President Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate the two-month long beach festival for tourism at the Union Territory of Diu. The festival has been organised by the administration in a bid to promote tourism in the tiny island which is known for its scenic beauty, sandy beaches and heritage buildings.
"The President has consented to inaugurate the festival called Festa Da Diu which is a 75-day tourism festival that seeks to project the island as a best tourism destination," said Ashish Kundra, administrator of Daman and Diu union territory.
"Its for the first time, we are organising this much long event involving cultural shows, music concerts, water and adventure sports and a lot more activities that provides a comprehensive package to the tourists," Mr. Kundra, a 1996 batch IAS of union territory cadre, said.
According to him, 60 luxurious tents, conference hall have been set up on the beach with all facilities.
Noted singers and musicians like Kailash Kher, Shreya Ghoshal and Benny Dayal will perform in the concerts.
"We have tied up with portals like makemytrip, yatra and others and have received huge response with almost 100 % booking from holiday 15 December onwards," Mr. Kundra added.
Once a Portuguese colony, Diu has long and rich history. In the 16th century, Portuguese built a huge fort encircling the island to protect it from attack. It remained in the control of Portuguese from 1535 to 1961, when finally the Indian army retrieved the Portuguese colonies in Diu, Daman and Goa under Operation Vijay in 1961.
Soon after it was captured, Diu, Daman and Goa were declared as Union Territories till Goa became a full fledged state in 1987.
Situated on the Saurashtra coast, Diu is a popular tourist destination and annually, more than 1.5 million tourists visiting it.
