Progressive Bihar - Finally the sleeping giant is waking up

Progressive Bihar - Finally the sleeping giant is waking up
Progressive Bihar - Come support it's growth path.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Tourism in Bihar - The current situation.

It would not surprise many if someone said that only 63,321 foreign tourists had visited Bihar in 2005. Most would have reacted  that they were surprised that even so many foreign tourist had actually visited Bihar if this question was asked of any one in 2006. In fact giving the situation and picture painted of Bihar in those days,  the reaction would not have not been very off the mark.

Fast forward to 2008, a total of 3,45,572 foreign tourists visited Bihar, i.e. about 5 and half times more in just 3 years time. Now as the Business Line has reported, 5,27,773 foreign tourists have visited Bihar in the first 11 months of 2011. Thus the growth in foreign tourists visiting Bihar has been about 9 times as compared to the number of tourists in 2005.

In 2005 the number of foreign tourists visiting Bihar was only second to Goa; come 2011 and  Bihar has the highest number of foreign tourists visiting any state in India. A total of 1,27, 05, 531 domestic tourists also visited Bihar even though many would have been Biharis returning back to see their state and their people. But then it is good, that the changes in Bihar are prompting many Biharis and other Indians who seldomly came  to Bihar before are now coming or returning back more often.

Quite a feat, don't you  think so, for a state which  not too long ago , was considered by many as a stigma on the face of India! 

It gives immense pleasure to present these statistics on my blog as Bihar is again and again now proving wrong many of its detractors and more so taking large strides towards prosperity.

Many of us would outright vouch that Bihar has a huge potential for tourism growth and the above data really justifies it. However there is still a lot more possible and what is required is to continue building better infrastructure and highlighting the tourism potential of Bihar both in India and abroad. I think that government is working in the right direction with the various infrastructure initiatives and promotional activities like "Discover Bihar" that are being carried out. However for the faster growth of tourism in Bihar more private participation is required.

I was happy to hear about the Digital museums being promoted in Nalanda and Gaya by a few entrepreneurs which can be seen in this NDTV article on Youtube. There must be many more that I have not heard of or just not come across and I think there is many more that will come. It is the destiny of Bihar and Bihar will prosper.

More details about the current statistics can be found in the Business Line article "Bihar woos visitors with eco tourist spots". Details of the earlier stats can be found in my blog post "Tourism Picking up in Bihar"

Prashant
www.progressivebihar.com 

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