Palace on Wheels’ trips cancelled as severe heat affects tourist numbers

JAISALMER: With mercury on the rise, the number of tourists to the state is continuously declining and due to fewer tourists, this week’s trip of Palace on Wheels has been cancelled. The train that was scheduled to arrive in Jaisalmer on April 14, has been cancelled. This train which was to depart from Delhi on April 10, will now depart on April 17 and this will be the last trip of this tourism season. The trip that was to begin on April 24 has also been cancelled.
Total three trips of Palace on Wheels have been cancelled till now since March, but in this season, there has been a record increase of tourists. Palace on Wheels GM Pradeep Bohra said that the trips of Palace on Wheels started on September 2018 and during this season, there has been an increase in the number of tourists. In 2017-18, the arrival of tourists in Palace on Wheels was 58% which in 2018-19 increased to 65%, which is a good indication. He said 2019-20 tourism season will start from September this year and 40% tourists have already made the bookings and deposited the advance, which is a good start and there has been a continuous booking inquiry. There will also be many attractive schemes for the tourists, which shall help to increase the number of tourists. Bohra said as the tourism season is ending, the number of tourists is declining in Palace on Wheels. Due to increasing temperature and fewer tourists, the trip of Palace on Wheels on April 10 has been cancelled. The last trip of this train will be on April 17, for which the train is full and a total of 79 tourists are arriving. The trip of April 24 has been cancelled due to very few tourists.

Earlier, in last week of March, one trip was cancelled. Palace on Wheels departs from Delhi on each Wednesday and in its one-week trip, goes to leading cities including Jaipur, Sawai Madhopur, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bharatpur and Agra, and returns to Delhi. The fare is 650 dollars per person.