The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has signed an MoU with Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) for promotion of tourism in the mountain State, especially the launch of pilgrim packages for next year’s Ardh Kumbh Mela at Haridwar and projecting it as a Yoga destination.
The MoU signed at a high-level meeting at the UTDB headquarters in Dehradun, would facilitate launch of a string of initiatives to jointly promote tourism in Uttarakhand, an IRCTC official said. During the meeting, discussions were held to develop packages for the Ardh Kumbh Mela to be held at Haridwar in 2016 and Char Dham Yatra, besides promoting Uttarakhand as a Yoga destination. The two sides also discussed measures that would project Uttarakhand as a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) hub to allure corporates. As part of the first stage under the MoU, sleeper, AC facilities are proposed for upto 600 persons in pilgrim special train package from Delhi and Char Dham package from Haridwar. It is proposed that IRCTC will facilitate Ramnagar- Corbett on wheels special coach/package for which the KMVN will provide the ground handling with support of the private sector. The IRCTC will also provide a proposed two-day train package from Delhi to Haridwar/Rishikesh which will include options like Haridwar-Rishikesh Darshan, rafting/Devi Darshan and Himalayan Darshan by helicopter.
Officials from both sides said they were upbeat about the prospects of jointly developing packages for the tourists visiting Uttarakhand and also leveraging tourism for the growth of the State.
The UTDB chief executive officer, Umakant Panwar said that the Tourism department will act as the facilitator while the GMVN and KMVN will coordinate with the private sector to make tourist packages. The purpose of signing an MoU with IRCTC is the publicise the natural beauty of Uttarakhand across India and abroad to boost tourist numbers, he said.