Karnataka chief minister Government B S Yeddyurappa wants to make tourism his state’s main industry.
“We fully realise the benefits of tourism in terms of jobs, incomes and downstream multipliers from big destinations down to remote villages and hamlets in places like Shimoga, Coorg, Hampi and Pattadakal. So, we are placing the greatest importance on tourism development and marketing,” he said at the meeting of South India’s tourism ministries in Bengaluru recently.
The state government will be submitting a development proposal for a mega tourist destination in its Shimoga and intends to follow it up with similar proposals destinations in Karnataka.
“The importance of tourism is evident from our increased tourism budget allocation of Rs245 crore up from Rs50 crore a couple of years ago. But the success of our tourism efforts will depend on how closely we work with the Union Government as well as our friends in the neighbourhood,” he said.
Yeddyurappa conceded that an important requirement is a common tax regime across all the Southern states, especially for Road, Entry and Luxury taxes. “We need to rationalise this and even consider a common tax structure to facilitate the tourist movement,” he said.
He is keen on mega destination-creating projects here in Karnataka for which he has appointed consultants to identify and prepare project concepts to establish mega projects.
