Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Culture & Tourism has said that the Ministry of Tourism organised a national conference of all State and Union Territory Tourism Ministers in New Delhi recently and the main subject discussed was Sustainable Tourism and Carrying Capacity of Destinations.
Further, based on the recommendation made by Inter-Ministerial Group on Uttarakhand, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has decided to conduct a study on Tourism Carrying Capacity of existing and potential destinations with planning of infrastructure development in Uttarakhand.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha Naik said that the Ministry of Tourism has recently formulated Sustainable Tourism Criteria and Indicators, which are applicable to Accommodation Sector and Tour Operators. He stated that development and promotion of tourism including construction of infrastructure and other operational developmental activities at all the tourist hot spots and places of pilgrim is primarily the responsibility of the State Governments/UT Administrations.
However, the Ministry of Tourism provides Central Financial Assistance (CFA) to various States/UTs for various tourism projects prioritised for every financial year in consultation with them subject to availability of funds, inter-se priority, adherence to the scheme guidelines and liquidation of pending utilisation certificates.
