All 30 districts in Karnataka, including the recently-formed Ramanagaram and Yadgir, will soon have their own tourism master plans. This is expected to attract tourists to little known places with potential and thus improve the prospects of Karnataka becoming one of India's leading tourism destinations. The master plans will identify the destinations and develop infrastructure there.
This is first time that the Department of Tourism has taken up the task of preparing district-wise tourism master plans. The Tourism Master Plan, which focuses on comprehensive development of tourism infrastructure in the State, was released in March this year, and the district tourism master plans are region-specific.
Tourism Director Vishwanath Reddy told The Hindu that the tourism master plans would be prepared studying the strengths of the tourism of each district. While some districts have several tourism sites, a few others have limited sites. Based on the number of sites and their tourism value, the plans will be prepared with details on the duration of time for their development.
“The thrust is on identifying the destinations having potential of drawing tourists any time in the year and making an in-depth analysis on what needs to be done for their development with an eye on drawing tourists in big numbers,” he said.
“Guide”
Mr. Reddy said the tourism master plan for each district would serve as a “guide” for development. “When you have information on the sites, it is easier for us to plan their orderly development incorporating facilities that a tourist expects,” he said.
Tourism potential varied from one district to another. Some plans might contain voluminous details while others might have limited inputs. Importantly, the plans would incorporate the sites which did not attract tourists but had the potential to become popular tourist destinations.
