The Uttar Pradesh government all set to promote tourism in the state by leasing 30 tourist houses

Published on : Wednesday, April 7, 2021

The Uttar Pradesh government with a mission to promote tourism in the state will lease 30 tourist houses of the Tourism Department to the private sector. These houses are closed for years. To quote a government spokesman, “A preliminary report suggests that the tourism business in some areas will increase by giving these tourism accommodations, built at prime locations in different districts of the state, to the private sector associated with home tourism business. Many people will also get employment in these hotels.”

He explained that now, the Tourism Department is carrying on an assessment of the value of these tourist guest houses. Once the prices of these guest houses were reviewed properly, the investors would be consulted and a proposal would be sent to the cabinet for leasing these tourist houses to the private sector.

A decision by the Akhilesh Yadav government in 2016 was taken to lease 37 tourism guest houses to the private sector. A tender was floated but the people associated with tourism business did not give much attention.

“Only six tourist houses were leased out, including Tiger Den of Dudhwa, Ramgarh Tal in Gorakhpur, and guest houses in Deoria, Mathura and Mahoba,” the official said.

In Dudhwa, officials assured that the Tiger Den is doing a good business while a developer is building Marriott Hotel in Ramgarh Tal. The department had given it on a lease of Rs. 79 lakh, which every year would increase by five per cent and the department would share in its profits after five years. In Mathura and Mahoba, work is yet to get started. Also, the tourism guest house of Deoria is attracting public.

The official said an inspection was conducted to find out whether the private players were keen in the closed guest houses. After getting an affirmative report, the government took the decision to let out these tourist guest houses. The 30 tourism houses that the Tourism Department is going to give on lease include guest houses of Mathura, Agra, Siddharthnagar and Mirzapur.

With the developers, the officials of the Tourism Department have arranged a meeting after the consent of the government to lease these tourist accommodation houses.

“After the construction of temples in Ayodhya and the promotion of religious tourism in the state, hoteliers are showing interest in these guest houses,” the official said.

The tourist accommodations to be given on rent are located in Bateshwar (Agra), Bhadohi, Bhupia (Pratapgarh), Chunar (Mirzapur), Devgarh (Lalitpur), Deva Sharif (Barabanki), Devkali (Etawah), Hargaon (Sitapur), Kachla (Budaun), Kalinjar (Banda), Kapilvastu (Siddharthnagar), Khurja (Bulandshahr), Neera (Sitapur), Birds Vihar in Unnao, Sandila (Hardoi), Sankisa (Farrukhabad), Shikohabad (Firozabad), Sunauli (Maharajganj), Soro (Etah), Shukratal (Muzaffarnagar), Bithoor (Kanpur), Kandhla (Muzaffarnagar), Gokul (Mathura), Mathura and Barsana.