Bihar to open motels, deluxe restaurants on highways

Patna, Dec 16 (IANS) Encouraged by the growing flow of domestic and foreign tourists in the state, Bihar will open deluxe restaurants and motels on selected highways to provide tasty, hygienic food to tourists, apart from options of short stay with comfort.

"We were told by several foreign tourists about the difficult in getting good food along highways," said Rashmi Verma, managing director of Bihar State Tourism Development Corp, the nodal government agency for hospitality projects in the state.        
"Now deluxe restaurants and motels will be set up and and provide facilities for short stay, along with food and clean toilets," Verma added.        
In the first phase of the project, such deluxe restaurants will be set up on highways connecting popular Buddhist circuits of Bodh Gaya, Rajgir and Nalanda, she said.        
Tourism ministry officials said Bihar witnessed a significant increase in the number of foreign tourists to the state over the past few years despite the global slowdown and other factors like swine flu.        
From 95,000 foreign tourists who visited Bihar in 2006, the numbers have increased to 356,000 by end-October of this year. The number of domestic travellers has also grown to 12.2 million.