'Life of Pi' bags National Tourism Awards

The recently released feature film ''Life of Pi'' has been given two National Tourism Awards by the Tourism Ministry recognizing the impact it has had in promoting India as a tourism destination, especially Puducherry and Munnar (Kerala).

Union Tourism Minister Chiranjeevi, who made this announcement here today, said these Awards would be given to Ang Lee, Director of the film ''Life of Pi'' and Yann Martel, writer of the book of the same name.

He expressed the hope that this will go a long way in encouraging more and more Film producers from abroad to shoot their films in India.

Every year, the Ministry of Tourism recognizes various stakeholders, including filmmakers and writers for their contribution in promoting India Tourism by conferring National Tourism Awards.

The Ministry of Tourism has identified ''Film Tourism'' as a Niche Tourism product. It has requested the state governments and union territory administrations to recognize the potential of ''Film Tourism'' and constitute special bodies/cells to facilitate filming in their respective States/Union Territories.

It may be recalled that in February this year, the Ministry of Tourism signed a MoU with Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as a major initiative to promote the ''Incredible India'' campaign and cinemas of India as a sub brand of ''Incredible India'' at various international film festivals and markets abroad.

The MoU is expected to enhance the reach of ''Incredible India'' through the Medium of Cinema, develop synergy between tourism and film industry and provide a platform for enabling partnerships between the Indian and global film industry.

The MoU also provided an impetus to frame policies and guidelines for facilitating shooting of International films in India and promote India as a filming destination, both for international and domestic film producers. Another key objective of the MoU is to initiate dialogue with state governments and UTs for development of locations for film shootings.

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