Nitish Kumar opens Nature Safari at Rajgir, first in Bihar

Chief minister Nitish Kumar said on Friday that the state government’s sustained effort to promote tourism had started showing results as more and more tourists were visiting the state

Chief minister Nitish Kumar said on Friday that the state government’s sustained effort to promote tourism had started showing results as more and more tourists were visiting the state.

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He was speaking after inaugurating the Nature Safari at Rajgir, which has the first glass skywalk in the country, besides the new ropeway.

The Nature Safari, which has been developed by the department of forests, environment and climate change in over 500 hectares of land at a cost of with ₹19 crore, also has a suspension bridge, adventure park and butterfly zone.

The site also has an archery range, rock climbing walls and wrestling zone, among other attractions.

An eight-seater cabin car ropeway will offer tourists a more convenient and much safer journey to the Vishwa Shanti Stupa atop the Ratnagiri hills at Rajgir.

“More than two crore tourists visit the state from different parts, which include more than two lakh foreign tourists, mostly to Bodh Gaya, Rajgir and Vaishali. I am sure once Covid cases come down, more tourists will come to Bihar,” said Kumar.

According to Indian Tourism Statistics 2019 prepared by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, more than 3.24 crore domestic and 1.08 lakh foreign tourists visited Bihar in 2017 while in 2018, the number of domestic tourists increased further to more than 3.36 crore and those of foreign tourists marginally to 1,08,7971. Rank wise, Bihar was placed 14 in domestic tourists visit and ninth in terms of visit by foreign tourists.

Kumar said Bihar was promoting eco-tourism as well. “Many works have been done at Valmiki Nagar to develop eco-tourism while ancient remains have recently been found at Bhagalpur and Banka, which we are developing,” he said.