Gujarat Tourism promotes “Saputara Monsoon Festival” in Mumbai

Gujarat is considered to be a land of myriad of opportunities. Though the impression about Gujarat is only that of land of ‘Industrious people’, the state also offers a lot to an avid traveler. Apart from housing the only naturally occurring habitat for Asiatic lion, Gujarat offers everything in the tourism landscape including Heritage, Archaeology, Religion, Wildlife / Ecotourism and Handicrafts. Gujarat is bestowed with longest coastline in India (1600 km) and thus has a lot to offer on the front of beach / coastal tourism and water sports. It is a little known fact that Gujarat has 22 Sanctuaries and 4 National Parks.

On 1st July, 2011, Gujarat Tourism organized a Road Show in Mumbai to promote the upcoming “Saputara Monsoon Festival” which will be held from July 30th to August 30th, 2011. The Chief Guest of the event was Shri Jay Narayan Vyas, Hon’ble Minister of Tourism, Gujarat. Shri Kamlesh Patel, Chairman, Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Limited (TCGL) presided over the function and interacted with tour operators/hoteliers present at the event. Shri Sanatan Pancholi, Resident Manager, Mumbai Office of TCGL made a colorful presentation on the upcoming Monsoon Festival in the presence of Mr. Vipul Mittra, Secretary, Tourism Department, Gujarat.

The prominent selling points of the road show were as under:

At the Southern tip of Gujarat, folded into the densely wooded hills of the Sahayadris, lies the abode of serpents- Saputara. In the picturesque Dangs district, this is a hill station with a difference, where you can immerse yourself in a timeless land that is still pretty much the way God made it. After all legend has it that Lord Rama spent 11 years of his exile in these very forests. This picturesque hill station is perched on a plateau in the Dang forest area of the Sahyadri Range. At an altitude of about 1000 m. Saputara witnesses a uniform weather throughout the year. Saputara does not experience any extreme temperature variations and is an ideal getaway for the sun-scorched souls of the plains. The monsoon rains add to the magic of Saputara. Gujarat Tourism plans to showcase this getaway monsoon destination to the nearby cities like Nagpur, Pune, Mumbai, Nasik in Maharashtra. Maharashtra is seen as the right target segment for this picturesque destination. Nagpur was the first in the series of cities in which Gujarat Tourism organized a road show to highlight this destination. Over the next 15 days, similar road shows will be held in Pune and Nasik in Maharashtra.

The Saputara Monsoon Festival will be a month long event where variety of activities/attractions will be on offer for the tourists. Some of the events to be held as a part of the festival include water sports, adventurous activities, laser show, photography exhibition, heritage walk, cultural evenings, food festival, contests, etc. The idea is to keep the tourists engaged for the entire month through one activity or another in the best manner possible.

Gujarat Tourism has introduced reasonably priced tour packages for Saputara-Exotic Dang Tribal Tour, Monsoon Dang Tour, Saputara package tour with variety of options like one day tour, 2 nights 3 days, 3 nights 4 days and so on. Depending on the time and budget of the tourists, all options are available. It is also expected that the private tour operators from Nagpur and other cities would evolve their own tour packages during this period. Gujarat Tourism is investing heavily to set up infrastructure at Saputara and to develop this hill station as a major tourist destination.rla.