DRajasthan to promote salt lake tourism

Jaipur, April 15 (IANS) To tap its tourism potential, the desert state of Rajasthan is trying to prop up Sambhar, the largest inland salt lake in the country, as a unique attraction, Tourism Minister Bina Kak said.

"The state government is taking steps to restore basic tourism infrastructure at Sambhar (about 100 km from the state capital) to promote it as a unique destination," Rakesh Srivastava, principal secretary, tourism, said on the sidelines of the sixth edition of the Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB) here.

While in the short run the government would focus on the restoration of already-existing infrastructure like heritage buildings, the salt museum, the circuit house and rail tracks in the vicinity of Sambhar, in the long run, public sector undertakings (PSUs) like Hindustan Salts and India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) would create and promote tourism infrastructure.

The state government is mulling over the creation of a Jaipur-Sambhar-Ajmer tourism circuit, with tourist hub Jaipur at its heart.

The state is also set to promote ecological, sports and adventure tours.

"We have plans to change the face of tourism in Rajasthan which is known as a cultural destination – by developing other tourist attractions like adventure, ecological, archaeological, sports, rural and tribal tours in the state," Bina Kak said, as she inaugurated the GITB here late Sunday.

GITB is an initiative by the tourism ministries of the state and centre, in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), to facilitate business-to-business (B2B) meetings between 273 exhibitors and foreign tour operators from across 56 countries, and Indian suppliers of tourism products.