A joint initiative of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Rajasthan Tourism, and Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Great India Travel Bazar, the B2B travel show to promote Rajasthan as a preferred tourist destination, got underway in Jaipur yesterday.
The three-day tourism fair was inaugurated by NC Goel, Additional Chief Secretary – Tourism, Government of Rajasthan in the presence of Suman Billa, Jt. Secretary – Tourism, Government of India, and Jyotsna Suri, Chairperson, Tourism Committee of FICCI.
In his inaugural speech, Goel said that the State government accords highest priority to tourism infrastructure in the State. The State has already submitted proposals to the Union Tourism Ministry to the tune of Rs. 500 crores for developing innovative circuits like Spiritual, Heritage, Mega Desert, Tribal and Eco-Adventure. Some infrastructure projects under the schemes of PRASAD and SWADESH were also being developed.
Owing to the development of infrastructure as well as an aggressive and creative marketing campaign, in the year 2016, Rajasthan registered an impressive growth of domestic tourist arrivals by 18% while that of foreign tourist arrivals by 3 %. In the current year, the tourist arrival trends are suggesting even better growth.
There has been an impressive growth of foreign tourist arrivals in the country to the tune of 11% and around 9% in domestic tourist arrivals in 2016, said Billa. The trend in initial months of 2017 indicate a growth of 16%. He said that a primary reason for a quantum jump in the tourist arrivals was also owing to the introduction electronic visa facility.
Speaking on the occasion, Suri said that the GITB is the most significant platform and the sole promoter of Inbound Tourism in India. Giving a snapshot of GITB over the past few years she highlighted that the number of buyers have increased from 260 to 275. There has also been significant rise in the number of B2B meetings from 3000 to 10,800 since it began.
Two knowledge papers entitled ‘Rajasthan – Revelation Beyond the Obvious’ prepared by FICCI and MRSS as well as ‘India Inbound Tourism – The Next Growth Trajectory’ prepared by FICCI and YES Bank were released by the Minister of State for Tourism, Art & Culture, Rajasthan, Krishnendra Kaur (Deepa) and other dignitaries.