Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Sept 19: The initiative of Tourist Village Development Programme (TVDP) under Mission Youth initiative, which aims at developing 181 villages having distinction in terms of scenic beauty, adventurous terrain, art and cultural significance, history and archaeology, is gaining tremendous momentum with heavy tourist influx thronging the new destinations.
The main objectives of the programme are to develop new tourism destinations which will integrate social, cultural and spiritual characteristics with economic contours having requisite infrastructural facilities for tourists within such selected villages.
The villages that are part of the programme were selected on the basis of their rural tourism potential in consultation with Tourism Department by an expert committee of Mission Youth.
The scheme has twin benefits of promoting rural tourism and employment generation for local youth. For the youth who want to setup their ventures in tourism and hospitality service sector, the gamut of financial assistance is worth Rs 10 lakh including Rs 8.50 lakh from banking partner, Mission youth J&K will provide an amount of Rs 1.5 lakh or 15% of project cost (whichever is minimum) as special upfront incentive (subsidy); under the scheme, special subsidy of Rs 3.5 Lakh towards repayment of loan also.
Similarly, for developing Home Stays under the Programme, financial assistance to the tune of Rs 1 Lakh including 0.85 Lakh from Banking partner. Mission Youth shall also provide an amount of 0.15 Lakh or 15% of the project cost (whichever is minimum) as a special upfront incentive, 25% project cost as upfront subsidy in case of women applicants besides special subsidy of 0.35 Lakh loan towards repayment of loan.
The initiative is destined to promote home stays across the UT and will strengthen the rural economy in the region, turn youth into entrepreneurs besides empowering women by offering them numerous opportunities of employment.
The initiative has also been launched keeping in view the potential of J&K for film shooting purposes. The initiative is also aimed to promote shooting of films and offering financial aid to the villages for their sustainable development.
There are several regions in J&K which despite having greater tourism potential have not been able to garner requisite attention due to infrastructural bottlenecks. Destinations which lag behind in sphere of tourism infrastructure, can overcome the downsides by introducing home stays as a means of accommodation facilities for the tourists which do not require heavy investment.
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