President Pranab Mukherjee to open Diu Festival on December 1

Daman (UT), Oct 22: President Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate the 75-day-long 'Diu Festival' scheduled to commence at the Union Territory of Diu from December 1, officials said here today.

"President Pranab Mukherjee has given his consent to inaugurate the Diu Festival, named as 'Festa Di Diu', to be celebrated at Diu for 75 days.

The President will inaugurate the festival on December 1," said the Administrator of Union Territory of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli Ashish Kundra.

According to Kundra, this festival will have several attractions, including beach tents, bungee jumping, adventure sport, hot-air balloons, etc. "During this two-and-a-half month long festival, tourists can also enjoy cultural nights to be held every week.

We have lined up several top singers to perform here during the festival, such as Kailash Kher and Shaan," said Kundra, who is hoping to double the number of tourists through this initiative. "Last year, Diu attracted around 17 lakh tourists.

Now, with this initiative, we are hoping to attract at least 35 lakh tourists this calender year. This festival is part of a national publicity campaign launched recently to promote Diu as a favoured tourist destination," said Kundra. He also announced the commencement of regular flight between Diu and Mumbai.

According to him, the flight service will start from October 26. "We have recently signed an MoU with Air India for the flight service. Initially, flights will be available from Monday to Thursday.

We are confident that direct flight to Mumbai will fetch more international tourists here," added Kundra.

PTI