Chief Minister Vijay Rupanitoday said that Gujarat Government is committed to develop world class infrastructure to promote tourism in the state.
Speaking at the Tourism Awad-2020 Season-4 Distribution Ceremony at GIFT City here, he said that Nature is bountiful on Gujarat as it is endowed with variety of seasons,wide range of tourist attractions likeGir Forest and wildlife for jungle safari, surrounded by vast stretches of Rann of Kutch and Arabian Sea, hills and places of tourists’ attractions like Statue of Unity, having recently started Border Watching.
While the service sector provides maximum job opportunities, he said that pandemic novel coronavirus has afflicted the tourism the most, including tour operators, transporters and hoteliers and people engaged in them.
The Chief Minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlined utmost emphasis on tourism as Gujarat has undertaken development of Statue of Unity, Balasinor Fossil Park, Gandhi Circuit, Shivrajpur Blue Beach as State-sponsored tourist centres. Nearly 25,000 people visited Statue of Unity daily and enjoyed various attractions at the complex during the pandemic.
Congratulating the award winners, Mr. Rupani said that Gujarat is sure to scale greater heights in tourism.
The Chief Minister presented the awards to Palitana Dham as the Best Spiritual Destination of Gujarat, Shivrajpur Beach near Devbhumi Dwarka as the Best Beach of Gujarat, Modera Sun Temple as the Best Heritage Monument of Gujarat. In individual category, Padma Shri Piyush Pandey was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, Laxmi Vilas Palace as Heritage Palace, the Noble Initiative Award to Akshar Travels for transporting workers to their homes during pandemic, and Best Hotel Management Award to SIHM.
Those present during the ceremony included Tourism Minister Jawaharbhai Chavda, Minister of State Vasanbhai Ahir and Mayor of Gandhinagar Ritaben Patel.