India's tourism ministry is expecting investment worth Rs. 50,000 crore from a three-day global investors summit which will begin on Wednesday. The Incredible India Tourism Investment Summit (IITIS) 2016 comprises meetings, seminars for various stakeholders such as travel agents, investors and the government.
IITIS will be inaugurated by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the presence of Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
The tourism ministry has conducted investor road shows in the US, UAE, Thailand, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Gujarat and Mumbai in a bid to attract potential investors.
Some of the proposed investment projects include: Cruise tourism in Nagaland and the Sunderbans, ropeways in Nandi Hills in Karnataka and at Loktak Lake in Manipur. Medical tourism in Andhra Pradesh and adventure sports project in Chikhaldara in Maharashtra are also being considered.
Investors such as JP Morgan Chase, Hyatt, McDonalds, Marriott, Goldman Sachs and Carlson Rezidor Hotels are likely to participate in the summit that will be held in New Delhi.
In addition, Ernst & Young, KPMG, Yes Bank will provide assistance to the states to help them identify projects (depending on their requirement), the Indian Express reported.
Data released by the government on Tuesday showed that 55.92 lakh (5.59 million) foreign tourists visited India between January and August this year, including 6.70 lakh last month, marking an increase of 10.2 percent over the 50.73 lakh (5.07 million) tourist arrivals during the corresponding period last year.
During the eight-month period, earnings from these tourists rose 7.8 percent to $14.92 billion from $13.83 billion. The data also showed that Bangladesh, the United States and the United Kingdom are the top three countries from where tourists came in large numbers, followed by Sri Lanka, Malaysia and China.
