palace on wheels for kerala

Palace on Wheels may be extended to Kerala


Our Regional Bureau in Thrissur
Published : April 7, 2003

The state tourism departments of Rajasthan and Kerala have joined hands to promote tourism and associated facilities in the two states.

An agreement to this effect was formally signed in Thiruvanathapuram on Saturday between T Balakrishnan, secretary, Kerala Tourism Development Corporation, and Arvind Mayaram, secretary, tourism department, Rajasthan.

Talking to newspersons after signing the pact, Aravind Mayaram said Rajasthan was willing to extend the prestigious ‘Palace on Wheels’ to Kerala, subject to clearance from the railway authorities.

Elaborating on the plan, he said the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC), which is running the luxury train, would initially extend it to Kerala during “our off-season”. The nitty-gritty on the same would be worked out soon, he said.

The pact also envisages a partnership initiative in which the two states will collaborate on joint marketing and publicity of tourism products, particularly at the international level.

Since Rajasthan does not have beaches and backwaters and Kerala does not have deserts and too many forts, a packaging of complementary tourism products is seen providing greater variety to the tourists.

Therefore, a combined effort by the two states can boost foreign tourist arrivals significantly and thereby yield tremendous benefits. Similarly, the two states will endeavour for joint participation at international events and road shows.

As per the agreement, both the states will formulate joint packaging of complementary tourism products thus providing greater variety to the tourist visiting these states.

The tourism departments will also strive for agreements with foreign and domestic airlines for direct connectivity between Kerala and Rajasthan.

Under the pact, both the departments will exchange information on tourism and travel trade. For enhanced coordination and contact, the two states will ensure exchange of skills and expertise available in the respective states in tourism, heritage, conservation, wildlife, adventure, souvenir and rural tourism.

The states will co-ordinate and cooperate in designing innovative products including rail-based projects covering Kerala and Rajasthan. Presiding over the pact-signing ceremony, Kerala minister of tourism K V Thomas said he would follow up with the Union ministry of civil aviation to introduce Jaipur-Thiruvanathapuram flight service via Goa, to facilitate high-end tourists to visit both the states and see the “best of India”.

Revealing that he has already had preliminary discussions in this regard with the Union ministry, Thomas said flight service linking these states would attract more tourists not only to these states alone, “but to neighbouring states as well”.

this is great news, it will be awesome for tourism industry which is having a tough time since last 2 years.

The Palace on Wheels will run in Kerala during Rajasthan's off-season (May, June, July, August and possibly April & September)

In Kerala, the Palace on Wheels will start from Palghat and the journey will cover Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu) and Madurai (Tamil Nadu), before returning to Palghat.

I wonder if we can thumb a lift from Delhi to Palghat


a slight improvement on sleeper class