Badal govt ‘counts’ on tourists to build infrastructure in five cities

the gurdwaras in these cities,the department has approached the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). While Amritsar has unique heritage value,Bathinda has made it to the list of the thriving commercial/industrial cities of Punjab on account of the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery,which is set to change the socio-economic profile of the region.

The exercise to collect the hospitality industry’s statistics will begin in a few days. The tourism department is going to hold meetings with various hospitality associations in these cities for cooperation on collection of the data.

The information to be furnished by these establishments,includes the number of rooms,beds,type of accommodation offered,details of foreign and domestic tourists who checked in during the month,the “room nights” occupied by them,in-house facilities like restaurants,bars,conference or banquet halls,indoor game facilities,massage centres and swimming pool,outdoor facilities,investment made into the property at the time of commissioning,number of skilled and unskilled employees,etc.

Punjab Principal Secretary (Tourism) Geetika Kalha told The Sunday Express that it is essential to build a reliable database on the inbound tourist traffic in the state. Many states across the country have taken advantage of the growing tourism phenomenon to increase the volume of tourist traffic and further strengthen the economy. Punjab has not been able to derive such benefits due to various factors,including the absence of reliable data on the magnitude and contribution of tourism to the economy. This is ironical,considering that the Golden Temple ranks among the top destinations in the country for both domestic and international tourists.

Amarvir Singh,General Secretary of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Punjab,said such information is regularly sent by hospitality establishments in states like Maharashtra,Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir to the respective state government. He agreed that in Punjab too,such data will help both the government and the hospitality sector in formulating effective marketing strategies,planning infrastructure development and facilitating investment decisions.

Amarvir highlighted that a major challenge for the tourism department is going to be logistics. “This is because 73 per cent of the hotels in Punjab are small establishments with not even one-star rating. They have no computers or email addresses. How will they share such information with the government?” he asked.

Another challenge is that these small establishments may not be willing to share their exact occupation figures with the government,for fear of higher taxation. “The association will not be able to help the government if the individual members do not send the information,” said Amarvir.