Punjab CM bets big on battleground tourism

Chandigarh: After commissioning many war memorials, the Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government is keen on promoting battlefield tourism in a bid to capitalise on Punjab's history of being a war zone for centuries due to invasions.

The chief minister, who himself is an Indo-Pak war veteran and a military historian, has seen an opportunity attracting tourists by showcasing the epic battles fought in the state.

In 2016, 6.60 lakh foreign tourists visits were recorded in the state, as against 2.43 lakh in 2015, while the number of domestic tourist visits stood at 3.87 crore in 2016 as against 2.58 crore in 2015, helping Punjab attain the 13th rank in domestic tourist visits and 10th rank in foreign tourists visits.

The recent first-of-its-kind Military Literature Festival, which paid tribute to the courage of the country's defence personnel, was a step in the same direction, said an official.

The state government also commemorated the 120th anniversary of the Battle of Saragarhi in Ferozepur in September 2017 in the presence of serving and retired British Army officers. The event coincided with the release of Captain Amarinder’s book, Saragarhi and the Defence of the Samana Forts. Battleground tourism is an established sub-sector in the West, even as it is slowly coming out of infancy in India. The Punjab government approved the draft of “Punjab State Tourism Policy, 2018”, aimed at doubling the annual tourist visits and establishing the state as a world-class destination in the next five years.

At the Military Literature Festival, tourism minister Navjot Singh earlier said, “With Punjab standing tall in terms of the Param Vir Chakra won by its men, the festival is an apt and glowing tribute to the grit, courage and fearless determination of the countrys defence personnel.”

According to the new tourism policy announced by the chief minister there is an effort to double tourist arrivals in the state in five years, the state government is planning to promote several thematic circuits including agri-tours, the Amritsar circuit and the frontier trail.

Rural tourism, medical tourism, heritage tourism and film tourism are some of the other focus areas of the policy.

To attract both domestic as well as foreign tourists, the government is keen to address the needs for human resource development, marketing and promotion, and infrastructure development.

The policy says that training and capacity building activities will be made available, under the skill development programme, to boost employment generation.

Some of the thematic circuits have been attractively named. Some of these include Mughal circuit, Maharaja circuit, Amritsar circuit, Patiala trail, Ludhiana circuit, Chandigarh circuit, nature circuit, Ferozepur circuit (comprising the Indo-Pak frontier trail), Taste Punjab, the Punjab retreat, fashionable Punjab, Punjab in style and festive Punjab.