35% tourists visiting Guj are from Maharashtra

“Having got a tremendous response in tourism from neighbouring states like Maharashtra and Rajasthan,we will be focussing more on inbound tourism. We plan to put up on-ground infrastructure to boost the marketing done by the ‘Khushboo Gujarat Ki’ campaign,” said state tourism minister Saurabh Patel in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

“Tourists from Maharashtra also have families living in Gujarat and connectivity is a big factor contributing to huge tourism numbers. We have observed that Rann Utsav held in Kutch every year attracts a lot of tourists from Mumbai. We are hosting a road show at Mumbai on 29th July,2013 to showcase the tourist destinations of Gujarat,” said Nirav Munshi,Manager (Hotels,Tours and Travels) at TCGL (Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited).

The number of tourists to Gujarat has seen a steady rise in recent years going from 36.24 lakhs in 2009-10 to 43.55 lakhs in 2010-2011 and 47.28 lakhs tourists in 2011-12.

“Religious tourism is an attraction with travellers from Chennai and Kolkata,while the ‘Khushboo’ campaign has evinced interest among travellers from other states. Having developed a robust and informative tourism website in place,tourists also find it easier to book all year round” said Kamlesh Patel,Chairman of TCGL.