Gujarat eyes six crore tourists by 2020, to tap young travellers

Gujarat has attracted over Rs 9,000-crore investments for 220 tourism-related projects, an official said.

Gujarat is eyeing over six crore tourist footfalls in the state by 2020 on the back of promotions and is mainly targeting the youth looking at short vacations.

Performers wearing traditional attire practice Garba, a dance of Gujarat state, ahead of Navratri festival in Ahmadabad. (AP File Photo)

The western state is looking at a whole range of tourist activities to achieve the ambitious target.

“Last year, we received 4.2 crore tourists in Gujarat. We have set a target of six crore footfalls by 2020 for which we are promoting our festivals and developing new destinations. Our main focus segment is the young people with spending power who go for short vacations,” Jenu Devan, MD of Tourism Corporation of Gujarat, told PTI in Gandhinagar.

He said for the youth Gujarat offers a host of attractions, including adventure, eco, beach, festivals, heritage and border tourism.

Foreign tourists comprises only 2% of the overall visitor footfalls in Gujarat, he said.

“We are promoting Gujarat on the international platform, including Italy, east Europe, Japan and South Korea among others.

“We have hoping to increase the inbound tourist footfalls to 5 per cent by end of 2020,” he said adding the state will continue to strengthen its top source markets, the US and the UK.

The government spends Rs 200 core every year for promotion and branding of Gujarat tourism at various domestic and global platforms, Devan said.

Devan said Gujarat tourism is targeting metro cities like Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad besides tier II places like Pune and Indore, where there is a high level of young working population with good spending power.

“We are looking at a mix of tier I and II cities, which have a good young population with spending power.”

Devan also said Gujarat is developing two new circuits -- heritage and Buddhist -- to add to the existing offers for holiday-makers.

“To attract travellers to visit Gujarat again and again, we keep developing new tourism products. We are developing two new circuits - heritage and Buddhist circuits.

“Besides we are also mulling over creating several other circuits like Jain, Sufi and tribal,” Devan added.

The state is also bullish on medical tourism and Bollywood, for which the tourism department will facilitate support in terms of incentives, including single clearance window and transport, among others, Devan said.