Agartala, Jul 9 (IANS): Union Minister of State for Tourism, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Suresh Gopi on Tuesday said that the government is focusing and working on different schemes for spiritual and adventure tourism and asked Tripura to work in this direction.

During his maiden visit to the state, Union MoS after holding a meeting with the officials of the Tourism Department here said Tripura has immense scope for the development of the tourism sector and it can facilitate huge employment opportunities.

He said that the youths need to be encouraged to become self-dependent through tourism with the Mudra loan scheme and also urged the state to come forward with a competitive mindset and advised to utilise time properly from September to March as it has been identified as peak tourism hour in Tripura.

During September to March, Gopi advised to organise different food, cultural and tourism promotion events at different villages involving other states of the country.

“If any well-known national-level player can be involved in such events, it would become more attractive. With innovative events, tourism would be developed and simultaneously enhance the revenue of the state,” the MoS told the media.

“Tripura can be marked as a model in the entire country if the state approaches in this direction.”

Gopi also advised to ensure protection of the environment and keep proper arrangements in the tourist sites for the tourists.

In the meeting, Tripura Tourism Minister Sushanta Chowdhury said that the state is following the directions of the Centre to promote tourism.

As per Tourism Department reports, Tripura saw 5,45,299 tourists in 2023-24, among whom over 4.69 lakhs were domestic while the rest were foreign tourists.

The figures were higher than 2022-23, when a total of 2,84,836 tourists came to the state of whom over 2.49 lakhs were domestic while the rest were foreign tourists.

The Union Minister accompanied by Chowdhury visited Agartala-Akhaura Integrated Check Post (ICP).