Gujaratstartups, GANDHINAGAR: A sharp rise in the number of tourists coming to Gujarat has prompted the state government to offer sops to entrepreneurs who want to set up new tourism-related units. Officials in the state tourism department said that the government has finalised two sets of incentives for tourism developers. "The incentives will be available for five years and only to new units," a senior official said.

"The state finance department has cleared a proposal to provide an interest subsidy of four per cent up to a maximum amount of Rs 50 lakh to units that will be set up across Gujarat," the official said, adding, "Another incentive looks at providing 15 per cent subsidy in electricity duty on industrial rate. Until now, tourism units were being charged commercial rates."

The incentive package will be available to entrepreneurs wanting to set up all types of tourism-related units, including hotels, motels, resorts, health farms, wellness spas, amusement parks, golf courses, picnic spots, tented accommodations, exhibition complexes and so on. "Those owning heritage buildings and wanting to convert them into hotels with minimum 15 rooms too will get sops," the official said.

Officials conceded that projects to set up tourism-related units, including those signed at the Vibrant Gujarat business summit in January 2011, have been held up because of failure of the government in coming up with the package. "They have already waited for long. The incentive package will be out this month," the official said. At the Vibrant Gujarat summit alone, 564 small and big projects were proposed.

The main thrust of attracting tourism units is going to be along 16 virgin beaches, already identified by the state government for development. The most important proposal is by Atlantis Group, which wants to develop several resorts and other facilities along the Suvali beach near Surat for Rs 9,000 crore. Of the 16 beaches identified, two are in Kutch, four in South Gujarat and 10 in Saurashtra.

Source: Times Of India