India, July 23 -- LUCKNOW The UP tourism department on Wednesday announced a series of public-focused reforms aimed at boosting tourism, creating local employment and preserving cultural heritage, during a high-level departmental review meeting held at Paryatan Bhawan here.

At the heart of the new directives is the urgent push to fill long-pending vacancies across the tourism and culture department, especially at the district level, which has impacted service delivery to citizens and tourists alike. Officials were instructed to fill pending vacancies immediately - through outsourcing if necessary - to ensure smoother operations in local tourism offices.

"Citizens of UP will soon feel a shift towards a more accessible, community-centred ...