Vibrant Gujarat-Navratri 2004 to kick start today

The nine-day long Vibrant Gujarat-Navratri 2004 will officially be inaugurated at 8.30 pm at the Kankaria football ground in Ahmedabad.

The event will be inaugurated by vice-president, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Gujarat governor, Naval Kishore Sharma will preside over the function.

The occasion will be marked by the cultural programmes to be performed by renowned international and national artists. L K Advani, leader of opposition, Lok Sabha will be the chief guest of the function.

Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat along with his council of ministers, corporates heads, international and national tourists, foreign media and number of prominent invitees will also be present on the occasion.

The inaugural ceremony at Kankaria Football Ground will be followed by cultural programme of different troupes in Kankaria Lake to be performed by over 700 artists, spectacular Garba performances simultaneously on seven stages, erected around the lake and the other two kept floating in the adjoining Kankaria Lake.

Towards mid-night, folk artists will perform the theme song and later participate in the 'Maha Arti' comprising over 1 lakh earthen lamps, with the audience. The grand finale of the evening will see a spectacular laser show capped off by a breathtaking fireworks display.

"We are planning to sell Gujarat as a major tourism destination to the non-residents Indians, non-residents Gujaratis and to domestic and international tourists this Navratri. Gujarat has tremendous tourism potential and the government is all geared to tap the potential of the tourism sector in state. Our focus is to bring Gujarat in the international tourism map of the world," said a senior official of the state government.

Tourism being the main focus of the event this year, the mega tourism promotion event comprising international seminar on tourism, theme pavilions and exhibitions will be inaugurated by President, A P J Abdul Kalam on Friday at University Ground in Ahmedabad.

The international seminar covering religious and heritage tourism will be held at the University ground on Saturday, while a seminar on adventure and eco tourism along with medical tourism will be held on Sunday at the same venue.

The theme pavilions on the four aspects of tourism each will be set up to give people a feel of Gujarat as an enchanting tourist destination for a wide variety of tourists. Adventure and eco-tourist destinations such as Sasan Gir, Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary, Religious tourists destinations like Dwarka, Somnath, Udwada Fire Temple, Jama Masjit will be highlighted.

Medical tourists searching for high quality medical care at affordable cost and heritage tourists interested in monuments and sites historical interest will be addressed.

"We will market Gujarat as a major tourism destination in all the sectors, Gujarat has few of the best beaches in the world, with developing the required infrastructure it will have great tourism potential. For promoting eco-tourism, we are developing Nal Sarovar and planning to develop an eco-tourism project at Gandhinagar. Similarly, we are promoting Dwarka as religious tourism destination.

"Medi-tourism is coming up in big way, we have got the world class facilities and our costs are one-fifth as compared to the international costs. Medi-tourism is growing up in a big way and we are promoting to attract our NRIs, NRGs, and international tourists amongst others," said a senior official of TCGL.