UP to participate in Arab Travel Mart at Dubai

New Delhi, Apr 28 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh will participate in a big way in the four-day Arab Travel Mart at Dubai, beginning May two, to woo the cash-rich Arab Sheikhs to India, state Tourism Minister Kaukab Hameed said today.

Mr Hameed, who will represent Uttar Pradesh at the mart, said time was opportune to woo the Arab Sheikhs, whose sojourns to the US, Europe and even Australia had become lesser in number in recent years.

''Our basic objective is to showcase before the affluent sheikhs places and objects in India, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, which are of immense tourist attraction. Culturally too, the sheikhs would feel familiar in Uttar Pradesh, the erstwhile state of nawabs and emirs,'' Mr Hameed told reporters here.

Pointing out that the Taj Mahal is an inescapable part of the itinerary of a foreign tourist, he said the state had a number of other tourist destinations, including Fathepur Sikri and Dudhwa National Park, which is the only other park after the Kaziranga sanctuary to have one-horned rhinoceros.

The Dudhwa Park is also home to swamp deer, an endangered species.

''There are tribals living on the fringes of the Dudhwa Park. With their involvement, bonfires and night dances can be organised to attact Arab tourists,'' he said.

Mr Hameed, who recently announced the state's new hotel policy, said quality hotels would soon be built, and it would greatly help in wooing the Arab sheikhs.

About the mart, he said it is a pretigious annual event in which both the Central and various state governments put up their stalls.

''We have decided to participate in the event in a substantial manner, showcasing various facets of the culturally-rich Uttar Pradesh,'' he pointed out.

''We wil also plan roadshows in the coming years,'' he said.

On an average, the spending of an Arab sheikh is nearly the amount spent by six American tourists together. ''We must tap this source which bristles with enormous potential,'' he said.

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