Haryana unfolds tourism plan for Haryana at Berlin

Chandigarh, Mar 9 (UNI) Haryana Minister of State for Tourism Kiran Choudhry today said that the internationally famed Surajkund Crafts Mela, will be replicated not only in other states of India but in the countries of the West Asia also.

Addressing the Trade Meet organised by the centre, International Tourism Bourse (ITB) at Berlin, she said Haryana,a land known for its prosperity and greenery was '' a perfect land for a vacation''.

The state had been a pioneer in highway tourism and farm tourism, she pointed out.

Refering to the IT sector in the state, she said that this industry had been promoted in a big way and Gurgaon had become the first choice of the multi-national companies for setting up IT units. Haryana exports IT products worth about Rs 8,000 crore annually, she added.

She pointed out that Haryana had become an ideal investment destination for many companies particularly in the service sector including tourism. The Minister stated that to make Gurgaon a Convention City, Haryana was getting all support from the Central Government.

After successfully developing highway tourism, Haryana had promoted new tourism concepts like golf tourism, cultural, pilgrim, adventure and farm or agri tourism, health and medical tourism.

The Minister, while briefing the delegates stated that Haryana was implementing the concept of Public-Private Partnership.

New Institutes in the filed of Hotel Management would be coming up shortly, she added.

The Minister stated that the Panipat-Pinjore Circuit of tourism approved by the Union Government would be developed to enable the tourists to get a view about the Haryanvi culture and traditions also. Keeping in view, the Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi in 2010, additional 10,000 rooms are being built in the state, she pointed out.

The Minister also started that after aggressive follow-up with the Union Tourism Ministry, the proposed 'Punjab Palace of Wheels' train will have a halt at the religious city of Kurukshetra.

She called upon the travel and tour operators to come to Haryana as it was going to be the most preferred destination.

UNI