Rajasthan Tourism eyes potential Gujarat tourists

Ahmedabad, Feb 3 (UNI) Rajasthan Tourism will start a second 'Palace on Wheels' by September this year and unlike the present one, this train will be a luxury train, Anil Rathore, assistant director, Rajasthan Tourism here today said.

While addressing mediapersons and travel agents at a road show he said ''Rajasthan has nine festivals in seven days and one festival or the other would be happening in the state every month.'' Since the 'Palace on Wheels' is booked till 2010, RTDC decided to start a new luxurious 'Palace on Wheels' that will accommodate another 104 persons, thus doubling the passenger capacity.

The train will run from October to March (September&April being offseasons trips).

RTDC has also started 'Fairy Queen', the oldest 'steam engine' driven luxury train operating from New Delhi to Alwar and back. It has also launched another royal train 'Heritage on Wheels' last season in the picturesque Shekhawati and Mewar regions, he said.

The Rajasthan government has also announced an investor friendly Hotel Policy-2006 last June to cater to the increased tourist demands, and projects worth more than Rs 100 crore have been undertaken to upgrade the state's tourist infrastructure, Mr Rathore said.

Rajasthan is also one of the first states to announce a tourism policy way back in 2001. It was meant to change the government's role from that of a provider to that of a facilitator to boost tourism, he added.

Mr Rathore further said that under the 11th Finance Commission grant, an investment of Rs 1,750 crore is being made on urban infrastructure development of The state's tourism importance cities viz, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Bikaner, Kota and Ajmer-Pushkar under the ADB project and Rs 50 crore would be spent on heritage conservation, while Rs 10 crore would be for conservation and restoration of monuments.

The total foreign and domestic tourists inflow in Rajasthan stood at 242.48 lakhs in 2006, a 55 per cent growth in foreign tourists and 23 per cent in domestic.

RTDC had also launched 'Royal Liquor' some two months back, Mr Rathore said. The liquor comes in different tastes lke almond, saunf and other and is based on old recipes of Rajawadis.

UNI