Andaman & Nicobar to have a tourism policy soon

Anupama Sushil - New Delhi

The Union Territory of the Andaman & Nicobar has announced its focus on creating better infrastructure in order to attract more tourists. Speaking exclusively to Express TravelWorld, Chhering Targay, chief secretary of Andaman & Nicobar, said, "The airport is undergoing upgradation in terms of facilities and expansion including additional parking facilities for aircraft as it has already been declared as an international airport." This is being undertaken by the Airports Authority of India.

The chief secretary added that the ministry of civil aviation is strongly considering starting international flights to Port Blair by the end of this year, for which facilities like immigration and customs have to be set up, which will take place under the consultation of various ministries like the home and the foreign affairs ministry along with the ministry of civil aviation, he added.

Meanwhile, the tourism front is also being looked at. The chief secretary said that its government is in the process of developing a tourism policy that is expected to be released by the end of March. The policy will focus on promoting balanced tourism to bring in tourists without damaging the island's environment. He added that a regulatory mechanism will be created to ensure that tourism does not adversely affect the island's environment. Concentrating on eco-tourism activities, he remarked that the Forest Department would be taking care of these issues with the help of the tourism department and the forest corporation. "This is just the beginning and we plan to promote tourism on a larger scale," he added.

While infrastructural facilities are underway, the main concern of accommodation is being carefully reviewed. Recently, the islands adopted the national government's B&B scheme and are currently set to expand this facility. In addition, the Planning Commission is strongly considering restoring and converting properties into hotels based on the public-private partnership principle, which is based on revenue-sharing where the property is operated by a private party for a number of years, finally coming back under the Union Territory government. The state has also released an Expression of Interest for the appointment of consultants who can then clear the mode of operation of such a sort of partnership, he revealed. However, till date no concessions have been introduced under the tourism policy for players on allotment of land and tax.