The Chhattisgarh Tourism Board (CTB) will be conducting a month-long ‘Guide Training’ programme after selection of 100 youths from selected districts of the State, officials informed.
A total of 10 tourism guides will be trained from Bastar district, 5 each from Raipur, Baloda Bazar, Mahasamund, Gariaband, Dhamtari, Rajnandgaon, Bilaspur, Surguja and Jashpur besides 3 each from Durg, Balod, Kondagaon, Kabirdham, Narayanpur , Kanker, Dantewada, Bijapur, Mungeli, Janjgi-Champa, Korba, Balrampur, Surajpur, Raigarh and Bemetara districts.
The Chhattisgarh Government had been making strenuous efforts to improve the quality of infrastructure and provide basic amenities in the tourism circuits, officials informed.
Notably, the Union Tourism Ministry had also allocated Rs 99.94 crore to develop Tribal Tourism Circuit to highlight tribal culture to the domestic and foreign tourists in the year 2015-16.
The districts to be developed are- Jashpur, Kunkuri, Maipaat, Ambikapur, Maheshpur, Ratanpur Kurdur, Sarodha Dadar, Gangrel, Kondagaon, Nathiyanwagaon, Jagdalpur, Chitrakoot and Thirthgad. The Tribal Theme is being implemented in these districts and the project will be completed in a phased manner.
Similarly, other tourist circuits are also being developed.
Moreover, an amount of Rs 32 lakh had been released by the Bastar District Collector to construct Tourism Information Center at Jagdalpur.
Master plans worth Rs 25 lakh had been drafted to beautify lamni Park and road-crossings. Motel had been constructed at Theerathgad and channel fencing had been built at Chitrakoot and Theerathgad. Temporary tents had been constructed at Sirpur in Mahasamund district for the convenience of Kanwar passengers. About Rs 30.50 lakh had been sanctioned for a community hall at Sirpur.
Notably, Chhattisgarh exchanged MoUs worth Rs 12 crores for development of world-class tourist facilities during ‘Incredible India Tourism Investors’ Summit (IITIS)- 2016’ organized by the Ministry of Tourism in partnership with Confederation of Indian Industry and the Tourism Finance Corporation of India from September 21 to 23, 2016 in New Delhi to promote investments in Tourism sector in India.
Several key announcements were made at the valedictory session of the Summit.
The states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Chattisgarh exchanged 86 MoUs during the session and many more are in the pipeline, aggregating close to Rs 15,000 crores, officials informed.
At the summit, Gujarat exchanged MoUs close to 9000 crores, Karnataka with 2600 crores, Rajasthan with 1000 crores ,Uttarakhand with 500 crores and Chhattisgarh with 12 crores. Also, B. R. Shetty Group is keen to invest 450 crores and Costa Cruise 750 crores and Triveni Singapore close to 800 crores in the country.
The task also involves development and implementation of technology framework for Home stays operations and also strategy, planning and for better Home stay service delivery.
Notably, CTB had earlier also 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 Central government has put up the anticipated timeline for completion of the Tribal Tourism Circuit in Chhattisgarh to be 2019-20.
The Tribal Tourism Circuit will provide an opportunity to the tourists to witness and experience tribal culture and traditions in Chhattisgarh, officials informed.
The key components for development under the project are ‘Ethnic Tourist Village’ and ‘Ethnic Tourist Development’, Destination Development and Wayside amenities.The project would be developed by CTB.