Gujarat Tourism

Gujarat aims at overseas tourists

Gujarat could attract a sizeable number of overseas tourists with its rich cultural heritage which has remained hidden even from the domestic tourists due to lack of connectivity of towns and places of interest by rail or air. While the neighbouring State of Rajasthan gets the largest share of overseas arrivals in India for its lively, colorful culture, Gujarat hardly finds mention in the itineraries of these travellers. It is not alone the poor connectivity which is to blame, but also the lack of initiatives on the part of the State tourism which has remained in hibernation for past so many years. However, things seem to be looking up now. While on one hand the Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan has become the brand ambassador for Gujarat Tourism giving a boost to domestic tourism, other efforts on the part of the State Tourism could possibly bring overseas travelers the coming season in good numbers. The Principal Secretary, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Gujarat, Mr. Vipul Mitra had recently announced plans for connecting 11 airports in the State with Ahmedabad and Surat . According to the new promotional strategy, Air Deccan will fly two turbo planes daily from the two stations to 11 other airports in the State. For overseas tourists efforts are on to improve connectivity further. Mr. Sanjay Kaul, Managing Director, Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited, is of the view that the State could offer a lot to international visitors. Gujarat is also in talks with Maharashtra and Rajasthan for doing a joint promo to increase tourism in the State. It plans to have a joint western India tourism promotion strategy. Gujarat is also aiming high to promote ‘film tourism’ by setting up a film city with a private investor. The film city is expected to come up on 400 acres of land and, as claimed by Mr. Mitra, will be bigger than the Ramoji Rao film city in Hyderabad. The tourism department is also inviting film producers to take advantage of Gujarat’s conducive environment for film shooting. He identified Kutch and Mandvi as ideal locations for film makers. The State government is looking for private sector participation in building large tourism-related infrastructure projects.