Budget versions of Palace on Wheels

The Rajasthan government is firming up plans to launch two more luxury trains in line of 'Palace on Wheels' to suit the pockets of economy travellers.

The 'Royal Orient', a meter gauge train, is ready for an October debut, while its sibling 'Deccan Queen', running at a loss in the south, could get a makeover and a new name to take tourists Rajasthan.

Rajasthan Minister of State for Tourism Usha Punia told a press meet here today that the Palace on Wheels had generated a profit of Rupees six crore in the last fiscal and this had enthused the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) to think of similar low budget propositions.

"The Palace on Wheels is the premier tourism product in the country and has done record business in the current season. We are booked till 2009. The tariff is of international standard (Rs 17,000 per day) and prohibitive for medium-level tourists," Punia said.

The five-day tour on board Royal Orient beginning from Delhi, going to Bikaner and many historical sites of Rajasthan would cost somewhere between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per day, Director of Rajasthan Tourism B L Gupta said. "Talks are on with the Indian Railway to procure the Deccan Queen train and run it as a luxury train in Rajasthan," he said.

To a question Punia said RTDC would continue to run the Palace on Wheels on its own after the government's move to invite private participation failed.

The Indian Railways, in collaboration with RTDC had also relaunched the 'Fairy Queen', the oldest steam engine driven train from New Delhi to Alwar and back.

"There is already a two-day package tour for the budget tourist. But going by the demand, we need more," Punia said.

The Rajasthan government would bring out its new tourism policy soon with emphasis on changing the government's role from that of a provider of services to a catalyst and facilitator encouraging public-private partnerships.

In all, tourism contributed to 13 per cent of the state's GDP. The government had also increased its annual tourism budget from Rs 20 crore in 2004-05, of which it had spent only Rs 10 crore, to Rs 25 crore in 2005-06.

Gupta said an investment of Rs 1,750 crore was being made on urban infrastructure development of important tourist destinations like Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Bikaner, Kota and Ajmer-Pushkar under the Asian Development Bank project.

Another Rs 10 crore would be spent on conservation and restoration of monuments under the Eleventh Finance Commission Grant.

To further improve connectivity to the state, the government has reduced tax on aviation turbine fuel from 28 per cent to 20 per cent and was considering a further slash.

"We have undertaken an extension of runway to 9,000 feet and are making landing facilities at all the 17 airstrips across the state for private airlines," Gupta said.

Lap of luxury

Royal Orient, a meter gauge train, is ready for an October debut

A five-day tour on board Royal would cost between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per day

Talks are on with the Indian Railway to procure the Deccan Queen train

Deccan Queen, running at a loss in the south, will get a makeover to run in Rajasthan