Tourism policy for Uttarakhand

With a new policy on the anvil, the state plans to upgrade infrastructure and develop products, ranging from spiritual and adventure tourism to wellness and culinary

Uttarakhand is gearing up to launch its new tourism policy, which aims to foster infrastructure development and ease the process of investments in the sector. By utilising the state’s diverse products, the tourism ministry plans to position the state as a tourism hotbed.

Speaking at the Tourism Investors Meet organised by FICCI, Satpal Maharaj, Minister of Tourism, Government of Uttarakhand, said that the investors must look beyond the ‘dhams’ that the state is famous for and should look into developing the lesser known destinations as well. He added, “In the new tourism policy, we are proposing different circuits under Spiritual Tourism that can be effective in dispersing tourists throughout the state. Some of these are the Devi circuit, the Vaishnav circuit, the Nagraj circuit and the Shankar circuit among others, where tourists can visit the related places and take in the sights.” This year, around 1.7 lakh pilgrims took part in the Hemkund Sahib Yatra, he revealed.

Promotion of culinary tourism is also on the anvil, in an effort to make the state’s cuisine as well-known as other signature cuisines, like that of Punjab. The state is working towards making Uttarakhand a winter destination by boosting the infrastructure in the mountainous spots, so that they appeal to the adventure lovers and tourists alike. “We want to develop ski resorts and create state-of-the-art facilities for winter sports to draw more tourists to our state. This will motivate more travellers to explore the destination even during winter, and our proximity to the country’s capital is an added advantage for us,” he elaborated. While an upgrade in the infrastructure for the ski resort in Auli is being looked into, more are planned to be developed in the state.

The Minister feels that Uttarakhand has the potential to become a wellness destination due to the abundance of hot springs. He explained, “If the area around the hot springs in Tapovan is developed, it can easily draw tourists from around the world.”