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Karnataka holds state's first tourism investors meet

Gayatri Vijaykumar - Bangalore

Momentum Karnataka 2008, the state's first-ever investor’s meet in Bangalore conducted by department of tourism, Government of Karnataka, welcomed potential investors representing leading hospitality brands and looking at investing across the state. Speaking at the meet, I M Vittalamurthy, secretary to government, department of Kannada & Culture, Information and Tourism, Government of Karnataka, said, "Tourism has been accorded top priority in Karnataka and we would like to showcase investment opportunities to potential investors. However, lack of facilities at destinations is a major concern." According to him, the prime areas of focus will be heritage tourism, eco-tourism and coastal tourism.

The state government has formed a single clearance system through Udyog Mitra, the Infrastructure Development Corporation Karnataka (IDEK) and Karnataka Tourism in order to guide tourism investors in the state. According to Vittalamurthy, the investment drive will be spread over six months in two phases of 90 days each. "During the first phase we will assess investor intentions and match them with the available land. The second phase of 90 days will focus on implementing the projects," he explained.

He added that around 300 blocks of land have been identified. "The department of tourism will facilitate interaction between interested investors and land owners. Government land will be made available at 50 per cent of the market price for developing tourism projects," Vittalamurthy said. As part of the state initiatives to develop coastal tourism, M Maheshwara Rao, District Deputy Commissioner, Mangalore said that the state is undertaking improvement and development of road, rail and air connectivity. The state will also undertake the development of five beaches and 380 eco-tourism areas around Mangalore. For the development of eco-tourism, Dr Sanjay Bijoor, IFS, special officer (Eco-tourism), Government of Karnataka added that the prime focus would be to develop tourism outside the protected area. "We are awaiting the eco-tourism policy of the government of India so that we can formulate the state's eco-tourism policy. We would like to develop eco-tourism activities outside the protected areas," he said.

As part of its increased focus on tourism, the DoT has also formulated a draft tourism policy for the period 2007-08 to 2011-12. The policy, according to the department aims to make tourism Karnataka's principal and largest economic activity as an employer and tax generator.