Rajasthan must announce tourism policy before investor meet: Industry execs

The tourism industry has requested the state government to announce a policy for the sector before the three-day Rising Rajasthan investment summit begins in Jaipur on December 9.

Investors will consider the sector if a policy is announced before the summit, said industry executives. Surendra Singh Shahpura, a senior member of the Hotel Federation of Rajasthan, said that the state is famous for heritage tourism.

“In all the investment summits held in the state so far, a large amount of investment came 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 Shahpura.

Investors will know about government facilities and subsidies for investments in tourism. “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 which will create employment. Only through rural tourism can the migration of people from villages to cities be stopped,” he said.

The government must pay attention to historical monuments in rural areas. It should make licensing for hotels, land conversion, and building plan processes easy.

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

Rajasthan tourism should be promoted in international fairs and marts. The government should have a budget for monuments’ maintenance. The tourism policy should be mindful of forests and eco-sensitive areas, said Chandela.

Sanjay Kaushik, who runs a travel company, said the policy should consider tour operators and support them with easy financing and low road taxes on commercial vehicles.