Ranchi, Oct 13 (PTI) Jharkhand has witnessed nearlyfour-fold increase in international tourists in the last threeyears, helped largely by development of dedicatedinfrastructure for the travellers.
The state government is also encouraging culturaltourism, mining tourism, waterfall tourism and tourism acrossvarious picturesque spots and developing infrastructure forthe purpose, Chief Minister Raghubar Das told PTI.
"We are not working one one sector, rather we are workingon five to six sectors in parallel," the chief minister said.
Das said Jharkhand would be developing tourism sector inphases and in the first phase, it was committed to developfour to five international tourism spots.
"Deoghar is being developed on war footing. Similarly,Parasnath in Giridih, Rajarappa in Ramgarh and Anjanidham inGumla are being developed.
"Whatever important tourist places are in the statethey have been connected by good roads, and in the first 1,000days of the state government, roads have reached all thetourist places. This has helped in the increase of nationaland international tourists coming to the tourist spots of thestate," he said.
The chief minister said the number of internationaltourists had increased nearly four-fold from 2013 to 2016,rising from 45,994 tourists in 2013 to 1,69,442 in 2016.
Similarly, the number of domestic tourists had increasedby almost 65 per cent in the last three years.
Das said tourist locations were needed to be peaceful toattract national and international visitors and the stategovernment was working towards ensuring that those spotsremained free from militant activities.
The chief minister said the state was also planningcircuit tourism in different regions. The state was readyingfree bus services at Bodhgaya and Tarapith.
The chief minister said next year, the state governmentwould organise 'Jharkhand Mahatsov', wherein the culture andtradition of Jharkhand would be showcased to the world.
He said that Patratu near Ranchi was being developedas adventure and water sports tourism spot. Similarly, BetlaNational Park was being improved to attract more tourists. PTIPVR SBN RBT PRPR.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.