Rajasthan Tourism Gets Serious On Infrastructure Development

Reema Sisodia - Mumbai

Vinod Zutshi

Waking up after more than a year of hibernation, Rajasthan tourism has its plans in place once again ranging from infrastructure improvement to that of providing newer packages.

With the help of Asian Development Bank an investment of Rs 1750 crore is being made on urban infrastructure development of the prominent tourism cities such as Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Bikaner, Kota and Ajmer, Pushkar. An international convention centre and international golf course will be set up at Jaipur, wherein the sites for these mega projects have been already identified. Ropeways are being set up at Udaipur and Mt Abu. In the area of air transport and airport development the state has also made headway. The runway of the Jaipur airport has been enhanced to 9,000 feet and the airport has been equipped with the latest technique for landing Airbuses and international charters. The Jaipur airport is also being declared as an international airport. The airport at Udaipur is being brought up to international standard. The state has 14 functional airstrips spread over 13 districts. These strips are being developed in collaboration with private agencies to make them operational for air taxies. The state government has already initiated dialogue with small airlines to commence their operations in the state. Pursuant to this Jagson Airlines and Air Deccan have commenced operations.

Better road connectivity is being carried out so as to facilitate tourist movement in all weather conditions. Nearly 120 small patches of road have been completed, linking small tourist destinations.

“Extensive development of national highways is being carried out which will give tourists faster access in the state. Rajasthan is also part of the North-South corridor and on completion of the work of this sector a further boost will be available to tourism,” adds Vinod Zutshi, secretary to the government, department of tourism and civil aviation, government of Rajasthan secretariat. Providing improved accommodation facilities is also part of the plan. RTDC iis renovating its hotels this year by investing approximately Rs two crore. RTDC is presently operating 36 hotels, 11 motels 11 wayside facilities and seven cafeterias. It also operates Palace on Wheels and Fairy Queen luxury trains in collaboration with Indian Railways.

RTDC has also made attractive packages to suit pockets of different categories of tourists. These package tours include travel by deluxe bus, accommodation on twin sharing and sightseeing.

The beautification of Amber fort has been started, while the Jal Mahal tourism project at Jaipur and Tijara fort at Alwar are being developed as tourist complexes with multiple utilities.