Uttar Pradesh Amps Up Adventure Tourism Efforts to Raise Footfall
25.08.2023 - 13:06
/ skift.com
/ Amrita Ghosh
/ Kishan Reddy
The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to implement its Water Tourism and Adventure Sports Policy-2023 to boost tourism in the state.
The policy would be effective for 10 years and be applicable on all inland, air and water routes, dams/reservoirs, lakes, rivers, ponds and water bodies in Uttar Pradesh, said state tourism minister Jaiveer Singh.
“Hills in the Vindhya and the Bundelkhand regions, about 16,620 square kilometers in the foothills of the Himalayas as well as forest areas, rivers and waterfalls, dams, reservoirs and lakes have a lot of potential for water-based tourism, adventure sports and water sports,” he said.
Adventure sports units would be developed at divisional levels. UP State Tourism Development Corporation and the Ex-servicemen Welfare Corporation would sign a memorandum of understanding to include ex-servicemen in the adventure sports units, Singh said.
He further added that necessary guidelines would be worked out for giving licenses for tourism and adventure sports and a standard operation procedure would be developed within 60 days of the release of this policy.
The state cabinet also approved a proposal to develop nine heritage buildings as heritage tourism units on a public-private partnership model. The buildings would feature a heritage hotel, resort, museum, banquet hall and adventure tourism center, the minister said.
Earlier in April, Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy spoke about focusing on infrastructure development to make India a top adventure tourism destination.
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has signed a management agreement with Ginger Tree Goveia to bring a new hotel to Goa. Centrally located in North Goa, voco Goa Arpora is set to open its doors in January 2025.
Earlier this year, the company announced the signing of two voco hotels in Jim Corbett and Gurugram, both expected to open in 2024. The latest signing marks the rapid expansion of voco, IHG’s seventh brand in the country in a prime leisure destination.
Last month, IHG opened a 192-room Holiday Inn Lucknow Airport in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
The Swiss embassy in New Delhi has said that it will not be accepting Schengen visa applications for Indian tour groups until October due to the high volume of applications that still need processing.
Following the announcement from the embassy, tour operators said they had been asked to plan group trips for a later time so that visas can be submitted and issued in time before the travel date.
Simon Bosshart, head of markets east at Switzerland Tourism, stressed that the Swiss embassies are currently dealing with a lack of staff, adding that the staff shortages are also affecting travelers from China who wish to visit Switzerland in groups.