Agra tourism to get a boost in 2006

VISHAL SHARMA

AGRA. With this year’s tourist season just months away from beginning and the impending end of the 350th Anniversary celebrations of the Taj, the UP government is getting ready for the huge influx of foreign tourists in Agra that is being expected this year, keeping Agra on top priorityin terms of tourism development.
On Thursday, Ms. Aradhana Shukla, Director General, UP Tourism held a meeting with the representatives of the tourism organizations in Agra to chalk out a strategy to attract more tourists in Agra and to make them stay longer in the city.

Later, talking to Business Standard, Ms. Shukla said the UP tourism department has decided to host a mega show on the sandy bank of Yamuna river behind the Taj Mahal at the culmination of the 350 year celebrations of the monument’s construction on 27th September, which shall also mark the beginning of the tourism season in Agra.

According to Ms. Shukla, in terms of tourism, this year had been exceptionally good for Agra as even during the “off-season” months of May & June, the tourist traffic in the town was almost at par with that in the months of January & February, which was a healthy sign for the future and Agra needs to be prepared to handle probably the biggest inflow of foreign tourists in the past decade during the tourist season beginning from October this year.
She said that this year, the UP government expected the revenue from tourism in Agra to make an exponential jump upwards and accordingly, it was making adequate plans to upgrade the tourism infrastructure in the town and efforts to add new attractions for the tourists in Agra were also underway. This way, she said, the tourists, who at present are just making a day-trip into Agra from Delhi on their way to Jaipur, shall have completely new reasons to stay overnight in Agra.
She said that the tourism guild & Tourist Welfare Chamber of Agra have been asked to submit their proposals for the nature of these new attractions which could be added to the existing festival calendar of UP tourism department, without much expenditure, to maintain a continual stream of cultural festivals in Agra that could portray the heritage of this city in terms of food, clothing and culture.
(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)
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