There was a 17 per cent increase in the number of tourists who visited Gujarat between April 1 and June 10, this year as per the figures released by the state government. The 12 tourist destinations, including  pilgrimage sites promoted by the state saw a footfall of 1.35 crore tourists, compared to 1.14 crore tourists in the corresponding period last year, as per the Gujarat Information Department. It has now come to light that there is no system in place to separate the tourists from the visitors. So, the inflated figures released by the tourism department seem to be an eyewash.

The Gujarat Tourism department has released statistical data to suggest huge footfalls at the tourist destinations. Sources, however, said these figures have not been collated by calculating the actual tourist numbers. The department has no such system or technology to separate the tourists from the general population, devotees, workers, business persons or commuters. 

As per the figures released by the Tourism department, 61.44 lakh tourists visited 12 tourist places in Gujarat in April 2024 and 73.87 lakh in May 2024, compared to 52,30,675 tourists in April and 62,60,273 in May, 2023. 

Among the 12 tourist places, pilgrimage sites such as Pavagadh, Ambaji, Somnath and Dwarka temples have also been included. For the development of pilgrimage places, a separate Gujarat Pavitra Yatradham Vikas Board has been set up, yet the tourism department uses the board’s figures to promote its own numbers. .

Now, the Yatradham board is planning to develop a system to count the actual number of pilgrims visiting these religious places. As per highly placed sources, the board has floated a tender for a pilot project to determine the accurate number of pilgrims visiting a site. If it is successful, then it will be implemented at all the pilgrimage sites in the state, the sources said. 

However, there is no clarity on how the Tourism department arrived at the record figures it released and what method was used to determine the footfalls. As per the department, Ahmedabad is a hot tourist destination, so much so that 23,06,591 passengers on Ahmedabad Metro in April-2024 and 25,47,534 passengers in May-2024 have all been termed as tourists. Tourism department also stated that 4.26 crore tourists visited Ahmedabad district and 2.25 crore tourists visited Ahmedabad city in 2023-24. 

Among the 12 tourist attractions in the state listed by the Tourism department are Statue of Unity (SoU), Atal Bridge, Riverfront-Flower Park, Kankaria Lake, Somnath Temple, Ambaji Temple, Pavagadh Temple, Dwarka Temple, Science City-Ahmedabad, Vadnagar, Gir and Devalia Safaris, and Ahmedabad Metro railway.