As World Tourism Day is being celebrated on Friday with Tourism and Peace as its theme, The EBNW Story tried exploring new trends in the desert state.
In Udaipur district, which welcomes tourists from all over the country and the world, tourists are now loving to explore exterior side of the city and are reaching to the villages. Due to this, a new change is being seen in the tourism here and new centers of tourism are developing in rural areas.
Experts say that the area of Jhadol, Alsigarh, Sayra and Gogunda will become a new destination for tourism in the coming time as 48 hotels and resorts have been built here in the last few years. These include budget hotels to five-star resorts. The hilly area present here further enhances the natural beauty. Rivers at many places, grasslands on the mountains give the feeling of European countries. Due to this, tourists like to spend time here.
Shikha Saxena, Deputy Director of Tourism Department, says that tourism has increased in rural areas due to landscape and natural beauty. The number of tourists has increased due to the marketing of eco tourism sites here. Eventually, new hotels and resorts are now being built here. This year, the department is organising an Old City Walk to promote heritage tourism in the city.
For the first time in the district, a police station circle-wise survey of hotels-resorts and guesthouses was conducted. According to this, there are about 800 tourism units in the district. The city has the highest number of 600 hotels-resorts. About 1.25 lakh tourists are arriving in the city every month.
Around 10,000 tourists arrive in Phulwari Ki Naal and Jhadol every month.
Hiren Panchal, a resident of Gujarat working for tribal tourism, says that near a city like Ahmedabad, Udaipur’s Phulwari Ki Naal, Jhadol are such areas where permanent constructions are rarely seen. Tourists come here to spend time in the lap of nature. Groups from Gandhinagar, Surat to Mumbai also come here. Due to construction of highway from Udaipur to Idar, connectivity of villages adjoining the border with Gujarat has become better. Due to this, rural areas like Jhardol, Phalasia, Panaruwa have developed as new tourist destinations among Gujarati tourists. Now about 14 hotels and resorts have opened here. Tourists are attracted due to the presence of the densest forest and hilly area in Rajasthan near Ahmedabad.