NEW DELHI: India's movie stars may now battle it out against each other in the country's fast expanding tourism sector. After the country's most celebrated actor Amitabh Bachchan was roped in to become the face of Gujarat tourism, a Western Indian state known to house the country's only lion sanctuary and a host of other places of religious interest, Shahrukh Khan, regarded as the badshah (Emperor) of Bollywood has become the brand ambassador for West Bengal, home to the Royal Bengal tiger. Virtually unchallenged as the superstar of mainstream Indian cinema Amitabh Bachcan, 69, has been an extremely healthy omen for the tourism industry in Gujarat, which is still in a fledgling stage. According to Gujarat's principal secretary tourism Vipul Mitra, after sophisticated and expansive advertising campaign featuring the star hit the media, tourism inflow to the state had increased overall by 14 percent, which is nearly double of the tourism growth rate for India. “After Bachchan shot his ad film, promoting Gujarat tourism at the Gir sanctuary recently, a Taj group hotel which was closed for nearly nine year, decided to open up,” Mitra told Bikyamasr.com. Amitabh Bachchan had shot a series of advertisements for promotion of Gujarat tourism with ‘Fragrance of Gujarat' as the theme. Big B's short, crisp ad films with the Gir sanctuary, Rann of Kutch, Somnath Temple and several other tourism sites in the backdrop imploring tourists to ‘come breathe in a bit of Gujarat' are a huge hit according to Mitra. “Amitabh Bachchan has made a huge difference. There is tremendous amount of interest generated in the places where he has shot the promotional videos,” Mitra said. Shahrukh Khan, who lives in Mumbai, on the other hand already operates a high profile club cricket team ‘Kolkata Knightriders' based in Kolkata and has recently accepted chief minister Mamata Banerjee's offer to become brand ambassador for the state of West Bengal. “We know Amitabh Bachchan as the Gujarat's brand ambassador but now we have Shah Rukh. He has great acceptability. We can tap into foreign market,” said Rachpal Singh, minister for tourism for West Bengal, a once progressive state in eastern India, which has failed to tap its tourism potential. India annually receives 25.8 million foreign tourists annually, while its share of domestic tourists who travel inter-state is close to 700 million per year. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/nAFIQ Tags: Actors, Bollywood, Gujarat, India, Tourism Section: Entertainment, Latest News, Movies News, South Asia, Travel
