Tourism boom in Rajasthan


RAJASTHAN is already one of the most favoured tourism hubs, both among domestic travellers and visitors from abroad. But we will not stop at just that,” says an upbeat Rajasthan Minister for Tourism, Usha Punia, enlisting her priorities.
“We want tourism in the state to scale new heights, and that is why the state government has accorded due importance to this sector. Budgetary allocation in the current financial year for tourism-related projects has doubled,” she says, with determination in her voice.
A clear-cut approach by the government towards the development of tourism infrastructure is also reflected in its decision to facilitate the progress of some projects through public-private partnership basis.
Some of the major projects identified for this arrangement in the current year include the Jal Mahal Tourism Project, the construction of an International Convention Centre and an International Golf Course Project (all at Jaipur), developing the Tejara Fort as a heritage resort and developing the Ropeway Project at Udaipur.
“Even for the maintenance of monuments, we’ve launched an ‘Adopt a Monument’ scheme, wherein private parties can contribute for the development and upkeep of important monuments. We also have plans to develop spiritual tourism, MICE tourism, rural tourism, ecotourism, adventure tourism and health tourism,” the minister adds.
Tourism in Rajasthan saw an unprecedented boom in 2003. It was a landmark year in terms of both foreign and domestic tourist arrivals in the state. However, figures for the current year have already surpassed figures in the corresponding period last year by 63 per cent in foreign arrivals and 33 per cent in domestic visitors.
Talking about her plans to promote new circuits in the days to come, Punia says that in the current year, the Rajasthan government has decided to focus on two new tourism circuits. The first is the Hadoti circuit, comprising Bundi, Jhalawar, Kota and Baran. The other one will include the NCR (National Capital Region) circuit of Delhi-Alwar-Tejara-Neemrana-Deg-Bharatpur-Fatehpur Sikri-Agra-Delhi, with the state tourism taking up the Rajasthan segment.
Palace-on-Wheels is the most premium international tourism product of India. Aptly titled, 'A Week in Wonderland', it’s a seven-night/eight-day journey, covering Delhi-Jaipur-Jaisalmer-
Jodhpur-Ranthambore-Chittorgarh-Udaipur-Bharatpur-Fatehpur Sikri-Agra-Delhi trail. In the season 2002-03, 1387 paid passengers travelled on Palace-on-Wheels and in 2003-04, 2766 paid passengers enjoyed the tour — an increase of about 100 per cent. The previous highest was
2490, in 2000-01 season.
Significantly, the bookings for 2004-05 season have crossed 3100-mark with half-the-year yet to go. There are plans for major upgradation of the train in the next season, which would further increase the  popularity of this train.
The concern and zeal of the tourism minister to promote the tourism sector in the state is also reflected in its doubling of allocation under the publicity and marketing head. Such an aggressive
campaign is sure to fetch travellers to Rajasthan from both within and beyond the national borders.
She further adds that in the new excise policy, the state government has reduced the bar licence fees. Besides, for the current year, beer and wine licences are also being given to various restaurants. As if all this was not enough, in the current budget the luxury tax on hotels has been reduced from 10 per cent to eight per cent. (From the Archives)

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