Now Reading: Tamil Nadu to develop tourism infrastructure to draw foreign visitors
-
01
Tamil Nadu to develop tourism infrastructure to draw foreign visitors
The Tamil Nadu government will develop tourism infrastructure across the State to turn specific locations into international destinations, Minister for Tourism S. Rajesh Kumar said in Coimbatore on Thursday. Inaugurating the SKAL…
The Story in Brief
The Tamil Nadu government will develop tourism infrastructure across the State to turn specific locations into international destinations, Minister for Tourism S. Rajesh Kumar said in Coimbatore on Thursday. Inaugurating the SKAL India National Congress, he said Mamallapuram will be developed jointly with the Central government at Rs 200 crore this year. River tourism will be taken up on three rivers, fully by the government. The State has allocated funds for spiritual tourism for senior citizens, religious places, and forest tourism, with private sector involvement through public-private partnerships.
Minister for Backward Classes V. Sampathkumar said Coimbatore, though lacking major tourist spots, is the second district in the State by tourist footfall, attracting nearly 1.5 crore annual visitors. Venkatesan Dhattareyan, Southern Regional Director of the Union Tourism Ministry, said Tamil Nadu ranks second in domestic tourists and seventh in foreign visitors, receiving 8.5% and 6.5% of the national totals respectively.
The Indian Opinion
The plan to develop tourism across all revenue districts and on rivers sounds ambitious, but success hinges on execution. While Mamallapuram gets a headline-grabbing Rs 200 crore, the government must ensure that smaller projects don't languish. The claim that Tamil Nadu is a 'safe State' for tourists needs to be backed by better policing and infrastructure at crowded sites. The real test will be whether foreign arrivals, currently only 6.5% of India's total, rise measurably after these developments. Can the State match its domestic tourism success with international visitors?
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
