2010 Commonwealth Games – Golden Opportunity for Travel Agencies

Despite controversies surrounding the 2010 Commonwealth Games raising doubts of the games ever coming to pass, reports have it that the Union Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Sports has been holding meetings with various states to chalk out plans to promote tourism during the games, an official source revealed.

Even the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) has held discussions with the ministry of sports and ministry of tourism. The KSTDC officials, however, declined to comment on the developments. “It is too early to comment,” it was said; while they accepted that discussions are underway.

According to an official estimate, around 20 lakh foreign tourists and 3.5 million domestic tourists are likely to arrive in Delhi; this large influx is bound to give the tourism sector forward leap.Travel agencies are also in full preparation. Sources from Thomas Cook and Yatra.com said that the travel agencies are preparing specialized tour packages for the Commonwealth Games, besides special interest tours such as culinary tours, festival tours and heritage tours.

Since the sporting event is scheduled in October, the agencies consider it an excellent opportunity to build up tours around festivals.