Cabinet to mull single-point nod for hotel projects

The Cabinet will soon deliberate on a proposal to establish a single-point clearance system for new hotel projects, a move that is likely to speed up the process of setting up hospitality infrastructure across the country, the Tourism Ministry said.

"A Committee of Secretaries has cleared the proposal for single-window clearance of hotel projects and this is to be posed for Cabinet approval soon," Union Minister for Tourism Kumari Selja said while inaugurating the third Great India Travel Bazaar here yesterday.

Under the proposal, hoteliers will need to submit only one uniform application for their projects. Committees will be formed at the central and state level for clearance of these projects.

At the Union level, the committee will be headed by the Tourism Secretary and at the state level, it will be chaired by the Chief Secretary.

"I will be heading the committee in the government of India. It is my responsibility to get it (hotel projects) through, whether it is from the state government or the central government," Tourism Secretary Sujit Banerjee said.

Selja said that the tourism industry is on the path of recovery and has started witnessing positive growth in the last few months.

In the first quarter of this year, foreign tourist arrivals had grown by 12.8 per cent over the corresponding period last year, she added.

"Tourism in India is on the road to recovery... We are focusing on renewed promotional efforts along with developing new products, as well as creating and nurturing infrastructural facilities to enhance our existing products," she said.

The ministry has also launched a campaign to improve the quality of the Indian tourism product by setting up wayside facilities and reducing the interface of a foreign tourist with just one person at the time of arrival in India.