Uttar Pradesh – the land of the Taj Mahal is now looking to promote lesser-known tourism experiences and products of the state in both domestic and international markets.
The most populated state of India introduced its new tourism policy in November 2022. Besides providing a conducive business environment with an investment-friendly approach to encourage and sustain private sector participation, the new tourism policy focuses on marketing and promoting new tourism products, events, and the lesser-known destinations of the state globally to attract incremental tourist footfalls. The government of Uttar Pradesh has recognized that it expects the tourism sector to play a key role in the state’s ambition of becoming a trillion-dollar economy.
Mukesh Kumar Meshram, Principal Secretary & Director General, Tourism, Government of Uttar Pradesh said, India is blessed with a rich history and a vibrant heritage further embodied as living museums through diverse art and culture often referred to as intangible artefacts inherited from past generations. UP’s rich culture and heritage would be a key driver further enhancing its strong positioning in this product not only domestically but also internationally. The focus shall also be placed on facilitating visitors touring culture, heritage, and archaeological assets in adjacent destinations to explore the state.”
“We want to promote theme-based activities like wellness, heritage, adventure, cuisine tourism, eco-tourism and film tourism to name a few. Investment-based subsidies have been offered to the hotel industry in the new tourism policy. We are also offering a 2 per cent extra incentive to film shoots that highlight lesser-known tourist destinations of the state,” added Meshram
The new policy has been formed keeping in view new emerging trends in the tourism sector, representations given by various stakeholders including the tourism and trade organisation and suggestions received from other departments. The policy primarily addresses issues related to ease of implementation through a District promotion council and Policy Implementation Unit, speedy implementation through inter-departmental coordination with departments like Revenue, Urban Development and Housing and Local Self-Government and incentivizing tourist destinations as Focus Tourist Destinations around Uttar Pradesh.
The government of Uttar Pradesh is planning to give a facelift to the forts located in the Bundelkhand region in order to develop them as new centres of tourism. “We are looking to work with private partners to introduce light and sound shows and trekking facilities at the Kalinjar Fort. We also plan to introduce water sports activities in Barua Sagar Lake which is located adjacent to the beautiful fort complex of Baruasagar,” informed Meshram.
The tourism department of the state is working closely with the state’s Eco-Tourism Board and forest department to promote eco, nature and wildlife experiences in both domestic and international markets.
Uttar Pradesh is blessed with expansive and picturesque rivers conducive to the development of cruise-based tourism. The tourism department of the state is emphasizing on the promotion of river tourism, especially in the luxury segment. The commencement of the world’s longest river cruise journey – Ganga Vilas on January 13 this year is expected to bring the spotlight on the river cruise tourism segment of the state. Being operated by Antara Luxury River Cruises, the journey commenced from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to Dibrugarh in Assam.
“The government of Uttar Pradesh is very keen to showcase the potential vested in its river cruise tourism market. Within the state, we are planning to begin river cruises between Prayagraj to Ballia and Ayodhya to Varanasi. These river cruises will also allow tourists to explore remote areas of the state,” said Raj Singh, Founder & Chairman, Antara Luxury River Cruises.
The new tourism policy of Uttar Pradesh has also stated the wedding and MICE segments as one of the focused tourism areas. The tourism department is at present identifying wedding tourism destinations to be listed in an online inventory system to aid wedding planners and event management firms. Moreover, locations are being finalized in destinations like Agra and Ghaziabad for setting up state-of-the-art conventional centres supported by an event ecosystem to project the state as an attractive MICE destination.
The government of Uttar Pradesh is looking to showcase mega events such as Kumbh Mela on the world stage through targeted marketing and promotional activities, with efforts to enlist other such mega celebrations as intangible world heritage. The state government has been very effective to develop Ardh Kumbh as a separate tourist attraction. Similarly, events like Buddhist conclave, Yoga conclave, sound and technology shows shall be facilitated. Uttar Pradesh attracts a plethora of devotees from far and wide. The state government aims to promote various spiritual experiences among travellers.
The new tourism policy has stressed on the need to develop wellness centres in key spiritual areas, and thus integrate wellness with spiritual tourism. Thus, the state government has plans to create world-class wellness centres in spiritual areas of Uttar Pradesh like Sarnath, Shravasti (on the banks of river Tapti), Kapilvastu, Varanasi (along the river Ganga) and Mathura (Vrindavan).
Uttar Pradesh has received total investment proposals of over Rs 35,000 crore in the hospitality and tourism sectors. The intended investments pertain to a large number of projects including hotels, resorts, river cruises, wellness hubs, ecotourism, entertainment zones, and theme parks, among others. While hotels and resorts projects account for nearly Rs 20,000 crore worth of investment proposals, miscellaneous projects comprise the remaining portion of the proposed investment kitty.
The state has firmed up over 400 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with private firms in this regard. The investment proposals were garnered during the recent domestic and international roadshows organised in the run-up to the UP Global Investors Summit (GIS) 2023 which is scheduled to take place between February 10-12 in Lucknow.
As part of India’s G20 Presidency, 11 meetings in various cities of Uttar Pradesh took place between February 13 and 15. The government of Uttar Pradesh is utilizing these meetings to offer foreign delegates a taste of unique experiences like ‘Braj’ culture through folk song and dance performances.
The rise of Ayodhya
With the Ram temple expected to be ready by early 2024, the state government is developing infrastructure to make the temple town a tourism hub.
The Uttar Pradesh government with support from the Centre is developing a number of infrastructural projects in Ayodhya with the objective to promote the destination for tourism activities. Some of these infrastructure projects include the construction of Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram Airport, which in the beginning can facilitate movement of 300 passengers per hour, the beautification of 108 mythological ponds, including the ancient Surya Kund, a railway station to be equipped with world-class facilities, multi-level parking facilities, construction of Ayodhya Bypass (Ring Road) and widening of Shri Ram Janma Bhoomi Path, Chaurasi Kosi Parikrama Marg, Bhakti Path and Ram Path.
There are 264 infrastructure projects worth nearly Rs 32,000 crore in the pipeline. Out of these, 143 projects worth Rs 22,500 crore have been identified as priority projects which are expected to be completed by 2024 when the Temple opens for the public. The Ayodhya Development Authority (ADA) will add a fleet of 10 solar ferries to take the tourists around the temple town. The ADA is planning to upgrade the infrastructure, and introducing swanky solar ferries will be a step in this direction.