Akshay Kumar– Mumbai
Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) is all set to open its office in Tokyo, Japan on June 27, 2014. This is MTDC’s first office in Japan following the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Maharashtra and the Wakayama Prefecture in Japan. The land for the office in Tokyo was acquired through a mutual barter, wherein the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO) will get a space in Aurangabad, Maharashtra to open its office.
Speaking exclusively to Express TravelWorld, Dr Jagdish Patil, MTDC, said, “Maharashtra and Japan have strong tourism ties as we already have a MoU. Both have one strong common point, that is Buddhism. By opening an office in Tokyo, we can promote the rich Buddhism culture of our state in Japan which will surely help increase the tourism exchange. We are launching our office in Tokyo and soon the JNTO will open an office in Aurangabad, which is one of the most important destinations in the Buddhist circuit of Maharashtra.”
MTDC also has plans to aggressively promote the Buddhist circuit in Maharashtra, as the state has many historically important destinations. “We have surveyed around 25 Buddhist destinations in our state. We have one of the oldest Buddhist caves – Bhaja and Karla caves, we also have one of the oldest stupas in the country located in Nalasopara. Our state has a rich Buddhism history, we will surely develop our the circuit very soon,”stated Patil.
