SPECIAL STORY : HEAVY RUSH Of TOURISTS TO KHETRI & ALWAR FROM BENGAL THIS YEAR, RAJASTHAN’S DESTINATIONS WHICH RECHRISTENDED SWAMI VIVEKANANDA FROM SWAMI VIVIDISANANDA, TURBAN GIFTED BY MAHARAJA

BY DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY

KOLKATA, 14 JULY 2023:

In a very interesting trend this year, there has been heavy rush of tourists from Bengal to Khetri and Alwar, the two destinations which are associated with the life of India’s greatest youth icon Swami Vivekananda.

The Maharaja of Khetri, Ajit Singh was a close friend of Swami Vivekananda and he has spent a considerable period of time there. Infact, the maharaja had gifted him the turban. Also the maharaja rechristened his name to Swami Vivekananda from Swami Vividasananda.

It was Ajit Singh, the maharaja of Khetri, who has beared the entire cost of Swami Vivekananda for his travel to famous Chicago Religious Convention in USA.

In an exclusive interview to The Travel and Tourism Times, Mr. Hinglaj Dan Ratnoo, the officer in charge ( Kolkata) of Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) has shared the latest trends of bookings to the destinations from West Bengal.

Last year RTDC has a record earning from bookings from West Bengal ammounting to Rs.4 crores.

“ This year we have noticed Bengali families are keen to visit Khetri and Alwar . Besides these two there also has been heavy rush for the Mewar Circuit ( comprising Chittore, Haldighati, Udaipur), Dessert Circuit ( comprising Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur) Ranathambore Wildlife Circuit, Jaipur etc,” added Mr. Hinglaj Dan Ratnoo.

Film maestro, Satyajit Roy has immortalised Jaisalmer and the sand dunes along with camel rides through his award winning movie Sonar Kella. It is due to him every bengali family wishes to keep Jaisalmer in their bucketlist, but places like Khetri and Alwar have even older Bong connections due to Swami Vivekananda, said Mr. Ratnoo.

In Khetri there is a Rama Krishna Misssion Vivekananda Smriti Mandir.

Every day tourists are visiting the RTDC office in Commerce House in Ganesh Chandra Avenue in Kolkata for bookings. Rajasthan is a big state are tourists are preferring 14 to 15 days trip.

Tiger safari in Ranathambore National Park is also attracting toursists from Bengal. Ranathambore national Park boost the highest number of the majestic Royal Bengal Tigers in India with a count of 95 numbers of Big Cats.

RTDC also offers huge discounts – 25% for single woman or groups, 20 % for senior citizens, 30 % for government employees, 35 % for the differently abled persons throughout the year with the exceptions during Xmas, fairs and other festivals periods.

“ The chief minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot, Tourism minister, Vishvendra Singh, minister of state tourism, Murari Lal Meena, Chairman of RTDC, Dharmendra Rathore, Principal Secretary, Gayatri Rathore etc are very keen to boost the toursim in the state and many latest development projects are taking place at present and the border tourism has also been opened up in recent times,”added Mr. Hinglaj Dan Ratnoo.