The draft has already been forwarded to the cabinet which is giving final touches to the policy, said the director general tourism, Atul Sinha.

Sinha who was speaking at a press conference to announce the international conference-cum-showcase "India: Tourism and Heritage-Challenge-21 to be held next month in Agra. Similarly, the new policy will aim at bringing more synergy between civil aviation to achieve the desired growth in international tourist arrivals.

"It was important that the new civial aviation policy, now in a draft stage, and the tourism policy work in tandem to achieve the goals, he said, adding there would be no one integrated policy for civil aviation and tourism, they will have to be in tune", he added.

Agra conference to be organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will attempt to create a national consensus on the country's tourism policy. The conference will be co-sponsored by the by the Union tourism ministry and directorate of tourism, Uttar Pradesh. Eminent experts, who have changed the course of tourism in their countries, will be among the speakers at the conference, Ravi Bhoothalingam, chairman of the CII tourism committee said.

The speakers include World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) president Jean-Claude Baumgarten, emirates airline group managing director Maurice Flanagan, advisor on tourism to the French government Jean-Paul Leotard and professor of information system at London school of economics Dr Ian O Angell.

The conference will delve on promoting public-private cooperation in heritage preservation and prepare a plan for Agra to develop as a tourist destination of international stature.

Uttar Pradesh minister of state for tourism Ashok Yadav, who also attended the press conference, said his department had recently launched a website in mauritius `Discover your roots' for the nearly 10,000,00 Indians who had migrated to that country about 150 years ago.

CII's tourism vision 2020 plans to find employment for 50 million people in the travel and tourism economy.