NEW DELHI: Even as the opposition parties take the Narendra Modi government to task over religious conversion, the Centre plans to launch “Swachh Tourism” on Christmas, the biggest festival of the third largest community of India.
Besides announcing December 25 as Good Governance Day, the government is all set to launch the campaign to boost tourism across the nation. As per a report on NDTV, the initiative will be partnered with state governments as they maintain most of the tourist sites apart from ASI. Focus of the initiative will be on improving cleanliness of monuments and heritage sites as well providing hassle free experience to foreign tourists.
The official announcement is expected to be made on December 25, the birthday of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, with a tagline “Swachh Bharat Swachh Smarak” (Clean India, Clean Monuments.) The ministry also plans to launch a theme replace terrorist with tourism, encouraging tourists to visit places earlier infested with terrorism.
“All I can say is that we are working on a new plan but can’t disclose everything now. Keep something for the 25 December as well,” he says Union Tourism Minister Dr Mahesh Sharma who is closely monitoring the campaign.
The ministry plans to address concerns of foreign tourists, especially about being harassed by touts, by launching “end-to-end” tourism.
“If we receive a person at the airport, work out their itinerary, take them around in India and finally drop them off at the airport with the assurance that they are looked after by the government as guests, concerns about touts and harassment would disappear,” said the official.
