Manish Sisodia for turning city into tourist hub

New Delhi: To develop the capital into a tourist hub, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday proposed setting up of a tourism advisory board for coming up with innovative ideas. Mr Sisodia, who also holds the tourism portfolio, emphasised the need for a “good team” that could think of ways and means to tap the city’s tourism potential.

“We are going to develop the advisory board. In this regard, we will need a team comprising tourism experts, professionals, representatives of industry, media and market associations to come up with creative ideas on developing tourism in Delhi,” Mr Sisodia said at an event ‘Destination Delhi: socio economic perspective of art, culture and tourism’, organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The deputy CM pointed out that there was a need for new tourism circuits in Delhi to increase the tourist inflow. “There is a need to coerce the tourists to spend extra days in Delhi through new tourism circuits,” he said. Here, he said that there are various government schools, mohalla clinics and night shelters and the like developed by the Delhi government that could interest many who might even pay a visit to these facilities. He also suggested development of “golf tourism” in the city. 

Suggesting special packages for the locals, Mr Sisodia said that tourism in the city could not be developed without involving Delhiites.

Presenting the foreign tourists’ perspective, high commissioner of Brunei Dato Paduka Haji Sidek Ali exuded hope that Delhi can follow the tourism success stories of states such as Kerala and Sikkim.