The Chhattisgarh Tourism Board (CTB) has decided to offer special concessions to the travel agents and tour operators for further boosting tourist traffic in the State.
Officials stated the Board will now charge an amount of Rs 1000 for three year registration from these agents in order to provide services to the tourists.
Earlier, one year registration and validity charge amounting to Rs 1000 was fixed for travel agents by the Board.
The travel agents and tour operators have welcomed CTB's move, officials stated.
Santosh Misra, Secretary, State Tourism Department has informed that the travel agents and tour operators can apply for the registration at www. tourismcg.gov.in.
Notably the Board will be holding Road Shows within and outside the State to promote its tourist destinations.
Notably, CTB is also developing integrated recreation facilities at the Gangrel dam in Dhamtari district and Hasdeo Bango dam in Korba district, officials stated.
The Board will also seek professional consultancy for executing its ongoing and new infrastructural works relating to tourism infrastructure development in the State.
The work would involve work for landscaping, interior architectural , renovation/repairing works at various tourism facilities.
A new state-of-art building for CTB had also been proposed to be constructed at the premises of State-owned Hotel Johar Chhattisgarh near GE Road in Telibandha locality of Raipur. Along with the CTB’s building, a state-of-art Convention Center would also be constructed in the premises, officials stated.
Notably, the Central Government has recently approved Rs 99.94 crore based on a Detailed Project Report (DPR) submitted by CTB for development of the Tribal Tourism Circuit in the State under ‘Swadesh Darshan’ package.
The approval was given in a Secretary-level meeting held in New Delhi recently, officials stated. The objective of forming the tourism circuit is to highlight rich and ancient tribal culture and environment of Chhattisgarh’s tribal dominated regions.
Under this tribal tourism circuit, Jashpur, Kunkuri, Mainpat, Ambikapur, Maheshpur, Ratanpur, Kurdur, Sarodhadadar, Gangrel, Nathiyanawagaon (Kanker), Kondagaon, Jagdalpur, Chitrakoot, Teerathgarh will be developed for tourism.
In this circuit, Jashpur, Ambikapur and Sarodhadadar would be developed as ethnic tourist village and Mainpat, Kurdur, Gangrel, Kondagaon, Jagdalpur, Chitrakoot and Teerathgarh are to be developed for eco-ethnic tourism while work for sight amenities will be carried out in Kunkuri, Maheshpur and Nathiyanawagaon.
The Union Ministry of Tourism will soon be allocating funds for the circuit and work in this regard would be carried out in a sequential manner.
Notably, in August last year, the Central government had granted 'in-principle' approval for including Chhattisgarh in the ‘Tribal Tourism Circuit’ under its ‘Swadesh Darshan’ package, officials stated.
With an objective to take tourism in Chhattisgarh to the next level, the Chhattisgarh government is now planning to take a series of initiatives for developing ‘Highway Tourism’ in the State.
As many as 7777 foreign tourists visited Chhattisgarh during financial year 2014-15, as per latest data released by the Central Government