Ahmedabad : While deliberations may be on to partially relax prohibition in the special economic zone (SEZ) area of the Gujarat International Finance-Tec City (GIFT), the upcoming policy on tourism in the state is not likely to make any relaxations on that.

Gujarat has a prohibition law in force since 1960 when Bombay state was dissolved into Maharashtra and Gujarat that prohibits the sale, purchase and consumption of alcoholic drinks. It is considered a major hindrance to tourism in the state, Business Standard reported .

A senior official in the know said that there were no plans to lift or relax prohibition in the upcoming tourism policy, which is in the final stages of deliberation and is expected to be announced in the coming months.

A leading tour operator in the state said that while Gujarat has several pristine beaches including ones at Mandvi, Veraval, Dwarka, it has not been a major draw to tourists who do not prefer to either avoid alcoholic drinks or do so in a hush-hush manner.

“Since prohibition is not a norm elsewhere in India, most tourists feel uncomfortable with the restrictive laws in the state, and the manner in which consumption of alcohol is treated here. It is true that tourists can obtain a permit when they arrive in Gujarat, however, the process is cumbersome. If one is unable to enjoy a regular drink by the beach or at a tourist spot, it definitely acts as a deterrent,” he said on condition of anonymity.

The state government has been working on a tourism policy for long now; and one of the areas that were under deliberation was whether prohibition could be relaxed. Only recently, the outgoing Managing Director and Group Chief Executive of GIFT City R K Jha had said that special areas for purchase and consumption may be opened up within hotels and clubs on the lines of smoking and non-smoking areas in the SEZ areas of GIFT city. The domestic area will continue to face prohibition.

A senior government official said that there might be some relaxation of prohibition in the SEZ zones, there was no plan to touch the area of prohibition in the upcoming tourism policy. Also, the policy is unlikely to include significant guidelines on the taxation front as well, since the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is on the anvil.

Some of the areas the policy could touch include, development of coastal and eco-tourism hubs, cruise tourism etc.

In the last few years the state which houses Asiatic lions, the white desert of Kutch, archaeological sites of the Indus Valley Civilisation, pilgrimage hotspots like Somnath and Dwarka as well as a 1600 km long coastline dotted with beaches decided to step up the gas on tourism and went live with what now is hailed as one of the landmark tourism campaigns in the country, “Khushboo Gujarat Ki”. The campaign featuring popular actor Amitabh Bachchan went on air in 2010, and ever since, Gujarat has seen a steady flow of tourists.

From 17 million tourists in 2009-10, the numbers grew to 19.8 million in 2010-11 and 22.3 million in 2011-12, the years when the Khushboo advertisements were aired regularly. According to the Gujarat Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation Limited (GITCO), which manages the Tourist Flow Information System (TFIS) for the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd (TCGL), in FY15 the state witnessed a 13.5 per cent rise in net tourist inflow to 32.69 million people, up from previous year’s 28.78 million.

Going by the origin of travellers, 75 per cent are people from within Gujaratat 24.5 million, while 7.4 million tourists from other Indian states visited Gujarat, up 23 per cent from 6 million tourists in FY14. While non-resident Indians who visited the state stood at 389,000, number of foreign touristsgrew by 7 per cent to 245,000 individuals.

While 19.2 million business travellers visited Gujarat during FY15, registering a 12.38 per cent growth, leisure travellers grew by 17.7 per cent to 2.4 million. Business travellers account for nearly 59 per cent of the net touristinflow in to this industrialised state.