Punjab Government is all set to give a fresh lease of life to its ‘closed’ tourist complexes.
Announcing this during a high-level meeting, State Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday said the “now closed” tourist complexes, owned by the Punjab Government, were situated on very apt and attractive locations in and outside Punjab.
Sidhu, who brainstormed with the departmental officials as well as hotel industry representatives to evolve a strategy to run these complexes, instructed the officials concerned to prepare a roadmap about the issue so as to take forward the plan on a fast track basis.
“There are scores of places of tourist attraction in and outside Punjab which are owned by the State Government but are rendered ineffective and cannot be used because of not being operational with only a few of the sites being used,” he pointed.
He maintained that Punjab has no dearth of places with potential to catch the fancy of tourists like Pincassia at Ropar, Amaltas Hotel at ludhiana, Kandba Tourist Complex at Nangal, Silver Oak Tourist Complex at Malout, Surajmukhi Tourist complex at Khamanon, Champa Tourist Huts at Sri Anandpur Sahib, Moulsri Aam Khas Bagh at Sirhind, Tourist Oasis at ludhiana, Hotel Blue Bell at Phagwara, lajwanti Filling Station at Hoshiarpur, Bougainvillea Floating restaurant at Sirhind, Magnolia tourist complex at Kartarpur, Tourist complex Chohal Dam at Hoshiarpur, Ethnic Centre at Chamkaur Sahib, Tourist reception centre at Sri Anandpur Sahib, Thareti (Pathankot) and IHM Boothgarh at Mohali.
He said tourist places of other States like Goa, Dharamshala, Manali, Mussourie and Jaipur also have Punjab Government owned tourist complexes which are not being used.
Sidhu issued instructions to the departmental officials to take concrete steps so as to make them useable for the tourists which would lead to the growth of coffers of the department by leaps and bounds.
Underlining the running of government tourist complexes as his top priority, he said that he would leave no stone unturned in taking this mission to its logical conclusion.
The minister also exhorted the hotel industry representatives to formulate proposals in this regard and also evolve methods to run the scheme on public private partnership (PPP) mode.
He assured that Punjab is the best tourist destination to satiate the cultural and religious appetite of the tourists and to attract them, the department would frame a special policy.