Maharashtra to revive bid to have Sachin Tendulkar as tourism ambassador

The success of India's boys in blue in the Cricket World Cup has prompted tourism officials in Maharashtra to renew the efforts to have cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar as state's tourism brand ambassador.

"The World Cup victory will give an impetus to our plans to have Tendulkar promote tourism in the state," a senior government official said.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and tourism minister Chhagan Bhujbal are involved in the initiative to rope in the master blaster as state tourism ambassador, the official said.

An indication of the importance the Congress-NCP government attaches to this growing sector is the increase in the state's tourism budget this year, he said.

There has been no response from Tendulkar so far to the `brand ambassador' proposal, but fresh efforts will be made to rope him in, the official said.