Port Blair, June 11: The Islands Chief Secretary, Anand Prakash said the necessary infrastructure for tourism promotion in the islands will be developed during the 12th five year plan. Addressing the workshop on Preparation of Five year plan for promotion of tourism in Andaman and Nicobar islands during the 12th five year plan held at Port Blair this morning, he said there were constraints of communication, accommodation and logistics in promoting tourism in the islands, and necessary steps will be taken to address these problems during the current plan period. He said a comprehensive tourism policy will be reviewed and implemented to boost up the economic development of the islands, and thereby contributing to the growth of national economy.
Addressing the workshop, the Islands MP, Bishnu Pada Ray called upon the administration to make necessary amendments in the Buffer zone notification as it badly affects tourism prospects by restricting all commercial activities in many tourist spots. He also informed that he has already taken up the matter with Union Government to allow the Central Government Servants to visit the islands in lieu of their home town LTC in relaxation of the LTC rules, as done for the North East and Jammu Kashmir. He said it will help boosting up the tourism in the islands.
In the workshop the officials and stake holders discussed in detail about the various issues concerning tourism promotion in the isles. The Secretary of Tourism, Sathish Mathur informed that the administration takes up major tourism projects including the Canopy walkway project, Sound and light show in Ross island and Yacht Marina in Viper island. Highlighting the achievements made during the last five year plan period, he said for the first time in the country adventurous sea plane services were lauched in the islands. He said during the period the toruism witnessed the growth of 12 to 13 per cent, with remarkable revenue. He also briefed about the proposed projects during the 12th plan period.
Participating in the deliberations, the Asst. Director General from the Union Ministry of Tourism, Ms.Tuntuni Chowdhary stressed the need for regular beach clean up drives in the islands to preserve the pristine beauty of the natural sandy beaches. She also emphasized that proper garbage disposal and sewage system should be developed to ensure pollution free environment across the islands. In view of the water scarcity in most of the islands, she suggested that bio-digestive toilets can be developed in the tourist spots, which require no water at all.
Mr Pranav Khullar, Director, Department of Culture said the department mainly focuses on preserving the dying folk and tribal arts of the country and extends financial support for such projects. Emphasizing on the need to preserve the rare tribal folk arts of different tribal groups in the islands, he called upon the stake holders to send the suitable proposals to Department of culure for financial assistance. He also suggested to arrange for exclusive tribal folk arts and crafts festival on regular basis to attract domestic as well as foreign tourists.
Speaking on the occasion, the Director from Ministry of Shipping, Dinesh Patil said the islands has tremendous scope for development of cruise tourism in a large scale. He revealed that at present Chennai, Mumbai, Goa and Cochin ports handle international luxury cruises and the Ministry will take steps to develop cruise tourism in Port Blair too.
The President of Andaman chambers of commerce and indursry, G Bhaskar appealed to the administration to rationalize the air fares between main land and island sector which acts as major hurdle in getting tourists to the islands. He said the hotliers and tour operators face problems due to lesser number of tourists’ arrival at present, as the air fare to south East Asian countries and even Dubai is much cheaper than for the islands. He also sought for the cooperation of the forest department for development of tourism. Pointing out the free movement of crocodiles in most of the beaches, he asked the forest department to educate the tourists and appoint forest gurards in the important beaches, rather than simply putting up the warning boards in crocodile infested areas to scare the tourists.
The General Manager of ANIIDCO, Pervesh informed that the ANIIDCO already issued tenders for converting the ship M V Ramanujam as a luxurious floating restaurant and the same will be finalized soon.
Dr S Chadurvedi, Professor of Geography from JNRM and Travel and Tour Operators president, Vinod, Tourism Guild Secretary Suresh also spoke among others.
The Director of Tourism, Amit Satheeja in his concluding address informed that all the valuable suggestions made by the participants will be taken care of while preparing the 12th plan. All the stake holders and officials from various departments attended the workshop.
