BACK ON TRACK

RAJASTHAN TOURISM

- Rohit Parihar

After a long lull due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the wheels of Rajasthan's ailing tourism sector are finally turning again. Its popular luxury train, Palace on Wheels-which offers week long trips, with fares starting from almost Rs 3.5 lakh per person-returned to tracks as Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot flagged off the train at Gandhinagar railway station on October 8. "We have already got bookings to run two trips in October, three in November and four in December," says Dharmendra Rathore, chairperson of the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC). The train, which has been running since 1982 and has been rated one of the 10 best luxurious train journeys in the world, had an average occupancy of 60-70 per cent before 2020.

With the Gehlot government announcing concessions worth 1,300 crore, the tourism sector is looking upbeat this year. It was also given the status of an industry, and there are renewed efforts to expand partnerships with private players. For example, in a major shift in policy this time, the RTDC is floating tenders to invite applications to run Palace on Wheels in PPP (public-private partnership) mode.

The move comes after the Railways changed its agreement with the RTDC from a profit-sharing model, in which the department would get Rs 20 crore a year on an average, to a fixed rent system of Rs 28 crore a year. "So, we have no option but to involve the private sector to get a fixed income for ourselves," says Rathore. He says the department also plans to lease out more than 40 hotels of the RTDC that have been lying shut for years, as also some others that are facing heavy losses. "We want to retain only profit-making, good properties."

AN 'ELITE' INDUSTRY