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Boosting
tourism
From Hon. Secretary’s Desk
Reasons Galore
for flourishing tourism in Gujarat
We have
been allocated
`25 crore for
advertisements
and promotional
activities for the
existing year. Last
year it was around
`18 crore
When Amitabh Bachchan implores on
television – ‘Kuchh din to guzaro Gujarat
mein,’ in his signature sonorous voice,
people just cannot ignore his proposal. No
doubt, the number of tourists, foreign and domestic,
visiting the western coastal state of India is increasing.
That Gujarat is very serious to promote tourism in
the state can be gauged from the fact that the Chief
Minister Narendra Modi ended his address to the
Indian-Americans in New Jersey and Chicago by saying,
“Gujaratis are the best tourists but until recently, Gujarat
was never a tourist destination.” Asking members of the
Indian diaspora to make more frequent visits to Gujarat,
he repeated Amitabh Bachchan’s tagline.
It was in early 2010 that Gujarat roped in
‘Big B’ for promoting the State as a tourist
destination. Other states also promote
tourism but Gujarat was the first state to
cash in on the charisma of the Bollywood
superstar to attract tourists.
Kamlesh Patel, Chairman of Tourism
Corporation of Gujarat Limited at that
time had said the number of tourists
to Gujarat had increased after making
Amitabh Bachchan the brand ambassador
of Gujarat Tourism. Amitabh Bachchan
has endorsed Dwarka, Somnath, Kutch,
Saputara and Gir National Park.
The Gir Sanctuary has benefited from the
splurge, seeing a 30 per cent jump in tourists in two
years. The Rannotsav Festival in Kutch and the pilgrim
sites of Somnath and Dwarka too have become major
draws. “We have been advertising widely not only
on television and radio but also in in-flight magazines
of prominent international airlines. In the last two
years, there has been a flow of nearly 54 lakh tourists
to Gujarat, which is an achievement,” Vipul Mittra,
Principal Secretary, Gujarat Tourism recently said.
According to the figures provided by the Ministry of
Tourism, 18.8 million domestic tourists visited Gujarat
in the year 2010. The figure rose by 11.43 per cent the
following year. The number of tourists who visited the
State crossed the mark of 20 million. A little less than
that, 140,000 foreign tourists visited Gujarat in the year
2010. The number in 2011 was 166,042, a sharp rise of
21 per cent.
Since 2009, an aggressive Gujarat has seen a five-fold
increase in its budget for tourism promotion. A whopping
amount of `10 crore was spent on promotional activities
before the ‘Khushboo Gujarat Ki’ campaign kicked off
in October 2010. The tourism department is hoping to
spend around `55 crore by March 2013. Last year, the
State government had set aside just `2.5 crore in the
budget just for promotion.
Gujarat has surpassed even Madhya Pradesh, another
state that aggressively promotes tourism. The Madhya
Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation
(MPSTDC) has increased its budget by just `7 crore
in the promotional activities this year. “We have been
allocated `25 crore for advertisements and promotional
activities for the existing year. Last year it was around
`18 crore,” said Om Vijay Choudhary, Chief General
Manager (Operations and Marketing), MPSTDC. There
are no separate funds for television promos and social
networking sites. Tourism Corporation of Gujarat
Limited (TGCL) officials say that they are spending the
maximum within the country. The corporation will also
organise roadshows across the country and take part in
trade fairs.
The Gujarat government has taken a new initiative by
signing an MoU with Indian Oil Corporation. Tourism
Corporation of Gujarat Limited (TCGL) will set up
amenities for tourists at 50 petrol pumps of Indian
Oil Corporation on various highways of the state
with an investment of `40 crore. Tourism officials
believe that 80 per cent of tourists visiting Gujarat
come by road. These centres developed will be given
to organised food chain companies for operation on
third party basis. TCGL will develop amenities like
food courts, kiosks and toilets at IOCL petrol pumps.
The amenities will be given to organised food chains
for operations. The restaurants will also have logos of
IOC and TCGL on it.
“Close to 80 per cent tourists use roads to reach tourist
places in Gujarat. So, creating amenities on national and
state highways are very necessary,” Mittra told reporters
recently. Three categories of amenities centres will be
created over an area of 4,000 sqmt, 2,000 sqmt and
1,000 sq mt. Fifty petrol pumps have been identified for
the purpose. The first outlet will be operational in six
months, while the rest will be commissioned within a
year. Furthermore, Gujarat is also trying to attract film
producers to the State. No wonder, it has been achieving
success so effectively on the tourism front.
April 2013 I www.fhrai.com I
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