1OO tourist spots to get a facelift in five-year plan

Hiring global experts, focused plans for selected destinations at a later stage

- Mihir Mishra

A blueprint to spruce up India's tourism industry is in the works. The Centre is preparing a five-year plan to develop about l OO tourist destinations to global standards, and position them according to their individual potential, according to two officials close to the discussions.

"We may take up about 30 destinations in the first phase, where a campaign will be started," the first official said, requesting not to be identified, adding that it would target basics like cleanliness, hygiene and tourist safety.

"The destinations will be distributed across all segments of tourism and will target a substantial improvement in visas, customs and immigration experience across key airports to begin wit the official added.

The two officials said that the dates and announcement timelines ofthe scheme's roll-out and campaign launch are still being discussed. The plan, which is being deliberated at various levels and departments of the government including the tourism ministry, aims to achieve its targets by 2029-30.

The development comes in the backdrop of India drawing up an ambitious goal to build a $3-trillion tourism economy and attract l OO million foreign visitors annually by 2047 as part of the Viksit Bharat@2047 initiative.

In 2023, India saw 9.23 million foreign tourists, and the current size of the tourism economy is ₹2.3 trillion (about $28 billion), according to data from the Economic Survey 2023-24.