New Delhi, Oct 8 (IANS) Planning Commission Member Secretary Sudha Pillai Friday stressed the need to promote niche tourism like cuisine and rural tourism which will give a fillip to the Indian tourism sector. 'The niche products which can be focused are cuisine and rural tourism, along with medical, wellness, adventure, tourism, where the foreign traveller gets to experience rural hospitality by staying with them,' said Pillai in a tourism conclave here. According to her, India is not short of products which can become successful global tourism niches. But niches have to be created and serviced. A dedicated and proactive organizational focus needs to be on niche tourism. The steps should be identification of potential niche markets, enabling the integrated development of these niches through policy and viability fund support and creation of the necessary communication and marketing strategies. According to Planning Commission, tourism is the largest service industry in the country. Its importance lies in being an instrument for economic development and employment generation, particularly in the remote and backward areas. She said the Planning Commission would focus on infrastructure development for the tourist to have a wholesome experience of Incredible India.At present, tourism enjoys infrastructure status and 100 percent FDI is allowed for hotels and tourism on the automatic route. The tourism ministry is planning to encourage public-private partnerships for the development of tourism facilities such as convention centres, health and rejuvenation facilities. Medical tourism has a huge potential as its likely to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 27 percent generating revenues worth $2.4 billion by 2012.India's share in global medical tourism industry is expected to climb to 2.4 per cent by the end of 2012. The government is organising road shows in markets like Scandinavian countries and the Middle East focussing on wellness campaigns and medical tourism.
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