The Southern States' Tourism Ministers' Conference held here today unanimously resolved to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for implementation of Southern Splendour Train project, the south India tourism project fashioned on the lines of Palace on Wheels covering the five states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Pondicherry. |
The modalities of the SPV such as debt-equity ratio and shareholding pattern will be decided by a committee of five members consisting of secretaries/commissioners of the five respective states, within a month. |
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The Andhra Pradesh government has already allocated its share to the project in this year's budget. The committee will work out the modalities of SPV for Southern Splendour and give its recommendations on the proposed rationalisation of road taxes among the states. |
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Among other issues, it was also decided to organise a five-day Dakshin Utsav at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi every year. This year, the utsav will begin either in June or November. The utsav will showcase different facets of southern states. |
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Inaugurating the conference in the morning, chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy urged for a closer cooperation among the southern states to woo foreign tourists to look beyond the Delhi-Agra-Jaipur circuit. |
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The chief minister said that the South put together has everything that a traveller asks for. |
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"This combined strength is what we need to cash in on together," he said adding that cooperation among southern states needs to replace competitiveness. |
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"Our aim should be to double the present tourist inflow, both domestic and international, into south India over the next five years," he said while offering to work together on various projects. |
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The South India Tourism Council (Sitcon), formed by the five states registered under the Societies Act, will assist and encourage in the development and marketing of south Indian destinations in a unified manner, as a common tourism bloc. It is headquartered at Hyderabad. |
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Karnataka tourism minister D T Jayakumar, Pondicherry minister A Namassivayam, Andhra Pradesh tourism minister J Geeta Reddy, principal secretaries, commissioners of both tourism departments and tourism corporations of the five states participated in the conference. |
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