International charter lands at Agra airport after 6 years
VIJAY UPADHYAY
AGRA. Despite being India’s prime tourism destination, Agra has always suffered the disadvantage of not being on the international air-trail, which has resulted in the downfall of the tourism business in the city of Taj.
But this year is bound to bring a windfall for the tourism trade in the town, with international charters beginning to land in Agra directly from the United Kingdom after a long period of six years. The first such charter landed on the Agra airport on Tuesday morning, carrying 189 tourists who shall be staying in Agra for one full week, making day excursions to various tourism destinations near Agra like Fatehpur Sikri, Jaipur, Bharatpur, Gwalior & Delhi, returning back to Agra for the night stay.
The tourists arriving in Agra were welcomed and garlanded at Hotel Taj Khema of UP Tourism Department this morning by folk artists at the beat of traditional drums and other musical instruments with the UP tourism hosting a breakfast in their honour.
Later, talking to The Pioneer, Chetan Juneja, General Manager, SITA Indian Trails said that this flight, which was the first chartered operation to began non-stop flights from UK to Agra, shall be a weekly feature and will continue for 32 weeks, transferring over 6000 tourists between London and Agra over a period of 8 months.
He said that the unique feature of the charter shall be the night-stay of tourists in Agra as till date, the international flights operated from various destinations to Delhi or Mumbai, from where, the tourists came to Agra only for a day-trip but this time, with the charter landing in Agra, the tourists shall make Agra as their base, making excursions from here.
Besides, he said, “Voyages Jules Verne”, the international travel partner of SITA in this operation, has designed another tour itinerary that shall run alongside this tour, but shall be only a day’s trip to Agra and the tourists shall return on the same flight in the evening. The first flight had six such couples who returned to UK on the same day.
On this occasion, the local tour operators also suggested the inclusion of Mathura in the tour itinerary, to promote this neighbouring town of Agra as a religious tourism destination in the Braj circuit.
Notably, upgraded with the cost of more than Rs. 3 crores, the Agra airport has rarely seen regular operations of domestic flights in the past decade and has always been dependent on the operations of chartered flights, but even these flights had stopped coming since the past six years.
When even the UP government’s so called “International Taj Year” failed to draw international tourists towards Agra, this initiative by the private tour operators in light of the Central Government’s “Incredible India” campaign, is being seen as a major step taken towards the development of tourism in Agra.
(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)
For any queries or feedback - univijay@rediffmail.com, 9412282297, 9319108697
AGRA. Despite being India’s prime tourism destination, Agra has always suffered the disadvantage of not being on the international air-trail, which has resulted in the downfall of the tourism business in the city of Taj.
But this year is bound to bring a windfall for the tourism trade in the town, with international charters beginning to land in Agra directly from the United Kingdom after a long period of six years. The first such charter landed on the Agra airport on Tuesday morning, carrying 189 tourists who shall be staying in Agra for one full week, making day excursions to various tourism destinations near Agra like Fatehpur Sikri, Jaipur, Bharatpur, Gwalior & Delhi, returning back to Agra for the night stay.
The tourists arriving in Agra were welcomed and garlanded at Hotel Taj Khema of UP Tourism Department this morning by folk artists at the beat of traditional drums and other musical instruments with the UP tourism hosting a breakfast in their honour.
Later, talking to The Pioneer, Chetan Juneja, General Manager, SITA Indian Trails said that this flight, which was the first chartered operation to began non-stop flights from UK to Agra, shall be a weekly feature and will continue for 32 weeks, transferring over 6000 tourists between London and Agra over a period of 8 months.
He said that the unique feature of the charter shall be the night-stay of tourists in Agra as till date, the international flights operated from various destinations to Delhi or Mumbai, from where, the tourists came to Agra only for a day-trip but this time, with the charter landing in Agra, the tourists shall make Agra as their base, making excursions from here.
Besides, he said, “Voyages Jules Verne”, the international travel partner of SITA in this operation, has designed another tour itinerary that shall run alongside this tour, but shall be only a day’s trip to Agra and the tourists shall return on the same flight in the evening. The first flight had six such couples who returned to UK on the same day.
On this occasion, the local tour operators also suggested the inclusion of Mathura in the tour itinerary, to promote this neighbouring town of Agra as a religious tourism destination in the Braj circuit.
Notably, upgraded with the cost of more than Rs. 3 crores, the Agra airport has rarely seen regular operations of domestic flights in the past decade and has always been dependent on the operations of chartered flights, but even these flights had stopped coming since the past six years.
When even the UP government’s so called “International Taj Year” failed to draw international tourists towards Agra, this initiative by the private tour operators in light of the Central Government’s “Incredible India” campaign, is being seen as a major step taken towards the development of tourism in Agra.
(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)
For any queries or feedback - univijay@rediffmail.com, 9412282297, 9319108697
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