The Puducherry Tourism Development Corporation has inked an MoU with Parveen Holidays Private Limited to operate tourist packages from Puducherry to Tirupati and vice versa and also to link the union territory with Shridi, Welfare and Tourism Minister P Rajavelu said today.
This has been done to increase the tourist influx, he told reporters here.
Rajavelu said Chief Minister N Rangasamy would flag off the Puducherry-Tirupati trip on February 26.
The Union Territory attracted an influx of around 12 lakh domestic tourists during 2015-2016 fiscal, he said.
He said Parveen Holidays private limited would take care of accommodation of the pilgrims making use of the package trips to Tirupati and also Shridi.
He said road shows would be held by PTDC in various parts of the country and abroad to bring to focus the tourist scenario in Puducherry.
A training programme would also be conducted to cover staff of travel agencies in association with the Parveen company so as to raise the influx of tourists.
On reactivating the airport here, which has been defunct for almost a year after a private flight operator withdrew from providing services between Puducherry and Bengaluru, Rajavelu said government was intensifying steps to reintroduce the service in association with another private fleet operator.
Talks were on and this would materialise soon to bring the airport back on the air service map, he said.
