The Hindu Business Line : Odyssey to push Deccan tourism

MOVE over, Orient Express! Make way, Blue Train! Maharashtra's answer to the super-luxury tourism trains of South-East Asia and South Africa, the Deccan Odyssey, is all set to enamour well-heeled tourists from all over the world with its week-long pamper-the-senses experience that will cover the best destinations in the region.

The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will flag off the Odyssey from the Mumbai CST station on January 16, the Managing Director of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), Mr Ashish Kumar Singh, told Business Line.

The Deccan Odyssey could prove to be the answer to the State's tourism industry which has, for years, been relegated to playing second fiddle to Goa. But the Odyssey is going to change all that says Mr Singh.

"The attempt is to offer tourists coming from abroad everything that Maharashtra and its neighbour Goa has to offer, packaged in a new, completely luxurious package, minus the hassles of finding their own way to all these destinations''.

For $485 a day during peak season, a tourist can get onto the luxury train which has been built to benchmark with the best in the world.

Kicking off from the hustle and bustle of Mumbai, the train will head towards the Konkan coast where tourists can take a view of the breathtakingly beautiful Tarkarli beach, Ganpatipule, take a backwater cruise to the Jaigad fort, a visit to the ocean fort of Sindudurg and view Sawantwadi's famed lacquer handicrafts.

The train then heads for Karmali, the most frequently visited spot in verdant Goa from where luxury coaches will take the tourists to temples, churches and ancestral homes before heading out to Pune city for a look at Maharashtra's erstwhile capital.

The final leg of the journey covers the Buddhist caves at Ajanta and Ellora which are now world heritage sites, before heading out to Nasik where they will visit the Panchwati Ghat and the Sula winery, before heading back to Mumbai.

The train, built at the cost of about Rs 24 crore (total project cost including boats and luxury buses among others stand at Rs 32 crore) has 44 suites, 4 presidential suites, 2 restaurant cars, a bar and is complete with a gym, spa, beauty parlour and ayurvedic massage facility.

The MTDC is targeting tourists who regularly arrive in India from the UK, USA, West Asia , South East Asia and France among other countries and has already commenced selling the concept through road shows.

Interestingly, the train is also being promoted among corporate houses as an innovative venue for their conferences and is equipped with a conference car complete with business centre and all the necessities attached to corporate life.

High spending corporates can look forward to giving their employees the perfect way to mix business with pleasure.

For instance hold that high-powered meeting as the train is winding its way through the picturesque coastal Konkan to head for the heady outdoors of Goa.

Or offer the carrot of a soul-stirring cruise on the backwaters in Konkan to senior managers who can then apply their mind to the brain-storming session which just has to come up with the solution for some vexing problem facing the company.

It is still unclear if Mr Vajpayee will join the holiday makers in the train's maiden journey since the SPG is tight-lipped about it but what is as clear as daylight is that the folks who do make it to that trip is going to have a blast. And how!