PR agencies to promote Indian tourism abroad

BANGALORE, JULY 25: The Union Government has decided to use public relations (PR) agencies to promote tourism abroad, to curb the "n...

BANGALORE, JULY 25: The Union Government has decided to use public relations (PR) agencies to promote tourism abroad, to curb the "negative portrayal" of India in international circles.

Regional Director of the Tourism Department, Azeem, said at a seminar on `Indian Tourism in the coming Millennium’ on Friday, that poverty and other negative aspects of the country were being “blown up and portrayed” by the media abroad.

Tourism promoters often never provided tourists what they actually wanted, he said. Tour packages were chalked out merely from the tour operators’ point of view. Many of the sites tourists visited were not really of tourist interest, he said.

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State Tourism secretary Usha Ganesh said the Government has decided to encourage private sector participation in tourism projects.

Karnataka being the first State to have a tourism policy, had come up with a `Single Window Clearance System’ for projects submitted by the private sector. In its revised tourism policy, incentives for the privatesector has been increased, Ganesh said.

Quoting statistics, Usha Ganesh said 516 projects worth Rs 214 crore were cleared. Of this, 163 projects have been completed, creating employment opportunities for almost 13,000 people.

Uttar Pradesh Tourism Minister Kalraj Misra stressed the need for more websites, films and CD-Roms to attract tourists.