SHIMLA: Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said the tourism department should take tourists to unexplored areas of the State by providing basic facilities there.
Chief Minister was presiding over a meeting of Tourism Department here today. He said that aggressive publicity should be done outside the State by displaying hoardings in prominent cities of the country to attract more tourists to Himachal Pradesh.
Chief Minister said that great stress must be laid on exploring new tourists circuits besides enhancing air connectivity and developing new tourist's destinations with special focus on adventure and religious tourism. He also felt the need for developing new tourist circuits such as religious, adventure, weekend, nature and tribal tourism.
Jai Ram Thakur said that the first phase of Shiv Dham project was coming up at Mandi which would be an added attraction for the tourists visiting Mandi town. He said that Eco-Tourism site was being developed at Janjehli in Mandi district under which trekking routes were being upgraded, new rest houses and viewpoints were being constructed, tents being installed and forest rest house and log huts were being upgraded. He said that nature park was coming up at Bakhli.
Chief Minister said that about Rs. 7 crore was being spent on construction of cafeteria, water jetties and two view points at Larji. He said that Rs. 1.37 crore was also being spent on beautification and developing of Pong Dam from tourism point of view. He said that nine cottages, landscaping and other beautification work was complete under this project.
Jai Ram Thakur said that Government was also laying special stress on developing ropeways as tourist attraction. He said that three ropeways viz. Solang ropeway, Jakhu ropeway and Dharamshala ropeway have been completed to facilitate the tourists. He said that Government was also contemplating to construct Adi Himani Chamunda Ropeway, Bijli Mahadev Ropeway, Palchan-Rohtang ropeway and Shri Anandpur Sahib-Shri Naina Devi Ji ropeway. 
Chief Minister said that Chanshal in Shimla district was being developed as a winter sports destination. He said that till date an amount of Rs. 5.31 crore have been released for creating basic facilities like restoration of Kharshali lake, development of camp site at Larot and Moral Danda etc.
Jai Ram Thakur said that heliports have been constructed at Kangnidhar in Mandi district and Shimla heliport in Shimla district. He said that work has been expedited on Rampur heliport, Baddi heliport and SASE heliport to facilitate the tourists.
Principal Secretary Tourism Devesh Kumar said that special focus would be laid on projects which were nearing completion. He assured the Chief Minister that all the projects taken in hand would be completed within the stipulated time period.
Director Tourism and Managing Director of HPTDC Amit Kashyap conducted the proceedings of the meeting. He also highlighted various achievements of the department.
