Haryana is one of the most industrialized states in India. It is also known all over the world for its culture and religious & historical events like Mahabharta. Tourists and businessmen from all over the world visit this state. To expose the tourism potential of Haryana to the world, streamline the accommodation booking procedures and thwart fraudulent and corrupt practices in the existing system, e-Tourism initiative has been introduced.

Haryana has been a front-runner in highway tourism. Haryana Tourism Corporation (HTC) operates 42 Tourist Complexes spread all over the state. The Corporation offers 785 rooms through these complexes for lodging of tourists. Due to non-availability of information related to room occupancy position, there was a great shortfall in revenue. Citizens access to important places like Kurukshetra, Pinjore and other destinations was very limited as a result of which tourists were deprived of access to cheap state tourism accommodation and were fleeced by private hotels. Since, most of the business is from current booking, a tourist had to visit either the resort or to the booking offices at Chandigarh or Delhi to book the room in advance. The management was not able to monitor the room occupancy. Tourists from abroad were not able to book room while scheduling their travel plan to India and Haryana in particular. The customer base was limited and the customers were not able to avail the schemes launched by the corporation.

To expose the potential of tourism in Haryana to the world, a web portal (http://haryanatourism.gov.in) with integrated ‘Online Rooms Booking System’ and ‘Online e-Ticketing for SurajKund International Crafts Mela’ was inaugurated by Tourism Minister on 4th August, 2009. Visitors from all over the world can book rooms and tickets using debit/credit cards and internet banking of 26 Nationalised Banks. ‘Surajkund International Crafts Mela’ is organised every year from 1st February to 15th February. ‘Online e-Ticketing System’ is developed for booking entry tickets for the Mela. The system has the facility to book rooms in any of the resorts of Haryana Tourism employing any of the following modes:

• Using Payment Gateway: As the system is web based, tourist can book accommodation from anywhere, anytime using debit/credit card. • Blocking of accommodation: Tourists who do not have credit/debit card can make bookings by blocking the rooms and payment on account of tariff can be deposited in the Axis Bank account of respective tourist resort from anywhere. • At Resort counter: Tourist can also book room in any resort of HTC from front office counter of that resort. • Tourist Agents: HTC has made agreement with 30 private tourist agents. Interface is provided to agents for booking accommodation for any resort. • System also provides e-Ticketing facility for Surajkund International Crafts Mela.

PROCESSES COMPUTERISED • Advance Booking • Current Booking • Concessional Booking • Discounted Booking • Blocking of Rooms • Confirmation of Blocking • Cancellation of Booking • Check-in • Check-out • Change Rooms • Change accommodation type • Making changes in tariff, Destinations, User Creation • Publishing special discount • Taking out accommodation from booking for repair/ maintenance • Room Chart

Web Portal of Haryana Tourism Corporation - http://haryanatourism.gov.in

• Monitoring finances and Occupancy Reporting • E-Ticketing, checking of tickets at the Entry gate.

OBJECTIVES & ACHIEVEMENTS

  1. Transparency: The system ensures transparency by providing information on all types of accommodation of all HTC resorts on web, so that the customers are able to book the room as per availability.
  2. Efficiency: Processing of complete room reservation in a time bound manner and displaying the status on web adds greater efficiency to the process.
  3. Elimination of Fraudulent & Corrupt Practices: Non-entry in visitor’s register is expected to be reduced with the system.
  4. Timeliness: Due to automation of major manual processes, the whole exercise can be completed within shortest possible time.
  5. Cost-effectiveness: With the implementation of Online Room Reservation System, more business is expected to be generated from all over the world.

• With the help of the system and automated communication, every tourist complex can now manage a larger customer base. • Information related to location, mode of transport, facilities to visitors, visiting spots is now easily available.

  1. e-Ticketing at Surajkund International Crafts Mela

More than 10 lakh visitors from all over the world visit the Surajkund Mela every year. Keeping in mind the botheration they go through while buying the tickets, e-Ticketing facility is the need of the hour. Foreign visitors who visit India to see this Mela will also be benefitted with system as it facilitates them to see the details of the event and book e-Ticket for mela entry and rooms in the nearby resort.

BOOKING STATISTICS The total collections generated from the system is more than ₹98,27,72,567 through 4,90,000 bookings accomplished since its commencement on 4th August, 2009.

REPLICATION • The software is provided to NIC, Tripura and NIC, West Bengal to customise it for their respective State Tourism Departments. • Customization of the software for guest houses of Indian Council for Agriculture Research, New Delhi (ICAR) is being done at NIC, Haryana.