From adventure to spirituality: Utilising State’s full potential

CHENNAI: From envisaging a DISNEY or Universal Studios like amusement park in the state capital to a secular religious tourism module covering various trails integral to the history of Tamil Nadu, the state government appears to be on a mission mode to promote tourism and jack up its coffers in half a decade.

And the newly unveiled “State Tourism Policy 2023,” which has 12 priority segments, encompasses a plethora of ideas including the development of “in-water, in-land and in-sky adventure” tourism across the State.

Under adventure tourism, the government has proposed to utilise the potential of diverse geographical landscapes, mainly lakes, hills, coastline and terrain by categorising them into “in-water, in-land and in-sky” tourism for which it has already received interest from activity operators for organising adventure activities across the State.

The policy has envisaged creating a large-format Amusement Park with private sector participation, similar to global theme parks like Disney and Universal Studios, with an area of at least 100 acres on the out-skirts of Chennai.

The state government has proposed to engage with golf courses located in picturesque hilly regions for development of accommodation facilities to cater to visitors from surrounding towns and expatriates living in Chennai and Coimbatore.

The tourism department has also proposed to encourage homestays in rural areas (countryside stays) for which the accommodation projects would be given special incentives under homestay schemes, which would be marketed on tourism websites.

Owners of fruit orchards, tea-plantations would be encouraged to provide tourism offerings comprising eco-huts, tasting rooms (wine, tasting, fruit tasting, juice tasting), walk-through tours, art & craft sessions, small-scale processing units (fruit candy, ice-cream making, dairy products), photo booths, live-stock feeding, retail / souvenir shops.

Having a reputation of luring tourists towards it historic architecture and places of worship, the state has proposed popularise itineraries like land of overreaching gopurams, which capture monumental temples of the state, including Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvannamalai.

The policy also aims to work on pilgrimage trails like Ramayana trail, Buddha trail, Velankanni trail and Jain monuments trail. For this, the department would collaborate with state transport department to provide AC tourist buses.

A comprehensive tour package called “Aanmeega payanam” for the elderly (60+years) and all interested age groups to visit major religious sites in TN would also be launched.