"In our rural tourism initiative, 125 rural sites have been identified to showcase rural life, art, culture and heritage, nature and landscape in and around the villages," the joint secretary said.

As for outbound tourism, he said the sector was growing at an annual rate of around 25 percent with the country's growing middle class spending more and more on foreign travel.

"Outbound tourism from India is increasing steadily with 8.34 million Indian tourists travelling overseas in the year 2007. The figure is likely to reach 50 million by 2020," he said.

A total of 31 participants from India, including the state tourism boards of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala, are participating at the three-day ATM 2008, the Middle East's premier travel and tourism event, which got under way Tuesday.