Agra prepares for a summer rush of tourists

With the rise in temperatures and the tourist inflow in Agra dropping at a considerable rate, the Agra tourism industry is making preparations for projecting Agra as a "summer vacation destination" among Indian tourists.

In a meeting of the Agra tourist guild and Agra administration and tourism officials this week in the Taj Hotel View, the guild members demanded the development of tourism-related infrastructure in Agra.

In the meeting, Agra Divisional Commissioner Ashok Kumar said the Uttar Pradesh government had marked Agra as one of the select few cities of the state, where extensive stress was to be laid on the development of tourism.

He cited the night opening of the Taj Mahal as an example of the state government's efforts in this direction.

Agra District Magistrate Sanjay Prasad assured the administration was already making headway in developing better infrastructure in the town to aid the tourism industry, which included the construction of flyovers, new roads and better traffic management. He welcomed any new proposal of the tourism industry for attracting tourists to Agra during the "off-season".

Later, while talking to Business Standard, Prahlad Agarwal, convener, Agra Foreign Tourist Traders & Exporters Association, said the town was desperately in need of world-class tourism facilities and with the night-viewing of Taj Mahal opening up this summer, Agra could be easily projected as a summer vacation destination for Indian tourists.

He also suggested since the summer days were too hot in Agra for tourists to venture out of their cozy hotel rooms, the introduction of features like night-bazaars and sound and light shows at the Agra Fort and other historic monuments could quickly become the major night-time attractions.

If the road leading to the historic monument of the Fatehpur Sikri could be made safer for the movement of tourists during the night, the monument, the monument could prove to be a major crowd-puller for the tourism industry, he added.