MINISTER OF STATE FOR TOURISM (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)
(DR. MAHESH SHARMA)
(a) to (c): India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) Ltd. (a Public Sector Undertaking under the administrative control of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India) does not have any such plan.
As per the Report of the ‘Working Group on Tourism’ for the 12th five Year Plan (2012-2017) set up by the then Planning Commission (Now Niti Aayog), for a projected annual growth of 12% in foreign tourist arrivals, the requirement of additional hotel rooms under classified category in 2016 over 2010 is estimated to be 1,90,108 including budget hotel rooms.
Construction of hotels is primarily a private sector activity. The Ministry of Tourism however, has advised the State Government/ UT Administration to follow tourism friendly policies for augmenting Hotel room supply like allotting land sites for hotels on revenue sharing basis, granting extra Floor Space Index (FSI)/Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for hotels, adopt Single Window approach for clearing hotel projects, rationalization of taxes.
(d): The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has formulated the guidelines for Selection and Grant of Guide License to Regional Level Tourist Guides (RLG 2011). As per these guidelines, the requirement of tourist guides is assessed region-wise, based on the inbound tourist arrivals, number of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) monuments, available licensed guides, growth potential, availability of assignments to guides and all other relevant factors and is normally done once in two years by the Ministry through a pre-defined process.
The process of selection is undertaken by the Indian Institute of Tourism & Travel Management (IITTM), Gwalior or any other Institute designated by the Ministry of Tourism for conducting this process.
The applications are invited through open advertisement specifying the seats available for training, region wise.
The selection of candidates for training and issuance of guide license is based on an entrance test conducted to evaluate the general intelligence and suitability of applicants for admission to guide training. A merit list of all applicants who pass the entrance test is prepared on the basis of aggregated marks. On the basis of merit in the entrance test, the qualifying applicant are called for open counselling and document verification.
The admission against available seats is offered strictly on the merit basis subject to fulfillment of all eligibility conditions. Thereafter, the candidate undergoes the guide training course for 26 weeks including field training. At the end of the training programme an examination consisting of written test is held. After passing written test, the trainees undergo a viva-voce test where the guiding skills knowledge of monuments/destinations, communication skills, fluency in foreign language (wherever applicable) etc. is tested. After passing both the written test and viva-voce, the trainee is eligible for guide training license.
The detailed guidelines for induction of Regional Level Tourist Guides is available on www.tourism.nic.in.
(e): The Ministry of Finance, Government of India has included the following in the “Harmonised list of Infrastructure Sub-Sectors” to boost supply of hotel rooms in the country:
(i). Three Star or higher category classified hotels located outside cities with population of more than one million.
(ii). Hotels with the project cost of more than Rs.200.00 crore each in any place in India and of any star rating. This clause is applicable with prospective effect from 07.10.2013, the date of notification and available for eligible prospects for three years from the date of notification i.e. 07.10.2013, the eligibility cost of Rs.200.00 crore excludes cost of land and lease charges but includes interest during construction.
*********
Download PDF Files
