Railways to setup single window travel shop

New Delhi: To promote tourism and travel activity, the Indian Railways on Wednesday said that it plans to setup a 'single window shop' for all tourism products through a unique tourist facilitation centre located in the national capital.

According to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the facilitation centre will come up in Connaught Place and offer a string of rail, land and air tour packages for both domestic and international travellers.

The centre will also assist in itinerary management, visa facilitation, insurance, customised tours and concierge services.

“This will be the first of its kind initiative anywhere in the country, where the entire travel needs are taken care of under one roof," said A.K. Manocha, chairman and managing director, IRCTC.

"This is also the only brick and mortar office of the IRCTC, where people can walk in to buy a train or air travel package and even get a customised trip as per their convenience,” Manocha elaborated.

The facilitation centre will not only handle all special train tours of the IRCTC, but will also offer air packages for Jammu and Kashmir, Shirdi and Tirupati.

Recently, IRCTC announced air travel packages from Delhi to Jammu and Kashmir and Shirdi which were completely sold out.

"The Tirupati package got a booking of 80 percent almost immediately,” informed Pradeep Dhiman, additional general manager, IRCTC.

Explaining, the official said these packages are popular as the entire needs and of tourists are taken care of by IRCTC.

“The Tirupati package from Delhi comprises air ticket, AC coach from Chennai to Tirupati, 4 star hotel accommodation, food and VIP darshan,” Dhiman pointed out.

IRCTC added that the facilitation centre will cater to the travel requirements of all the government departments and public sector companies, besides clients in the corporate sector.

It will also facilitate air tickets, accommodation and sightseeing for foreign delegates or students visiting India on exchange programmes.

The 16-year-old 'mini Ratna' PSU of the Indian Railways, had introduced e-ticketing in 2002 through its digital platform.

The average daily sale of train tickets through the IRCTC portal, which is the world's second busiest with three crore registered users, is around 5.5 lakh to 6 lakh.