Bring tourism policy before investment summit: Hoteliers to Raj govt

Hoteliers in Rajasthan have appealed to the state government to come out with the much-awaited tourism policy before the upcoming investment summit in December, saying it will help investors make informed choices.

They said that the policy will offer investors insight into the facilities and subsidies being rolled out by the government for the tourism sector.

The state is holding the ‘Rising Rajasthan’ summit between December 9 and 11.

“During these summits, a big chunk of investment comes for the tourism sector. In such a situation, the government should launch the tourism policy before the summit. The benefit of this will be that the policy will be in front of the investors. And after examining it, they will be able to easily invest in Rajasthan’s tourism sector,” said Surendra Singh Shahpura, a senior office bearer in Hotel Federation of Rajasthan.

“We have already put forward many proposals in front of the government for the tourism policy. We need some subsidy from the government for rural tourism, because employment will be created in villages through rural tourism. Only through rural tourism can the migration of people from villages to cities be stopped,” he said.

Shahpura said the government will also have to pay attention to the infrastructure of monuments located in rural areas in this policy.

All types of licensing processes for hotels should be made easy. Land conversion, and the building plan process should be made easy.

Federation of Hospitality and Tourism of Rajasthan (FHTR) President Kuldeep Singh Chandela said, “Our most important demand is that all the budget hotels running across the state mainly in residential areas should be regularised.”

He said that marketing of Rajasthan tourism should be done strongly in international fairs and marts. The government should give a special budget for the maintenance of monuments and their maintenance should be done on a priority basis. Attention should also be paid to forest and eco-sensitive areas.

Sanjay Kaushik, a tour agency owner, said that tour operators should be given a place in this policy. “The government should provide some kind of facilities to us, like easy financing and low road taxes on commercial vehicles among others, because tour operators are also an important part of the tourism sector,” Kaushik said.