Plan to develop 50 cultural circuits across India as tourist spots

The ministry of tourism has identified 50 circuits having major and relevant tourist places and attractions and a judicious mix of culture, heritage, spiritualism and ecotourism for developing tourism.

These destinations will give tourists a holistic perspective of the country, minister of state for tourism, culture (independent charge) and civil aviation Mahesh Sharma told the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Port Blair-Neil Havelock-Little Andaman (Andaman and Nicobar), Kashmir Circuit (Jammu and Kashmir), Desert circuit (Rajasthan), Nature Tourism Circuit (West Bengal), Braj-Agra Circuit (Uttar Pradesh), Gangtok (Sikkim) are among the circuits identified for development.

The ministry has formulated a plan scheme 'Swadesh Darshan' for integrated development of tourist circuits around specific themes. The five circuits indentified under this scheme are Buddhist Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Coastal Circuit, Krishna Circuit and North-East Circuit.

The ministry of tourism provides central financial assistance (CFA) to various state governments/union territory administrations for various tourism projects prioritised every year in consultation with them, subject to availability of funds, inter-se priority, liquidation of pending utilisation certificates against the funds released earlier and adherence to the scheme guidelines.

In 2012-13, a total of 136 projects were sanctioned to the states and an amount of Rs929 crore was sanctioned to them for these projects. In 2013-14, the number of projects sanctioned in various states was 261, for which Rs1,801 crore was sanctioned. In 2014-15 (till December 2014) a total of 53 projects were sanctioned in the states for which Rs333 crore was sanctioned to them for these projects, the minister pointed out.

Meanwhile, arrival of foreign tourists in the country during the period January-December 2014 grew by 7.1 per cent, compared to a growth of 5.9 per cent during January-December 2013

Foreign tourist arrivals during January-December 2014 stood at 74.62 lakh, showing a growth of 7.1 per cent compared to 69.68 lakh tourists during January-December 2013, which in turn showed a growth of 5.9 per cent over the corresponding period of 2012.

Foreign exchange earnings from tourism in rupee terms during January-December 2014 stood at Rs1,20,083 crore, showing a growth of 11.5 per cent compared to the foreign exchange earnings of Rs1,07,671 crore during January- December 2013, which in turn showed a growth of 14.0 per cent over the corresponding period of 2012, the minister informed the House in a separate statement.