Varanasi: After the presentation of tourism development in the state before chief minister Aditya Nath Yogi at Lucknow on Thursday, the regional tourism office has geared up to chalk out plans for promotion and development of tourism in the region through various components like culture, wellness and yoga. Though the tourism department has already included cultural festivals like Ganga Mahotsava in its calendar, other areas will be explored to boost tourism, say tourism officials.During the presentation the CM reportedly also asked to prepare a work plan for coordinating programmes in Gorakhpur and Varanasi to boost health tourism with focus on yoga. He also suggested for organising literary festival of Hindi and Sanskrit in Varanasi to showcase Indian culture.For the promotion of cultural tourism we have already been holding Ganga Mahotsava to showcase rich cuture of music and local traditions. "We are looking for incorporating other cultural aspects in tourism development plan," regional tourism officer Ravindra Kumar Mishra said.To exploit yoga as a tool to promote tourism particularly among the foreign visitors, the department is planning to start yoga sessions. In the past, yoga session had been the part of tourism activities in Varanasi. "We are going to revive it to attract foreign tourists," Mishra added.The city is also known for Ayurveda, which can be popularized among the tourists coming from far off places. The UP Tourism Policy 2016 also proposed for development of wellness tourism involving ancient treatment systems Yoga, Ayurveda and Unani. We will also chalk out plans for other activities like road show and festivals to promote tourism, he said.Varanasi is also one of the destinations under the schemes of Union ministry of tourism, he said. The ministry of tourism in 2014-15 introduced two schemes -PRASAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive) and Swadesh Darshan - the integrated development of theme-based tourist circuits. In 2016-17 Union Budget, a fund Rs 707.40 crore was proposed for Swadesh Darshan, and Rs 100 crore for PRASAD. As many as 12 cities of the country including Varanasi, Amritsar, Ajmer, Dwaraka, Mathura, Gaya, Puri, Amaravati, Kanchipuram, Vellankanni, Kedarnath and Guwahati have been identified for development.

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