Visit India Year 2009 scheme extended till March 2010: Sultan Ahmed, Union Tourism Minister of State

According to a PIB release, Ministry of Tourism (MoT) recently held a road show for domestic tourism in Bengaluru, which was inaugurated by Sultan Ahmed, Union Tourism Minister of State. The focus of the road show was to highlight tourism attractions of Southern Indian states including Union Territories. After inaugurating the road show, Ahmed mentioned that that while the Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) are subject to various external factors, the domestic travellers continue to be the mainstay of national tourism industry.  

The Minister informed that ‘Visit India Year 2009’ which was launched in January 2009 in collaboration with all stakeholders including state governments, airlines, hotels, and tour operators has now been extended till March 2010. He requested the travel trade to make use of this extension and support by adding new programmes to attract more visitors.

During the road show the state tourism departments made presentations to the travel trade from other regions of the country to promote domestic tours, so that they can familiarise them with the Southern Tourism products, as well as new initiatives taken by the state governments.