Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

‘Tackle challenges to tourism growth’

FUTURE OF HOSPITALITY: Minister for Tourism and Registration N.Suresh Rajan (second left) releases the proceedings of the conference on hospitality organised in Coimbatore on Friday.

COIMBATORE: The Tourism Department is adopting several measures to highlight the importance of making the State an ideal tourist destination.

The ‘Virundhinar Potrudhum’ campaign and the introduction of tourist-friendly auto rickshaws are part of these efforts, N.Suresh Rajan, Minister for Tourism and Registration, Government of Tamil Nadu, said here on Friday.

Inaugurating a national conference on ‘Hospitality 2010’ at the AJK College of Arts and Science, he said so far, 20 training centres had been set up in the State, where front office staff of hotels, employees of the airports, tourist guides, police, and taxi and auto rickshaw drivers were given training in various aspects of hospitality.

Hotels were a key player in the hospitality industry as they offered employment to both the skilled and the unskilled. A single room in a five-star hotel gave direct employment to two people, he observed.

The tourist arrival in the State had gone up to 524 lakh in 2007 compared to 405 lakh in 2006. The foreign exchange earned by the country through tourism in the year 2007- 2008 alone accounted for Rs.49,400 crore.

The Department was also promoting Yelagiri, Kolli Hills, Sirumalai, Valparai, and Chettinad as major tourist destinations. The Government had allotted a capital subsidy of Rs.1 crore for improving accommodation facilities in these places. Converting heritage buildings into heritage centres was also being done. “Hospitality is the mainstay of tourism. Hence the challenges to the growth of tourism should be tackled,” he said.

Ajeeth Kumar Lal Mohan, Secretary and Managing Trustee of AJK College of Arts and Science, said even as the hospitality industry was facing threat from ‘outside forces,’ it held a lot of promise for future generations of students. The industry was expected to grow at a rate of 8 per cent by 2016.

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