India is witnessing encouraging trends in the tourism sector with foreign tourist inflows touching 5 million mark in the year 2007. Domestic tourism is also a key driver. The “Incredible India” campaign has led to immense interest and awareness and is likely to result in significantly larger numbers of tourists traveling to and within the country.  All this requires infrastructure, particularly at the key destinations / circuits.

The Ministry of Tourism has taken a policy initiative to develop the tourist destinations / circuits of national importance in a holistic and integrated manner.  The objective is to ensure that the infrastructure of these mega destinations / circuits is developed to the extent that it can cater to the future tourist inflows so that visitors get a satisfying and memorable experience.

Identification and development of mega destinations/circuits is a continuous process.  So far 20 such destinations / circuits of national importance have been identified in consultation with the State Governments on the basis of data indicating foot falls and potential arrivals.
These include:

• Agra – Revitalization of Taj (Uttar Pradesh)
• Varanasi – Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh)
• Bodhgaya – Rajgir – Nalanda (Bihar)
• Illumination of monuments of Delhi (Delhi)
• Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu)
• Puri – Bhubaneswar – Konark-Chilka (Orissa)
• Haridwar-Rishikesh (Uttarakhand)
• Hampi (Karnataka)
• Gangtok (Sikkim)
• Ajmer – Pushkar (Rajasthan)
• Kurukshetra (Haryana)
• Charminar area of Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh)
• Jagdalpur-Tirathgarh-Chitrakoot-Barsoo (Chattisgarh)
• Dwarka (Gujarat)
• Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh)
• Churches of Goa
• Ganga Heritage River Cruise Circuit (West Bengal)
• Vidarbha Circuit (Maharashtra)
• Aurangabad (Maharashtra)
• Amritsar (Punjab)

Under this new initiative, Ministry of Tourism will provide Financial Assistance up to Rs. 25 crore for development of a mega destination and Rs.50 crore for a mega circuit.  Apart from this financial assistance, Ministry of Tourism is also working with other central government ministries and concerned state governments to achieve convergence and synergy with other government programmes so that the impact of investment on these destinations is maximized.

For identified destinations / circuits covered by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, convergence of the resources is being ensured so that the tourism related infrastructure and urban civic infrastructure complement each other.

Ministry of Tourism has already sanctioned Rs.102 Crore for mega projects at Agra, Varanasi-Sarnath, Bodhgaya-Rajgir-Nalanda, and Illumination of monuments of Delhi, Mahabalipuram, Kurukshetra & Charminar area of Hyderabad.

It has been recognized that the infrastructure bottlenecks related to air, rail and road connectivity as well as hotel accommodation will also have to be addressed to ensure that identified circuit / destinations develop to their fullest potential.  Therefore, Ministry of Tourism has also taken up these issues with the Ministries of Civil Aviation, Railways and Road Transport and Highways for upgradation / modernization of airports, increasing of air seat capacities, improving and modernization of railway stations, improved rail connectivity and improved linkage of these places with national / state highways.

The Ministry of Tourism’s objective is to ensure that with enhanced investments and an integrated approach, the mega destinations/ circuit will be developed to maximize their potential. The resulting increase in tourist inflows, in turn, will lead to economic development and employment generation in and around these places.