Gujarat''s new policy to promote hotels and medical tourism

In a bid to boost tourism industry, Gujarat government today announced a policy which encourages promotion in hospitality sector and medical tourism, Gujarat Urban Development Minister Nitin Patel said here. "Gujarat is developing fast both in industrial and agriculture sector. It is moving towards becoming an economic hub and in this backdrop the government wants to provide latest facilities to industrialist and tourists," Patel said. "The state government is also keen on promoting medical tourism in the state so as to provide advanced health care facilities at affordable prices," he said. "For promotion of hospitality and medical services we have announced a new policy that would encourage the stakeholders to make more investments," Patel said. As per the policy, hoteliers and those desirous of setting up hospitals can construct buildings upto 22 floors, for which necessary changes have been made in building rules. Special provisions and relaxation have been introduced for constructing hospitals and hotels, as part of this policy. For hotels, relaxation has been given in parking space, Floor Space Index (FSI), swimming pools, and structural designs, an official release said. For hospitals also similar provisions and relaxation have been made in the policy such as FSI, parking space and location of hospital in correlation to road width. Now hospitals can be constructed alongside of a 30 metre wide road.