| The enhanced budgetary allocation is planned to be spend on organising fairs, festivals such as Navratri and Uttrayan etc. The government plans involve private sector for in developing tourism infrastructure. |
| "The budgetary allocation for the next financial year will be enhanced substantially for the tourism sector. The enhanced budget allocation would be majorly used for promotions through fairs and festivals. We are receiving expression of interest from the private parties and the response is encouraging. However, we can not give any concrete figure as of now as it is an ongoing process," Anil Patel, minister of state for industry and tourism, told Business Standard on Thursday. |
| According to industry sources, the 'Vibrant Gujarat' campaign, since the last two years aimed at propagating the investment potential and attracting investments, failed to evoke any response in the tourism sector, so the government will allocate substantial amount to develop infrastructure-related projects to boost the sector and attract international and domestic tourists. |
| "Gujarat has tremendous tourism potential and the government is all geared up to tap the potential of the tourism sector. Our focus is to bring Gujarat on the international tourism map," said Patel. |
| Even the government failed to rope in a single corporate sponsor for its mega 'Vibrant Gujarat' event. With the corporates shying away from solely sponsoring the event, the cash-strapped state government has no other option than to enhance its budgetary allocation for promoting fairs and such events. |
| However, during the 'Vibrant Gujarat : Navratri 2004', the government managed to rope in several corporate sponsors along with its Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd (TCGL) to act as a nodal agency for coordinating the event. |
| For tourism infrastructure development, this year's budget is expected to allocate funds for developmental projects at Saputara, the only hill station in the state, and Kutch. |
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