Noting that Gujarat’s rich cultural heritage has the potential to make the state the world’s top tourist destination, Chief Minister Narendra Modi has said he was aiming at bringing a substantial amount of tourist money in the region.
Inaugurating the ‘Rannotsav’, a three-day desert festival in the Rann of Kutch last evening, Modi said Gujarat will woo tourists with its own brand of tourism, without “western gimmicks” like hotels and theme parks.
“The annual turnover of the international tourist industry is 7 trillion US dollars, more than four times India’s national budget. And I want to bring in that money here to Kutch and to Gujarat,” he said while opening the festival on the banks of the Hamirasar Lake.
“We led the industrial revolution, the white revolution, now it’s time for a cultural revolution.If a tourist goes to Agra, he would have nothing much to do after four hours.But if he comes to Gujarat, he will see sights he will not get to see anywhere else in the world,” he said.
The initiatives are part of government’s effort to make up for the lost years in the sphere of tourism, by wooing travellers to the state, which is known more as an industrial state.
