Uttarakhand plans major foray into health tourism

Uttarakhand plans to foray into health tourism in a big way, creating hubs and taking advantage of abundant medicinal and aromatic plants, Chief Minister B C Khanduri said.

The government's focus in tourism had so far been on religious and adventure tourism, Khanduri said.

"We now have health tourism coming into it," the chief minister who was in Bangalore to attend the three-day BJP national executive meeting that concluded here on Sunday, told PTI.

"We want to go into health tourism. We want to concentrate on large-scale production of various types of herbs and aromatic plants which are used for medicinal and other purposes," he said.

Khanduri said the government is encouraging people to go in for this kind of "cash crops" which would also generate employment.

The government has taken steps for increasing cultivation of herbs with people getting better prices so that they are encouraged, he said.

"We want to create national and international clear-cut hubs for herbs, medicinal plants, aromatic plants and various types of medical treatment using them," he said.

As for religious tourism, Khanduri said the government would come out with a "circuit" initiative to encourage tourists to visit a string of places in the state rather than coming to just one point of attraction.