India, with over 5,000 years of history and culture, can rightly claim to be an exciting tourist destination. The flow of international tourists to India is, however, not as high as it should be.
An Action Plan has been prepared for the promotion of international as well as domestic tourism in a big way. It entails augmentation of capacity of air carriers, additional units for accommodation, availability of improved means of surface transport, etc. The Central Government has also announced a package of incentives and concessions to motivate more private sector investments in tourism related activities and 17 States and Union Territories have declared tourism as an industry. The Department of Tourism has launched a scheme to provide assistance for development of international tourism. Under this scheme, the industry is given part of their expenditure on promotional aspects. In other Central Government Departments and agencies, there is now better appreciation of the importance of tourism and they are also inclined to make relaxations in favour of international tourism.
To boost tourism, the year 1991 has been designated as "Visit India Tourism Year"-for the international sector as "Visit India Year" and for the domestic sector as "Tourism Year". Apart from increasing tourist arrivals from abroad, this was expected to help in development of products for the future growth of tourism. It was also to create a national awareness of the socio-economic benefits of tourism, improve the international image of India and help in removal of irritants,. bottlenecks, etc. in a concerted manner.
At present, tourism ranks among the 3 major export industries in the world. So the political and economic status of tourism is indeed very high.
In order to promote all parts of India as tourist destinations, the emphasis during the year has, been on projecting new tourist destinations and activities, promotion of shopping as a major  attraction,  promotion India as a major convention/ conference centre and highlighting its suitability as an all year ­round destination.
The Department of Posts feels proud  to make its contribution to this national effort by issuing a special postage stamp op this occasion.
Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India