Virendra Singh Rawat / Lucknow
Uttar Pradesh has emerged as one of the leading tourist destinations in Asia with the state witnessing an influx of almost 250 million tourists, including 410,000 foreigners, in 2022.
According to the state, the Yogi Adityanath government 2.0 efforts of harnessing UP’s tourism potential has not only led to an increased influx of domestic and foreign tourists but created a large number of employment opportunities.
“Owing to the sustained efforts, the tourism and hospitality sectors garnered immense attention of investors in the Global Investors Summit (GIS) 2023 held recently in Lucknow,” a government spokesperson said.
These sectors received investment proposals of more than Rs 98,000 crore and Rs 20,000 crore respectively. In the coming years, about 145,000 employment opportunities will be created in these sectors.
While the construction of Vishwanath Dham Corridor and Vindhya Dham is going on in full swing, other cities including Agra, Mathura, Chitrakoot and Jhansi are also realising thier tourism potential.
The construction of Lord Ram temple in Ayodhya and Vindhya Dham in Vindhyachal is also gathering pace. The heavy inflow of foreign and domestic investments in these sectors will ensure good job openings for the youth in their respective hometowns. In the first six months of 2022, more than 20 million tourists visited Ayodhya.
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Meanwhile, Japan based companies have signed MoU worth Rs 7,200 crore at the GIS. Japanese company Hotel Management International Company Limited (HMI Group) will launch hotels in 30 cities including Agra, Ayodhya and Varanasi, which will further boost tourism sector in the state.