The next tourist hotspot in India?

A record 10.96 lakh foreign tourists visited Bihar last year - the seventh highest among the top ten states to have large number of visitors.

"This showcases the emergence of our state as a mainstream tourist destination ... It has been due to strenuous

efforts of the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that our state has emerged as tourist destination in a big way," Bihar Tourism Minister Sunil Kumar Pintu said in the assembly while replying to the tourist department budget of Rs 105 crore for 2013-14.

The NDA government has not only substantially increased the budget of the tourism department over the years, but undertaken construction of infrastructure in the hospitality sector for comfort of the domestic and foreign travellers, he said.

A number of projects to develop tourist destinations under Buddhist, Sikh, Sufi, Ramayan and Jain circuits have been undertaken to woo visitors from across the country and world with a long-term goal to boost local economy and generate employment, Pintu said.

He said Bihar has the unique distinction of being the confluence of five religions - Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Sufi and Jain and has abundance of socio-cultural and religious heritage since ancient time.

"We have decided to put up multi-lingual signage in Japanese, Thai and Chinese languages to help tourists from these countries to locate tourist destinations in Bihar. It will be done across the state over the next two years," he said.

Pintu said his department has proposed to organise a number of tourism festivals called Mahotsavas, including Rajgir, Bodh Gaya and Vaishali Mahotsava to highlight tourist destinations in Bihar.

Sonepur Mela begins

The Sonepur fair in Bihar, described as Asia’s largest cattle fair, has formally begun attracting a huge number of cattle from across the country, officials said today.

The fair began here last evening with deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi formally inaugurating it amid a galaxy of ministers.

“We will develop it as a modern fair having international look and quality of services”, Modi announced while inaugurating the fair.

According to officials, about 60 foreign tourists from Japan, Germany, Australia and Austria have booked their lodging in the tastefully-designed cottages having traditional look to enjoy the fair.

“We are providing every facility to the foreign guests to attract more and more tourists in our cottages decorated with traditional items”, said Ajay Kumar, in-charge of the cottages being managed by State Tourism Development Corporation.

Officials also said more than a lakh oxen, cows, bulls, elephants and horses have already reached the fair and have become the centre of attraction for the visitors.

One of the cattle businessmen Suresh Rai sold a pair of oxens for Rs 71,000 at the fair, officials said.

The fair will continue for 30 days, instead of 25 which was its earlier period.