy, expected to come out by January next, will focus on showcasing the newer tourism destinations in the state.

This will be apart from the efforts to create an investor and hospitality-friendly atmosphere.

The policy will also give a special focus to driving private sector's involvement in the tourism sector and the government will work as a catalyst, said I M Vittalamurthy, tourism secretary, government of Karnataka.

The state government has constituted a 17-member state tourism council headed by Karnataka chief minister H D Kumaraswamy with the deputy chief minister, finance and tourism ministers and many retired IAS officers as members to give a further fillip to the tourism industry in the state.

The first meeting of the council will be convened this month to provide guidance on the new tourism policy and co-opt the other members of the council.

Vittalamurthy said that before devising the policy, the state government had vetted the important features of tourism policies of states like Kerala, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh to get the right guidance.

The state government has, meanwhile, empowered the deputy commissioners to allocate funds to the tune of Rs 1 crore each, for promoting the local tourist destinations.

Besides, the state has so far given Rs 4 crore to several districts in the state to implement the tourism-related projects. The IT secretary said the state government had allocated Rs 54 crore to the PWD to connect important tourism destinations with good roads.

Besides, to give a boost to creating more employment opportunities for locals in the tourism sector, the state government plans to spend Rs 5 crore for starting specialised tourism courses in partnership with leading academic institutions.

"We are in the final phase of structuring the syllabus for the four-year specialised course in tourism. We are in talks with some institutions to start the courses and once started this will help create a local pool of tourism professionals that will help project the state and its culture better," Vittalamurthy added.

Meanwhile, prominent members from international travel trade and media have shown interest in featuring Karnataka's major tourist destinations.

A delegation from the state tourism department, which accompanied many private entrepreneurs to the World Travel Mart in London recently, held discussions with many acclaimed international travel writers.

The BBC World and EuroNews have also shown interest in joining hands with the Karnataka Tourism Department to feature Karnataka in their travel programme.