Gujarat is home to some of the well-known industrial projects in the world, and there is an audience which is interested in visiting these places.
Its a well known fact that Gujarat has had a fair share of industrialisation .
But, what's interesting is that the enterprising Gujaratis also know how to make the most of this, and have come up with an idea to sell this as a tourism attraction.
According to Manish Sharma, owner of Akshar Travels and also the chairman of the Gujarat Tourism Development Society (GTDS) who is the official travel partner of the Vibrant Summit as well as the PlastIndia convention and is handling all the travel arrangements for the official delegates, Gujarat is home to some of the well-known industrial projects in the world, and there is an audience which is interested in visiting these places.
He first saw opportunity during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015, when he was handling the delegates, who had spare time to take a short trip around Gujarat.
And coming from industry backgrounds, most actually were keen to witness the industrialisation of Gujarat.
So, Sharma came up with an idea to design both short and long duration tours which would club leisure with visits to the industrial hubs.
Something like, starting from Ahmedabad, moving to Sanand (visiting the Tata Nano and Ford India plants), then visiting Rajkot and Morbi industrial clusters, that are known for autocomponent makers and ceramic units.
A visit at the Ajanta clock factory after breakfast.
And so the tour continues, linking Jamnagar, (Reliance's petrochemicals refinery), the pilgrimage sites at Dwarka, Tata Chemicals' salt manufacturing facility at Mithapur and so on.
Different circuits have been designed, depending on the tourists' preference, connecting the Rann Utsav at Kutch with the ports at Mundra and Kandla.
Those interested could even visit the ship-breaking yard at Alang, or Amul dairy at Anand. Already, around 2,000 people have taken these three-night four days or eleven nights-twelve day tours. Sharma works closely with the state government.
He said, "The Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd and the nodal body for industries here IndextB have all extended their cooperation to make this possible."
" Permissions to visit plants becomes easy when the government agencies come into fray."
With Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar becoming major centers for holding conventions and exhibitions attracting thousands of delegates, such tours are likely to gain popularity, he feels.
Plus, Akshar with its partners across the state now plan to tap schools and colleges, which can take their students out on excursions to these sites.
