Mukt Shabd Journal ISSN NO : 2347-3150

EXPLORING THE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL OF CITY SUB TITLE- THE CASE OF ,

Sagar Kuchhadia Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Parul University, , Gujarat

Maulik Hajarnis Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Parul University, Vadodara, Gujarat

ABSTRACT Tourism is an act and process of spending time away from home in seeking of enjoyment, leisure, relaxation and pleasure, while making use of the commercial provision of services. Girnar Mount which is situated in is known for a pilgrimage site and for trekkers/climbers spot. Within the month of February and March, two religious festival are held which is Shivratri Fair/Mela and at the Girnar Taleti/foothills. This paper focus on problems like sewage system is poorly maintained, needs of proper lighting on mountain, infrastructure facilities (parking, resting areas, public toilet, accessibility for tourists, water and food facility). The paper will discuss about the answers like enhance quality of service and facilities to tourists, conserve and preserve the cultural heritage in study area and surroundings. Keywords: Tourism, Junagadh City, Girnar Mountain, ShivratrI Fair/Mela, Parikrama, Pilgrim

INTRODUCTION Definition: The term” Tourist” is derived from the word Tour; meaning is ‘a circular trip usually for business, pleasure or education or religious pursuits, during which various places are visited’. Types of Tourism: (1) Domestic tourism: This sort of tourism involves the visits by residents of a country to their own country. (2) Inbound tourism: This is the sum of visits to a country by nonresidents. (3) Outbound tourism: Such an activity contains the visits by residents of a country to another country.

AIM Tourism planning proposal for Girnar mountain and surroundings.

OBJECTIVE • To study existing scenario of tourism in Junagadh • To identify current issues and problems regarding tourism in study area. • Growth of tourist inflow. • To study Tourism plan of Government in study area. • To enhance quality of services provided to tourists. • Conserve and Preserve the cultural heritage in study area and surroundings. • To boost local area economy by developing new market for Girnar Tourism products at domestic and international level. •

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• STUDY AREA PROFILE Junagadh meaning ‘old fort’, is an ancient fortified city. It is also known as ‘Sorath’, the name of earlier princely state. While whole country celebrates its Independence Day on 15th August, princely state Junagadh celebrates its Independence Day on 9th November. Junagadh district is located in western Gujarat and surrounded by Arabian sea to its south. Junagadh district is located at the foot of the Girnar hills The district is divided into 14 talukas of which major ones include, , Junagadh, Kodinar, Manavadar, and Mangrol

Fig-1:Location of Junagadh

DEMOGRAPHY As of the 2011 census, Junagadh municipality had a population of 3, 20,250. The municipality had a sex ratio of 952 females per 1,000 males and 8.5% of the population under six years old. Table-1: Demography Data YEAR POPULATION POPULATION GROWTH 1901 31,640 - 1911 34,251 2611 1921 35,413 1162 1931 33,221 -2192 1941 39,890 6669 1951 58,511 18,621 1961 62,730 4,219 1971 74,298 11,568 1981 95,945 21,647 1991 1,20,416 24,471 2001 1,68,686 48,270 2011 3,20,250 1,51,564

Source: Junagadh Municipal Corporation

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PUBLIC TRANSPORT FACILITIES 1) Road and Rail Connectivity: Junagadh is a junction on the --Veraval line of western railway. Junagadh is connected to the rest of by way of meter gauge railway line. Junagadh is well connected by roads to other parts of the state. The State transport buses and private luxury coaches connect Junagadh with various centers of Gujarat. 2) Air connectivity: Nearest is Keshod Airport, 40 km. Other nearest airports are Rajkot Airport 99 km and 113 km 3) Sea Connectivity: The nearest sea port is Veraval and it is mainly used for commercial product exports and imports.

PLACES OF TOURIST INTEREST There are many places for the Tourist Interest, they are Uperkot Fort, Moti-Baug, Darbar Hall Museum, Sakkarbaug, Girnar, Bhavnath temple, , Ashokan Rock Edict, Swaminarayan temple, Choro, Buddhist Caves, Narsinh Mehta Talav, Mahabat Maqbara, Majevdi Gate, Baba Pyara Caves.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 1) Tourist Profile: Total 24.56 Lakh in Year 2016.Overnight Staying Tourists: 0.9 to 1 lakh/Year

2) Mode of Transport: Table-2: Mode of Transport Mode of Transport % of Tourist Bus 48.33 Train 25 Car-private 17.66 Car-Hired 9 Total 100 Source: Junagadh Municipal Corporation

3) Average Duration of Stay & Purpose of Visit:

Table-3: Tourist profile Age group Business Leisure/pilgrimag Foreigner tourist tourist e s % 3-24 years 5 5 5 % 25-34 years 45 15 5 % 34-44 years 35 35 40 % 45-54 years 10 20 40 % > 54 years 5 25 10 Sex % Male 100 60 70 % Female 0 40 30

Source: Junagadh Municipal Corporation

Table-4: Avg stay in number of days Business tourism Leisure/heritage Pilgrimage Avg stay in num of days 1 night 1 night 1 night Source: Junagadh Municipal Corporation

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Table-5: Seasonal flow Type of tourist Business tourists Leisure/pilgrimage Foreigners Seasonal flow details No specific reason Around Diwali vac, Oct- Oct- Feb march, May-June Source: Junagadh Municipal Corporation

Table -6: Tourist Nature Business tourists Leisure/pilgrimage Foreigners Nature of tourist 5% 50% 45% Source: Junagadh Municipal Corporation

ACCOMODATION There are no star category hotels in Junagadh. In all there are about 12 hotels, 15 guesthouses, and 35 dharamshalas & ashrams.

