'Hospitality sector has a shortage of almost 190,000 rooms'

To exploit investment opportunities in the tourism sector, the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) and Invest India will be setting up an investment desk, a senior government official said on Thursday.

"The emphasis so far has been on attracting tourists but now the time has come to focus on creating quality infrastructure and filling the gaps on the supply side to allow tourists to have a fulfilling experience," said Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism at the second edition of FICCI's 'Tourism Investors Meet 2016'.

In a bid to develop the core infrastructure , a Task Force was being created by the Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Railways to improve the connectivity to tourist destinations, Zutshi said.    
 
"The government has been facilitating the private sector investors by improving ease of doing business, introducing single window clearance, business friendly policies and creation of land banks for investors. There is immense scope of investment in the hospitality sector as there was a shortage of almost 190,000 rooms at present," he added.
 
Mr. Zutshi said that the government was planning to organize 'Incredible India Tourism Investors' Summit 2016' in September to showcase the plethora of investment opportunities in areas of infrastructure development, both from India and overseas.

The main objective of the summit is to position the Indian tourism sector for attracting large investments and presenting to the investors tangible investment-ready projects in different states of India.