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Rajasthan hotels booked full ahead of New Year

By IANS

Jaipur : Those wanting to enjoy New Year’s Day in Rajasthan need to think twice if they have not yet made reservations. A majority of hotels are booked full till at least the first week of January.

Accommodation is so much at a premium that some hotels have pitched tents to accommodate guests. But that too is proving to be inadequate.

“My advice to people wanting to visit any big city in Rajasthan till the first week of January is first to check status of hotels before leaving their respective home towns. If not reserved earlier, chances are high that you will not get any accommodation,” Karan Singh, a local travel agent, told IANS.

“Forget about discounts. If you get a room, you should be happy to grab it,” Navendu Goswami, another local travel agent, said.

“It is so sad to say no to people. But what can we do? We do not have rooms and we have to say no to them,” Ranjit Singh, owner of a hotel in Jaipur, said.

“We are booked full up to the second week of January. I do not think there might be any room available in any of the hotels here at least up to the last week of January,” a manager of a city-based five-star hotel said.

“Rajasthan is a place to be in for enjoying the New Year’s eve. Clear open sky and a comfortable temperature makes it a place to be in,” Anu Singh, a tourist from Delhi, said.

With a record arrival of more than 1.2 million foreign tourists and 17 million domestic tourists during 2005-06, Rajasthan has been one of the most popular tourist destinations.

The trend of record arrivals reaffirms the growing popularity of Rajasthan as the most preferred tourist destination worldwide.

The rate of growth of tourism in Rajasthan has been phenomenal in the past few years. The annual rates of growth for domestic and international tourists have been seven and five percent, respectively, according to data released by the government.