INDIA STRIVES TO ATTRACT TOURISTS

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27584, 15 February 1955, Page 10

INDIA STRIVES TO ATTRACT TOURISTS

(From a Reuter Correspondent)

BOMBAY.

The Indian Government is making an all-out effort to attract more tourists. Under a plan costing 40,000,000 rupees (about (£3.077.000) for promoting tourist trade, 40 places of interest to the tourist, ranging from the 2,000-year-old richly carved caves of Ajanta and Ellora in Hyderabad to the picturesque hill station of Darjeeling in West Bengal, within sight of the snowclad peaks of the Himalayas, are to be developed. Better accommodation is to be made available at these places and transport facilities to tourist centres are to be improved. As hunting is still one of the major, attractions for tourists coming to India, the Government has appointed recognised “shikar” agents at places famous for big game hunting. Tourist offices already exist in most of the major cities to give information to the foreign traveller.

Among the tourist centres which the Indian Government proposes to develop are Aurangabad, a few hours’ journey from Bombay, where some of the most remarkable monuments in India, including the Ajanta and Ellora caves, are to be seen and Udaipur and Chitor in sandy Rajasthan. Udaipur, situated on the banks of a large lake and often described as the “Venice of the East,” is famous for its white marble palaces, especially the palace of the Maharana which has peacocks in mosaic on the walls. Chitor is known for its fort where once Rajput warriors preferred death to surrender to the enemy. The Seven Pagodas

At Mahabalipuram, or the Seven Pagodas as the Europeans have named it, 50 miles from Madras there is on the seashore, a collection of ancient

rock-hewn monuments which are some of the most important architectural remains in south India. They include monolithic temples, cave temples, monolithic figures, carvings and sculptures dating back to the fifth and sixth centuries A.D. Conjeevaram, known as the “Golden City,” 45-miles from Madras, has richly carved temples. At Rameshwaram, there is a temple renowned for its great pillared corridors nearly 4,000 feet long. The temple itself built round a quadrangle, is 650 feet by 1,000 feet. The game santuaries is Mysore and ■He periyar sanctuary in the southern state of Travancore-Cochin are also to be made more accessible to the tourist.

Under the plan to promote tourism, roads linking tourist centres are to be improved and new roads opened where no communications at present exist. This work is estimated to cost 32,500.000 rupees (about £2,246,000) out of the total grant of 40,000,000 rupees. New rest houses are to be built and existing ones improved at an estimated cost of 2.300,000 rupees (about £176.900). Two new landing grounds are also to be improved at a cost of 900,000 rupees (about £69,230). Some of the states which have palaces belonging to the former princely states have been asked by the Indian Government to study the possibility of converting the palaces into guest houses for tourists.

A number of concessions have been made to tourists recently. Relaxation of baggage restrictions have also come into force. Tourists are now allowed to bring in articles such as cameras and cigarettes, while the value of duty free souvenirs which can be carried by tourists has been raised to 2,000 rupees (about £154).