Cattle Tourism

To woo foreigners, fancy Swiss cottages have been built near the location of Sonepur cattle fair.

Bihar’s Sonepur cattle fair, considered the largest cattle fair in Asia, began this year on 16 November. It is an annual month-long affair where all sorts of animals—buffaloes, donkeys, ponies, horses, dogs, camels, etcetera—are bought and sold. However, since last year, when the Bihar Tourism Ministry took over the organisation of the fair, it has also got a new spin as a tourist destination. To woo foreigners, fancy Swiss cottages—which come with yoga classes and elephant rides—have been built near the location. A substantial amount has also been spent in sprucing up the venue. Whether it will work will have to be seen. Last year, the fair only managed an average of 25,000 footfalls each day, far short of the daily minimum of 100,000 it used to see some years ago.

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Omkar Khandekar

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