Patna, (Bihar Times): As in the country the flow of foreign tourists in Bihar has increased sharply in the recent years. Their numbers has increase almost by three-fold in the last couple of years. Most of these tourists have visited the pilgrim centres of Bodh Gaya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Vaishali etc.
According to the figures provided by the tourism department about 1.75 lakh tourists visited Bihar in 2007 against only 63,321 in 2005 and 94,446 in 2006.
A review meeting of the tourism department was held under the chairmanship of deputy chief minister, Sushil Kumar Modi, in Patna on Monday. The tourism minister Ram Pravesh Rai and principal secretary tourism, Rashmi Verma, were also present on the occasion.
The tourism secretary said that the second hotel management institute of the state is to be set up in Bodh Gaya. The state government has sanctioned Rs 14.11 crore in this regard. Besides, Rs 26.18 crore has been sanctioned for cultural complex and Bhim park in Bodh Gaya.
The 48-seat floating restaurant is likely to come up in Gandhi Ghat in Patna in the next three months. So far Rs 26.73 crore has been spent on this count.
It has also been decided to sent tourism department personnel to the IITTM Bhubaneswar for further training. As a part of its plan to give further boost to tourism the department has decided to recruit unemployed youths and impart them nine weeks training in Nalanda Vihar. They would be made proficient in foreign languages. The taxi drivers would also be trained to deal with the foreign tourists in a better way.
