TN Govt announces formation of Tourist Police

Chennai, Dec 28 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu Government has announced formation of ''Tourism Police'' to provide safety and security to tourists coming to the State.

An official release said this unique concept, aimed at increasing the tourist inflow into the State, would be introduced at tourist spots of Mamallapuram, Udhagamandalam, Kodaikanal, Madurai and Kanniyakumari in the first phase.

Under the scheme, one outpost Police Station would be established in the above destinations and it would be manned by a Head-Constable and five constables.

The Government had also decided to provide training for 400 tourist guides to work at Chennai, Mamallapuram, Kancheepuram, Tiruchirappalli, Kodaikanal, Thanjavur, Madurai, Rameswaram, Kanniyakumari and Udhagamandalam.

The training programme would be organised by the Anna Institute of Management.

The release said the Government had also conducted marketing campains to increase the domestic tourist arrivals. The road shows were held in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Jaipur.

It said due to the efforts taken by Tourism Department, inflow of tourists into the State this year had increased from 2,85,94,592 in 2005 to 3,46,61,821, till November 2006.

'The number of foreign tourists visiting Tamil Nadu has also increased from 9,66,159 in 2005 to 10,78,000 till November'', the release added.

As a part of tourism promotion, the department had brought out a monthly calendar, highlighting the Tourist Destinations in Tamil Nadu. The calendars would be sent to all the Tourist Offices in abroad, as well as in other States, for issuing to the Travel Writers, Tour Operators and Hoteliers.

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