In order to woo tourists in the State, Tourism Corporation of Gujarat limited (TCGl) has planned to expand its annual International Kite Festival outside Gujarat in Delhi and Mumbai.
Vipul Mitra, Principal Secretary, Tourism said that the weeklong kite festival kicked-off on Tuesday and would continue till Utarayan 14th January. The festival is being organised at seven different venues that include Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Saputara, Madvi, Dhorodo Desert in Gujarat apart from Delhi and Mumbai.
As many as 43 foreign kite fliers from 27 countries are participating in the event and 95 kite fliers from 11 different Indian States. “In Delhi and Mumbai, tourism promotion campaign ‘Chalo Gujarat’ has been launched at Connaught Place in Delhi on January 6 and on the next day the kite fliers reached Mumbai to fly kites at Priydarshi Park,” said Mitra. On January 12, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a special theme pavilion at Sabarmati river front in Ahmedabad.
The festival includes march-past by competitors from different parts of the country and abroad, acrobatics and ‘Surya Namaskar’ by 2,000 students of Bhagwat Vidyapith.
Meanwhile, Gujarat’s Tourism Minister Saurabh Patel said that in the past one decade Gujarat has witnessed 300 per cent rise in tourists because of the State Government’s efforts that include development of tourism infrastructure as well as strategic campaign.
He said that in the last financial year Gujarat recorded 14 per cent rise in tourists against national average of 7 per cent.