Other States - Rajasthan   

Luxury train attracts travel industry

JAIPUR: The travel industry has evinced a keen interest in Rajasthan’s brand new luxury train, the Royal Rajasthan on Wheels. Tour operators and travel agents thronged the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation stall at the Great Indian Travel Bazaar, a three-day show which concluded here on Tuesday.

Rajasthan Tourism, knowing well the potential of the Great Indian Travel Bazaar, the country’s largest buyer-seller mart in the tourism sector, had made special arrangements to bring the train to Jaipur from Phulera where it was stationed for the off season.

Rajasthan Tourism made arrangements to take the participants out for a visit to the train. The visitors were visibly impressed by the ambience, comfort and services provided aboard the train, which is in the category of the now hugely successful Palace on Wheels.

Royal Rajasthan On Wheels General Manager B.K. Sharma said, “I am amazed at the number of queries that have come for the train. As many as ten travel agents approached us with the intention of becoming the General Selling Agent in their respective countries.”

Bateel Travel General Manager Raza Khan described the train as an amazing tourism product which he would like to popularise in West Asia. The tour operators who visited the train included Trevor Lake, Imam Hossain, Michel Anitas, Danila Weigel, Vikas Nabar, Koolwal Kohli and Gerhard Dress.

The Rajasthan Department of Tourism, one of the organisers along with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Union Tourism Ministry, and World Travel and Tourism Council tried to promote lesser known destinations in the State at the mart, apart from the popular ones. The B2B session for Rajasthan Tourism ended on a very optimistic note in terms of new business to be generated from across the country as well as abroad.

As many as 178 foreign buyers representing 159 companies from over 42 countries interacted with 168 registered Indian enterprises in tourism from across the country. The governments of Rajasthan, West Bengal, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh showcased their tourism products at the mart along with the Union Ministry of Tourism.

“The response to the travel bazaar has been tremendous,” said Usha Sharma, Commissioner Tourism, Rajasthan. “In two years’ time the travel bazaar has become an important forum for buyers and sellers of tourism products,” she pointed out.

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