To promote tourism, Punjab govt organises series of 19 festivals

Anmol Gagan Maan, the minister of tourism and cultural affairs for Punjab, made the announcement on Sunday. The ‘Rangla Punjab’ programme would use a total of 19 festivals to highlight the state’s culture, art, and traditions. The 19 festivals, which would take place over the course of a year, will have a budget of Rs 65 crore. The events, according to Maan, will aid in preserving the state’s cultural history.

The ‘Team’ festival, set to take place in Sangrur from August 18 to 20, will be the first festival in the ‘Rangla Punjab’ series. The event, which honours the monsoon season, is well-known for its vivacious music, dance displays, and old-fashioned sports.

The ‘Inquilab’ celebration in Khatkar Kalan, which honours the legacy of Punjab’s independence movement, will also be a part of the festival series. Mansa will also host a ‘Tibba Festival’ to highlight the area’s beautiful beauty and advance ecotourism.

Maan emphasised the value of respecting Punjab’s Sufi culture and announced that as part of the ‘Rangla Punjab’ series, a special festival honouring Sufi music and spirituality will be held in Malerkotla. There will also be a first-of-its-kind ‘Nihang Olympics’ in Anandpur Sahib.

The series of festivals is anticipated to draw visitors from all across the country and boost the state’s tourism industry’s overall economic growth.

The state’s gurudwaras will soon have a navigational app available, according to the tourism minister. It will display neighbouring monuments, gurudwaras, or other points of interest.

The border region is another area of concentration for the tourist ministry. According to data provided by the Government of India, 3.5 billion tourists visited Punjab in 2021, with 15,000 visitors per day recorded in Amritsar alone, a top official informed India Today. Twenty thousand to thirty thousand tourists visit the Wagah border daily.

The state has identified numerous areas, according to the tourism minister, that have a lot of promise for water and adventure tourism. She continued, ‘This would increase employment opportunities for the youth and bring in lakhs of tourists to Punjab.’