Tourism gets a tailwind from hospitality, aviation

Jaipur: Aircraft movement and hotel industry occupancy are the two key indicators for assessing the health of the tourism industry and both the segments appears to be on a roll in Rajasthan in the past couple of years.
Speaking on the sidelines of the inbound travel mart Great Indian Travel Bazaar, said Subodh Agarwal, additional chief secretary, tourism, culture, forest and environment on Tuesday said that aircraft movement has grown 35% in Jaipur and 25% in Jodhpur and 20% in Udaipur and similarly, the volume of air passenger traffic has expanded by 31% in Jaipur and 54% in Udaipur airports.
“Today, Jaipur airport operates 70 flights daily compared to 38 in 2015. This shows there is a strong demand for air travel, which is a key proxy to tourism,” added Agarwal.
Flights from tier-II and tier-II cities like Varanasi, Lucknow, Guwahati, Chandigarh, Surat, and Indore are now operational, thanks to the Centre’s Udan scheme that promotes air travel beyond the metros and leading cities in the country.
International carriers like AirAsia, AirAsia X have recently started direct flights between Jaipur and South East Asian countriee.“Sharjah, Dubai Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore are now connected to Jaipur by air. This will pay off hugely in providing a tailwind to the tourism in Rajasthan,” added Agarwal.
To Read the News in Full 25/04/18 Srikanta Tripathy/Times of India