Jaipur, March 17: The Palace on Wheels has had to cancel a trip for the first time in its 34-year history as Rajasthan's heritage luxury train battles a decline in numbers blamed on mismanagement and new travel options.
General manager Pradeep Bohra confirmed that the March 30 run had been called off as there had been no bookings so far. While he attributed the no-show to potential passengers putting off trips for a lean-season discount in April, sources said this was not unique to this year and pointed to an overall slump.
"The discounted trips start from April 1. That is why, perhaps, we did not get bookings for the March 30 trip. In February this year, the occupancy was 75 per cent," Bohra said. Each trip is of seven nights and eight days, with the train making three to four runs every month.
The discounts of 25 per cent, are available only for April and September - lean months mainly because of the hot weather. October to March is the peak season.
The October-March tariff is around $6,055 (Rs 4 lakh) per trip for an international traveller and Rs 3.63 lakh for Indian tourist. It comes down to $4,550 (Rs 3.03 lakh) and Rs 2.73 lakh respectively for April and September. The prices include catering (except drinks), conducted sight-seeing, entry free at monuments and rides around such spots.
For April this year, the 23-coach train jointly run by the Indian Railways and the state-owned Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation has bookings of about 40 per cent so far, Bohra said. For September, there are no advance bookings yet.
While the Palace on Wheels has had awards coming its way in recent years - it bagged the fifth spot last year in the Best Trains of the World category in a survey by US travel magazine Conde Nast - ticket sales seem to be going off track. Occupancy fell 43 per cent between 2007-08, when the train drew 3,601 passengers, and 2013-14 when it had 2,145 on board.
Sources said another luxury train offering tours of Rajasthan, the Rajasthan Royal On Wheels, has also seen a dip in passengers over the past years. Two trips of this train - whose ticket prices are much lower than those of the Palace on Wheels - had to be cancelled in December 2015.
RTDC chief Anil Chaplot admitted the slump and that a lack of aggressive marketing was a key reason. But he also pointed to a tendency among travel agents to goad tourists into other travel options such as organised road tours. Some have flocked to other luxury trains, such as the Deccan Odyssey and the Golden Chariot, that touch Rajasthan but also cover other states.
The Palace on Wheels leaves Delhi and passes through Jaipur, Sawai Madhopur, Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bharatpur and Agra before heading back to the capital. Considered the epitome of royal splendour, the train underwent a renovation in 2013 at a cost of Rs 1 crore.
When it started in October 1982, the train used carriages that belonged to the maharajas of Rajasthan. These were replaced in 1991.
