Recently Indian Railways has announced a new scheme ‘Bharat Gaurav’ to tap the vast tourism potential.
Introduction:
Under the scheme, now there will be a third section for tourism in trains. Till now the railways had a passenger section and a goods section.
It’s not regular trains which will run according to a timetable but will be operated on the lines of Ramayana Express run by IRCTC.
It was announced under theme based tourist circuit trains. These trains will be run by both private partners and IRCTC in a theme based circuit.
Theme Based Tourism (Circuit) Railways means those trains like Guru Kripa which are operated to all the places related to Guru Nanak or Ramayana themed trains are operated to the places related to Lord Ram.
One can apply to societies, trusts, consortia and even state governments to take these trains and operate them on theme based special tourist circuits.
The service provider will provide all-inclusive package to the tourists including rail travel, hotel/resting place, sightseeing arrangement, historical/heritage sightseeing, tour guide etc.
Benefits of the plan:
These trains will help the people of India and the world to realize the vision of India’s rich cultural heritage and grand historical sites. This will also help in tapping India’s vast tourism potential.
Other Related Schemes:
Swadesh Darshan Scheme
Prasad Scheme
Buddhist Convention
Dekho Apna Desh Initiative
Tourism in India:
Tourism in India is important for the country’s economy and it is growing rapidly.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, the contribution of the travel and tourism industry to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stood at US$ 121.9 billion in 2020 and is projected to grow to US$ 512 billion by the year 2028.
The direct contribution of the industry sector to India’s GDP is projected to grow at an annual rate of 10.35% between 2019 and 2028.
Further, according to the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019, India was ranked 34th out of 140 countries overall, which reflects India’s efforts to improve this sector.
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