Junagadh and Kutch are busiest tourist destinations in Gujarat

By our bureaus
Junagadh/Bhuj, DeshGujarat, 1 November, 2008

Gujarat’s two districts;Junagadh and Kutch are having great tourist rush this Diwali vacation. Presence of domestic and NRI tourists, Tourists from outside the state and foreign tourists is visibly great this time in Junagadh and Kutch districts.

Most of the hotels and guest houses are booked, temples have long queues and taxis are over booked.

Junagadh district located in Gujarat’s Saurashtra area has three major tourist attractions to offer: Somnath Jyotirlinga temple, Sasangir Lion century and Girnar hill.

While Junagadh’s Sakkarbag zoo which is the largest and oldest zoo of Gujarat known for it’s Asiatic Lion expertise had more than 30,000 visitors in five days, Ambaji temple located atop Gujarat’s tallest Girnar hill had 20,00 visitors in a day according to it’s priest Tansukhgiri Maharaj. In Somnath, all residual facilities were booked and long queues were formed for Lord Somnath’s darshan at Aarti time to accommodate extra rush in the evenings. In Sasangir lion century tourists faced shortage of hotel rooms because authorities had recently sealed nine hotels and resorts on licenses issue. Some tourists had to stay in Junagadh to visit Sasan Gir due to unavailability of Hotel room in Sasan Gir proper. Some tourists who wanted to visit Sasan Gir safari also faced one day waiting period.

Another hot and proven tourist destination in Gujarat this Diwali is Kutch district in this Diwali vacation. While Matano Madh had around 40,000 tourists in three days another nearby destination Narayan Sarovar-Koteshwar had more than 20,000 tourists. In Matano Madh, room shortage was felt even after allotting one room to ten visitors on sharing bases. Temporary tourist facilities were immediately created with support from authority at local primary school and Road and Building department’s office to accommodate extra rush.

Major tourist attractions in Kutch include Bhuj, Kalo Dungar, Dholavira Harappan archaeological site, Narayan Sarovar-Koteshwar, Lakhpat fort, Banni, Chhari Dhand, Rann of Kutch, ethnic villages, Jain religious places etc.

Kutch is now worldwide known tourist destination for rural tourism. This year’s Rann festival in Kutch will be organized in December.

Source: http://deshgujarat.com/2008/11/01/junagadh-and-kutch-are-busiest-tourist-destinations-in-gujarat/