- Gujarat government proclaimed its new tourism policy for 2020-25
- Policy highlights attracting new investments in the state’s “high priority tourism centres”.
THoD Newsdesk, Gujarat: On Tuesday, Gujarat government proclaimed its new tourism policy for 2020-25 which highlights attracting new investments in the state’s “high priority tourism centres”. This will be implemented by offering lucrative incentives to entrepreneurs. The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani, stated that tourism projects, such as hotels and resorts, will be eligible for subsidies on investment and other incentives will be in place too.
As per reports, some of these high priority centres are Kutch, Devbhumi-Dwarka, Narmada, Gir-Somnath, Porbandar, Junagadh and Dang districts. Further, a few parts of other districts, such as Dhari in Amreli and Dabhoi in Vadodara, are also included in the list of high priority tourism centres.
Rupani was quoted saying, “Instead of focusing on the entire state, our aim is to develop tourism infrastructure in these high priority areas. Under the new policy, incentives will be given where it was needed the most. Some of the new avenues which we are targeting are beach tourism, caravans and rural experience-based tourism.”
Under the banner of the policy, the government will provide for a 20 % waiver on capital investment, for setting up a hotel in the designated high priority centres. The minimum investment tally is set at ₹1 crore and there has been no limit set on the count of maximum investment, which excludes the cost of land, as per the policy document. To initiate theme parks or amusement parks in these priority centres, the subsidy will be 15% for an investment in the range of ₹50 crore to ₹500 crores.
To attract large investments in this avenue, the state government will provide land on lease, in addition to the 15% subsidy, for projects of more than ₹500 crores proposed investment, according to the policy.
As per the policy document, to promote rural tourism, fair organisers will get an assistance of ₹5 lakh per year to organise “all-inclusive annual fairs and festivals showcasing indigenous culture, dance, handlooms and handicrafts.”
