Jaipur : The Pink City’s eager wait for a dream start to its tourist season got a rude jolt when the four-day private visit of the Moroccan King got cancelled. The Moroccan king, King Mohammed, the VI, was scheduled to arrive on Saturday to the city which was built after getting the inspiration from the Moroccan capital Marrakesh, which like Jaipur is a city with a rose pink tinge.
The majestic Hotel Rambagh Palace was booked by the King for his visit and three private jets of the King had come in advance laden with mineral water, beds, 16 refrigerators and food stuff. The King”s party comprising 40 persons was to stay at the Rambagh and the hotel had decked up the high priced Maharani suite for him with new carpets and furnishings and also black and white photographs of the late Rajmata Gayatri Devi. Mohammed VI is Morocco”s leading businessman and banker. A few years ago, he was estimated by Forbes magazine to be worth US$2.5 billion and the Moroccan Royal Family has one of the largest fortunes in the world.. Companies owned by the King have a diverse portfolio consisting of many important businesses in Morocco and operating in various sectors such as mining, insurance, liquor, agriculture, automobile and tourism.
The Pink City and Morocco have some common features and both thrive on tourism and the purpose of the King”s visit was to see how tourism thrives in Rajasthan. The builder of Jaipur Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh was inspired by Marrakesh, which is the fourth largest city of Morocco. According to one of the members of the royal entourage, who had come in advance to supervise the arrangement for the stay of the Moroccan King, the monarch wanted to know how Jaipur was thriving as an international tourism destination and he wanted to visit the old walled city and meet people from the tourism trade and take ideas back home to develop Marrakesh as a tourism destination like Jaipur.