CONNECTIVITY Route-1: Rajkot to Girnar (105 km), Route-2: Porbandar to Girnar (132 km), Route- 3: Sasan/Somnath to Girnar (123 km), Route-4: Amreli to Girnar (84 km)

FESTIVALS AND ACTIVITES HELD ON THE GIRNAR FOOTHILLS 1) Raivataka Mountain Festival of the Mahabharata: As early as during the days of the Mahabharata, Raivataka or Girnar was the location of an important mountain festival. 2) Jain Festival at Neminath Temple Girnar: Noted that at this event thousands of Jains, including more than 50 buses of pilgrims, arrive at Mount Girnar to perform the ceremony of ‘ Ladoo’ (the or ritual of offering a special Indian sweet) in the presence of the Junagadh Collector and other representatives of the local administration. 3) Girnar Climbing Competition: Every year two climbing competitions are held. One for Gujarat and other for national participants.A race to climb Gujarat’s tallest mount Girnar was organized for the first time in 1971 by Phulchhab Daily. After 1980, the state government took over the event 4) Girnar Parikrama: Apart from religious point of view, the parikrama is equally important from social point of view because people of different castes and community come together on this pious occasion. Here each and every person lives with other people without any differences Route is of 36 KM: ‘Bhavnath’ to ‘Zina Bava Ni Madhi’ = 12 Kms. ‘Zina Bava Ni Madhi’ to ‘Malvela’ = 8 Kms ‘Malvela’ to ‘Bordevi’ = 8 Kms.‘Bordevi’ to ‘Bhavnath’ = 8 Kms. Girnar Parikrama is very important from a religious standpoint. 5) Girnar Shivratri Mela: Bhajans, Kirtans, devotional music, garba and Bhavai folk theatre are some cultural aspects of this fair.The Girnar Shivratri Fair is at Bhavnath Temple at Girnar Taleti. Girnar Shivratri Fair is also famous as Mini Kumbh. The Girnar Shivratri Fair begins 5 days before Maha Shivratri. So, the last day of Mela is Maha Shivratri. The fair begins with flag hoisting by saints and then it lasts for 5 days. Several events are organized for five days of fair. People await to see sword stunts performed by saints. The Mela ends with Ravadi by saints procession and a bath in Mrugi Kund. The saints perform Maha Aarti on the last day of Maha Shivratri. Hundreds of Naga bawas (naked sages) come to the site and demonstrate their feats. Bhajans, Kirtans, devotional music, garba and Bhavai folk theatre are some cultural aspects of this fair

ISSUES IDENTIFIED IN STUDY AREA • Inadequacy of tourist infrastructure in Taleti Area as well as in City Area. • Unavailability of guide services is a major drawback in study area • Lack of good & hygienic Food service • There is no entertainment facility available in Taleti Area • Other tourist’s facilities like guide map and signage are absent.

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• Need for providing more accommodation facilities for tourist. • Lack of information centers which provide a platform through which visitors can know about the location and details about the tour operators. • Lack of promotional activities of fairs, festival and craft of the region • Handicraft, festivals and other intangible heritage of the region needs to be explored. • Not Sufficient Parking Space • Requirement of Road Widening for Girnar Darwaja to Bhavnath Temple

CONCLUSION • Proper planning must be done as per the development plan of the sewage water to prevent stagnation of water, flies and other insects spreading diseases. • Maintenance of street lights and lights on the steps is necessary. • Flow of tourist will increase if quality of services is provided and • Footsteps on the mountain must be easy and convenient for the climbers to climb. • Quality of food and water must provide at stalls.

Proposal for Proposal for (1) Parking (1) Information center (2) Recreation facilities (2) On/off bus service point (3) Craft market (4) Pay and use toilets (5) Redevelopment of Sudarshan Talav (6) Community hall (7) Provision of Restaurant & Dining (8) Road Elevation

Fig-2: Location of various Proposal

REFERENCE • BOOK (1) Junagadh and Girnar - Shambhuprasad Desai • WEBSITE (1) Yatradham.org- www.yatradham.org.com (2) http://junagadhtourism.blogspot.in/ (3) http://www.onefivenine.com/india/villag/Junagadh (4) http://gujaratcityguide.com/content/junagadh/guide/place-to-visit.html (5) http://www.ramoliya.amarinfotech.com/tag/mahashivratri-festival-naga-bavas-akhadas-bhavnath- mela-junagadh/ (6) http://gujaratghumo.blogspot.in/2011/10/girnar-hill.html (7) http://scriptures.ru/india/gujarat/junagarh/indexen.htm (8) http://www.festivalsofindia.in/Bhavnath-Fair/ • REPORT (1) Study Report on Preparation of 20 Years Perspective Plan for Development in Gujarat (2) tender_junagadh_pmc_development report (3) TOURISM CORPORATION OF GUJARAT LTD.

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