Describing India as a high potential tourist destination, Union tourism minister Subodh Kant Sahaitoday said the government is working 'proactively' to achieve the target of one billion tourist footfalls every year.

"India is a high potential tourist destination. We want to double the number of tourists coming here every year to about one billion," Sahai said at an hospitality event being organised here. 

Addressing Great India Travel Bazaar here, Sahai said tourism sector is top priority for the government of India.

"At present India gets about 5.7 million tourists annually, we want to double that as a target in the current five year plan," Sahai said.

To achieve the target, India is "proactively" working with other countries, the minister said.

He also sought greater participation from hospitality players to create supporting infrastructure.

"We have started visa on arrival for 13-14 countries and have started working with them to facilitate flow of tourists to India," Sahay said.

He also said that to cater to growing number of tourists, the country also needs to create additional hotel rooms.

"We need at least 20 million hotel rooms in India," he added.

The three-day long event is being organised by industry body Ficci and Yes Bank is the knowledge partner.