Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Hundreds of international delegates attending the World Heritage Committee (WHC) meeting at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi applauded the immersive experience of three world heritage sites of India, including Ellora Caves, through Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, recently. The meeting, however, instilled hope among the local tourism stakeholders and is challenging government authorities concerned to devise a strategy to attract a maximum footfall of international tourists in the district, soon.
The Ajanta and Ellora Caves are the first sites to be included by UNESCO in the list of World Heritage Monuments with the Taj Mahal (Agra) in 1983. In 40 years, attracting foreign tourist traffic remained a dream of the tourism service providers which is yet to come true. The maximum figure of foreign tourists (recorded at one of our five ticketed monuments in the district), in the last decade, is around 46,000 in 2016-17.
The assistant director (India Tourism) Malti Dutta said, “As per the policy, the union Ministry of Tourism (MoT) promotes the world heritage (including Ajanta and Ellora Caves) and other sites of national importance of India in the form of package through different domestic and international platforms. The state’s tourism also contributes to this promotional activity. Our offices abroad, before their closures, were conducting road and trade shows to attract international tourism stakeholders.”
President of Aurangabad Tourism Development Foundation (ATDF), Jaswant Singh points out, " The closure of India Tourism's foreign offices and handing over the responsibility of promoting India to the respective embassy officials was indeed a wrong decision. It is sad on our part that despite having two world heritage sites the footfall of international tourists is just less than 50,000 to date. Earlier, poor connectivity and publicity were considered as the reasons, but road, air, and train connectivity have improved a lot. The publicity (advertising and marketing) done by the government officials concerned is not fruitful. It seems they just enjoy foreign trips in the name of promotions. The strategy needs to be revised immediately and result-oriented; international influencers and experts should be roped in. We were having a huge rush of foreign tourists when the city was a sleepy town with small and narrow roads and limited tourist-centric facilities."
The superintending archaeologist Dr Shivkumar Bhagat of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI, Aurangabad Circle) was not available to comment due to his participation in the ongoing World Heritage Site Managers’ Forum meeting from July 18 to 25. The ASI sources claimed, “The responsibility of the circle is to preserve the heritage sites including those with world heritage status in our jurisdiction for the next generation. The ASI is doing its job. The figures of tourists recorded through the sale of entry tickets (at five monuments in the district) help the office in arranging tourist-centric facilities including basic amenities at each monument."
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In the last decade (from 2013-14 to 2023-24), the maximum figure of foreigners visiting Ellora Caves is 46,778 (in 2016-17); Ajanta Caves is 26,687 (2018-19), Bibi ka Maqbara is 15,954 (2016-17) and Daulatabad Fort is 7163 (2013-14).