Monsoon rains give a boost to tourism in Jaipur

Cashing in on a good monsoon, the Department of Tourism in Rajasthan promoted monsoon tourism in the state, and also kicked off tourist activities, as the region's water bodies are brimming with water.

Foreign tourists, arriving in Jaipur, were surprised to see rains, as they had expected the climate to be hot and dry.

"It's very surprising. I was not expecting to see this much water this time of year. Lots of things I have heard about Rajasthan, that it's like a desert area, it's dry, it's very very hot, 49-50 degrees. Then I came here, and it's so wet, and yesterday it rained for ten minutes, and it was a flood, we had to walk through water on the main road. And this is very surprising, lots of fish in the water, breezy, it's very nice," said a tourist, Tania, on Friday.

The tourism industry is expecting around a 20 percent boost in the number of tourists this year. Also, tour operators and guides are announcing packages to attract more tourists.

"We found that in almost all districts of Rajasthan, it has been raining well, and as far as Jaipur is concerned, I am very pleased to see that Jal Mahal is quite filled with water. If a little bit of promotion or hindsight is given by the Government of India, we can experience an unimaginable boom. Well, just for example, if an evening activity could be created looking at a lake filled with water, some evening activity or a boat ride kind of thing, we are giving an opportunity to the client to come out of the hotel at that time also," said tourist guide, Shailendra Upadhyay.

Major water bodies like Man Sagar Lake in Jaipur , Pichola Lake in Udaipur and Bisalpur Dam in Tonk District have enough water to attract tourists.

An average monsoon for the August-September period is when India receives a downpour of between 96 and 104 percent of a 50-year average of 43.5 centimeters.