Rajasthan sets eyes on more tourists from Guj

Organises tourism festival across cities in Gujarat

In a bid to woo more tourists from Gujarat, the Rajasthan Tourism Department is organising three day tourism festival in Rajkot, with more such events planned in other cities like Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara.

"Gujaratis are very fond of to travel and very large numbers of Gujarati tourists come to Rajasthan. However, we still see huge untapped potential in the state and hence, to attract more people from here, Rajasthan tourism department has planned to organise 'Rajasthan Calling' festival in Gujarat," said Anand Tripathi, deputy director, Rajasthan Tourism.

Organised under Rajasthan Tourism domestic tourism promotion campaign 'Rajasthan Calling', the festival will also cover other parts of the country and will travel to 22 major cities including Kochi, Ludhiana, Dehradun, Surat, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Mumbai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.

The festival aims to give a feel of Rajasthan and facilitate a better understanding about the state and provide complete information and showcase Rajasthan's traditional culture and exquisite range of Rajasthani handicraft products and Rajasthani delicacies in the city, Amongst the major highlight of the festival are live dances and a food court.

"There are stalls put up during the festival where one can choose from handicrafts, woolen shawls from Bikaner, embroidery from Barmer, brass work and blue pottery from Jaipur, terracota from Udaipur and tie and dye from Jaipur, Pali and Jodhpur," said Tripathi.

According to Narayan Sharma, tourist officer, Rajasthan Tourism Department, more than 20.5 million domestic tourists had visited Rajasthan during 2010 and till August 2011 the state saw an influx of over 10.6 million tourists.

"Among the tourists that frequent Rajasthan, Gujarat tops the list followed by West Bengal and Maharashtra," said Sharma.

When asked about a potential brand ambassador for Rajasthan Tourism, Tripathi said, "Rajasthan is itself a brand and it does not need any brand ambassador for promotions. The tourism department is also marketing the state through social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs."