Question : Major Civilisational, Cultural and Spiritual Tourist Desinations

(a) the details of the Country’s major civilizational, cultural and spiritual tourists’ destinations;
(b) whether the Government facilitates growth or support tourism on these destinations and if so, the details including the expenditure incurred and estimated benefits thereof;
(c) whether the Ministry has formulated plans for developing the under construction Shree Ram Janmboomi Temple in Ayodhya as a major cultural and civilizational heritage destination to attract foreign tourists; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR TOURISM (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)
(SHRI PRAHLAD SINGH PATEL)

(a) & (b): Development and Promotion of Tourism is primarily the responsibility of the State Government. The Ministry of Tourism, under its Swadesh Darshan scheme is developing thematic circuits in the country in planned and prioritized manner in order to develop tourism infrastructure at multiple destinations. As of now fifteen thematic circuits have been identified under this scheme for development namely; North-East, Buddhist, Himalayan, Coastal, Krishna, Desert, Tribal, Eco, Wildlife, Rural, Spiritual, Ramayana, Heritage, Sufi and Tirthankar. The Ministry of Tourism under its Ramayana Circuit theme has sanctioned a project ‘Development of Ayodhya’ for an amount of Rs.127.21crore in the year 2017-18. The list of projects sanctioned under Swadesh Darshan scheme is annexed.

(c) & (d): The Ministry of Tourism as part of its regular promotional exercise promotes various tourism destinations and products of the country in domestic and international potential markets in a holistic manner. These promotions are undertaken through various communication platforms such as media campaigns, events, webinars, road shows, participation in fairs & festivals, social media platforms etc.

*******