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| November 13, 2010 | Amitabh's endorsement lures tourists to Gujarat's Gir Wildlife Sanctuary | | Gir (Gujarat): Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan's endorsement
of Gujarat as an ideal tourist destination is attracting thousands of tourists to the Sasan Gir Wildlife Sanctuary in Junagadh District. The forest department
has doubled the daily permit quotas for entry to the sanctuary to meet the heavy tourist rush. Officials said all hotels and resorts in the area are booked till
mid-November and credited Bachchan's promotion of the State as the reason for
the huge tourist inflow. "A Bollywood superstar like Amitabh Bachchan was made
the brand ambassador of Gujarat state. This created worldwide awareness, attracting
tourists from all over the world to Gir forests," said Sandeep Kumar, Deputy Conservator
of Forests (DCF), Sasan Gir Forest. "Every hotel and restaurant near the Gir Wildlife
Reserve has been booked. This proves that good response we are getting due to
the advertisement. The permit to enter the Gir jungle has also been booked to
its maximum capacity," he added. Tourists however, said the lack of accommodation
is a problem. "This place is heavily crowded. We are not getting a hotel to stay
here because of the crowd," said Hasrat Khan, a tourist from Rajashthan. Although
the 'Khusboo Gujarat Ki' campaign, a series of tourism advertisements featuring
Amitabh Bachchan, was a success, tourists complained of commercial exploitation
by hotels and restaurants. The Sasan Gir Wildlife Sanctuary is the only place
where the Asiatic Lions exist in their natural habitat.
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