The Karnataka Tourism Department will formulate and soon implement a Tourism Start-up Promotion Policy to harness the State’s strong start-up ecosystem for developing new technologies, products and innovative solutions for the tourism sector, said Tourism Minister K.J. George.

“Areas that could be opened up for innovation include visitor experience, digital services, destination management, sustainable tourism, cleanliness, mobility, safety, accessibility, tourist information and locally rooted experiences,” Mr. George said.

According to details shared by department officials, the proposed policy would seek to identify real-world challenges and emerging requirements in tourism and create opportunities for start-ups, young entrepreneurs and innovators to develop practical solutions around them.

Tourism Secretary V. Ram Prasath Manohar said, “Selected products or solutions could be piloted at identified tourism destinations. Once we evaluate their effectiveness and success rate, we can scale up such products across the tourism ecosystem. This will give start-ups access to a real-world testing environment and potential market opportunities, while enabling the Tourism Department to adopt innovation and technology more rapidly.”