Gujarat to offer one-stop e-solution to tourists

State to set up common portal for all tourism-related websites.

The Gujarat government is planning to offer a one-stop e-solution to Gujarat-bound tourists by setting up a portal with help of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The upcoming portal will serve as a common platform for all other tourism-related websites and will also provide facilities like air and train ticket bookings, hotel booking, reservation status along with important information on various tourist place in the state.

According to the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd (TCGL), the website will be functional in the next six months.

The concept of the website was conceived by TCGL and UNCTAD officials during the recent high level business delegation's visit to Switzerland under Gujarat CM Narendra Modi's leadership. The idea is to offer a single stop e-solution to Gujarat-bound tourists.

Atanu Chakrabarty, Secretary, Tourism, told Business Standard, "During our visit to Zurich we had a meeting with Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General, UNCTAD. After our presentation on Gujarat's potential to become a major tourism destination Panitchpakdi offered to help us set up a portal which will be a single-stop solution to all the Gujarat tourism-related queries."

Elaborating the initiative Chakrabarty said, "The new portal will serve as a common platform to all other tourist-related websites. It will offer air and train ticket bookings, hotel bookings, reservations status, weather, festival calendar and all the necessary information regarding major tourism spots in the state. The website will invite major travel operators, hospitality majors, tourism websites to advertise on this common portal. Moreover, to know specific details of something we will provide links to other websites. These websites may be commercial or government operated websites. The idea is to offer a comprehensive solution to the tourists and if this helps other businesses then they are welcome to participate in this initiative."

On the need for such a portal when there are so many websites offering similar services, Chakrabarty said, "There are private websites offering specialised services to tourists, like reservation and ticket booking. They provide links to the websites which have put up their advertisements on the portal. While the government portal will have no interest in projecting any particular website or link. This way the best services will be provided to the tourists. After visiting this portal the tourist will not have to search more and get confused. For detailed information on any particular tourist spot or hotel they can always visit the specialised portal."

"The portal will also give information about which place has a sale going on or which handicraft fair is being held where," said Chakrabarty.

Chakrabarty added that UNCTAD is offering this help through its e-Tourism initiative and it will take at least six months to complete all the procedures to launch the site.