Gujarat development board gives nod to tourism concession agreement

To facilitate speedy implementation of tourism projects, the Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board (GIDB) on Saturday approved the model concession agreement for tourism sector to be developed on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

The decision was taken in the executive committee meeting of GIDB, chaired by minister of state for finance Saurabh Patel.

The features of the agreement, which could be the first step towards part privatisation of the state's tourism sector, include competitive bidding process of selection, selected bidder to be either a single entity or a group of entities. The initial concession period will be of 35 years.

The state is leveraging on its unique strengths for developing tourism themes covering coastal tourism, business & convention tourism, weekend tourism, eco-tourism, medical tourism, heritage tourism, religious tourism, arts & culture, among others.

Gujarat is in the process of upgrading and creating tourism infrastructure, providing training to service providers, sensitising local population, creating integrated themes and strengthening of local institutions.

Tourism locations are being developed in an integrated manner by upgrading infrastructure, urban area development and environment improvement so as to provide tourists a unique experience.  The state government has also created a special purpose vehicle - Gujarat Tourism Opportunity Limited (GUJTOP) - for this purpose.