Patna:
With an aim to attract more tourists, the Bihar Government plans to introduce a floating hotel service on the river Ganga in the state capital.
"We will soon introduce the hotel service on the river Ganga," state Tourism Minister Sunil Kumar Pintoo said while addressing a function here.
The ship-shaped hotel will have the facility of overnight stay for tourists, he said.
Referring to the increase in number of tourists, he said the influx of foreign tourists in the state which was at 63,321 in 2005 has significantly increased to 5.27 lakh in 2011. Similarly, the number of domestic tourists which was 66 lakh in Bihar in 2005 had risen to 1.27 crore in 2011.
The minister said that his department would make efforts to showcase the state's history, culture and pride during the forthcoming Rajgir Mahotsava in Rajgir this month to further attract tourists.
To promote eco-tourism in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had himself taken a tonga ride in Rajgir recently. Now, Ghorakatora in Rajgir has been further developed and the foundation stone for this would be laid by Mr. Kumar on December 27.
"We are making all sincere efforts to make Bihar number one on tourism map of the country", he said.
He said a floating restaurant was already operative in the River Ganga now, and Ganga Arti was becoming popular and a centre of attraction.
Mr. Pintoo said efforts were on to develop all Buddhist, Ramayan, Sufi, Jain and Sikh circuits in Bihar for attracting more and more foreign and domestic tourists.
"We will be beautifying all these circuits and take steps to meet the requirement of tourists in hotels and elsewhere", he said adding the facilities the state provides to tourists were already available on the government website.
Radio taxi service was also being introduced in Patna, he said.