May 28 2008
5 million foreign tourists visited India in 2007!
Tourism industry is showing an up going graph with around five million foreign tourists reported in India in 2007. This is a big jump from the 3.92 million tourists during the previous year, said Union Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni.
Around 400 million domestic tourists had also traveled across different parts of the country during 2007, she told after declaring open the Rs 35 crore `Zest Big Beach-Puducherry` a project of the Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India Limited (MHRIL) at Manapet coastal village near Puducherry.
Soni also told about the possibilities of Puducherry emerging as a major centre for cruise tourism in future.
She said that efforts to promote this project would be intensified in collaboration with the Union Shipping Ministry.
“We should work together to make Puducherry as a major destination as was done in respect of Sikkim and Goa and other destinations. In the near future Puducherry would emerge as a centre for cruise tourism”, she said.
Around 74 heritage sites had been identified in Puducherry and we should look at the best of them for promotion and restoration for the benefit of the people here, she said.
