MPSTDC efforts to woo tourists

Bhopal, Jan 12: Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation (MPSTDC) has initiated efforts for wooing tourists from metropolitan cities of the country. It has chalked out a strategy to showcase Madhya Pradesh tourism potential in different states. The corporation is mainly targeting Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Bangalore and Kolkata. In Ahmedabad and Bangalore, offices of the corporation have been introduced to attract tourists.

General Manager of the MPSTDC Balmukund Namdeo told that maximum tourist inflow is from Gujarat and West Bengal. During puja (Navratri festival), people from West Bengal visit Khajuraho and Chitrakoot, while tourist places like hill station Pachmarhi and Mandu are packed with Gujaratis during Diwali vacations.  MPSTDC Managing Director Ashwini Lohani along with Tourism Minister Tukojirao Puar had recently visited Kolakata to participate in West Bengal Tourism festival. During his visit, Lohani convened a press conference in Kolakata and informed about tourism potential in the state.

He stated that the top five sites that have gained popularity among the tourists include Pachmarhi, Kanha, Khajuraho, Orchha and Mandu. Apart from these, Omkareshwar and Maheshwar garner the usual generation of pilgrims every year. Water sports activities including kayaking, canoeing, surfing and parasailing have recently been introduced at Tigra (Gwalior) and Bhopal. The Gondwana Queen Cruise on river Narmada was also introduced for tourists recently. Bhopal runs the country's first rail restaurant.

Namdeo informed that in 2006, 1.47 crore tourists visited the state, of which two lakh were foreigners. MPTDC expects a growth of 30 to 40 per cent tourist traffic this year. Lohani, who is an Indian Railway Service (IRS) officer, has also introduced a ‘rail coach restaurant’ in the premises of hotel Lake View Ashoka, a hotel of the Corporation. It provides the ambience of a railway platform with paan shops, a level-crossing and magazine shop. Dishes served at the restaurant are named after various stations.

A seller-buyers conference was recently convened by the Corporation in view of converting heritage buildings into heritage hotels. There are 724 heritage buildings in Madhya Pradesh including 138 buildings which have been declared as protected monuments. Out of these 311 buildings, which are not protected, are under the possession of the state government, while 275 are private properties. The owners of 61 out of these 275 private heritage buildings were invited along with 74 investors.