In an exclusive interview, S J Haider, principal secretary – tourism, devsthanam, pilgrimage & civil aviation, industries & mines department, Government of Gujarat spoke to Steena Joy on the various initiatives lined up by the state government
What are your business expectations from this Travel Mart?
We signed 20 MoUs at the opening ceremony and another 30 qualitative MoUs at VGITM. This was over and above the 4500 B2B meetings which formed the core of this travel mart. Besides, our state has only recently come out with a very attractive and aggressive tourism policy on World Tourism Day in September. It has been just four-five months and yet we have received overwhelming response for this. And more than 100 investors have come forward and expressed interest in investing in the tourism sector ranging from desert tourism to eco tourism, etc. We expect to attract investment of Rs 1000 crore over the policy period and that will be a win-win for us.
As of now we have so many months and years to go. We have already accorded industry status to tourism. So it is a good scenario for tourism and we would like to make the most of it. We would also like to promote sustainable development and inclusive growth. The government of India’s initiatives like Make in India, Digital India, Swachch Bharat Abhiyan – all this would be supported by our tourism initiatives. We are also augmenting infrastructure everywhere.
The PPP model?
With growth in visitor arrivals from 26 lakh to 3.5 crore, we have to step up our infrastructure capacity to meet this influx. And the government cannot do this alone. We are keen on the PPP model – we did the Rann Utsav, Nalsarovar – all on PPP basis. So we would like to use the PPP route as much as possible.
What support is expected from the Government of India?
We are grateful to the MoT for earmarking Rs 30 crore for the development of Dwarka. There are many things we plan to do with this funding. And the state government is also going to supplement this in a big way because Dwarka and Beyt Dwarka will require no less than Rs 200-300 crore or even more for development. We will also try to improve connectivity by building a jetty, bridges, sanitation, civic amenities, etc, and also encourage handicrafts and local artisans in these pilgrim places by giving them marketing support and facilities like shopping arcades.
We have to 17 airports in the state including one international airport. We will soon be promoting regional connectivity. We have floated tenders and will soon finalise this. In a month or so,we will be able to see our regional connectivity initiatives.