Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated India’s first-of-its-kind project, MTDC’s Infosys Tourism Pavilion at Infosys, Hinjewadi to provide its employees tourism facilities under the banner of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC).
The occasion was graced with the presence of Girish Bapat, Guardian Minister, Pune; Valsa Nair Singh, principal secretary, Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Government of Maharashtra; Paraag Jaiin Nainuttia, managing director, MTDC; Satish Soni, joint managing director, MTDC; Ramdas Kamat, executive vice president and the head of infrastructure, facilities, administration, security, and sustainability at Infosys and; Pravin Kulkarni, vice president, Infosys.
Singh commented, “We are grateful to Infosys for inviting MTDC to set up a tourism pavilion in the Infosys campus Phase II Food court 3, in a space of 1,250 sq ft. Over 40,000 IT employees work in this campus and this pavilion will provide various tourism related services under the banner of MTDC to them on a concessional basis. We plan to provide one-two day short tours on every weekend, special heritage tours, souvenir shop, air tickets, train tickets, passport and visa facilities, adventure tours, all kinds of travel kits, a travel lounge area, unique selfie point and an experience to wear various Maharashtrian traditional costumes. With our tourism partners, we can provide bookings for amusement parks, hot air balloon rides, MTDC’s Asia’s first scuba diving institute (PADI), jungle safaris, the luxury heritage train Deccan Odyssey, Helicopter rides in Mumbai and the opportunity to experience colorful festivals like Ganpati, Gokulashtami, Holi, Wari and many more as per their special destinations.”
Nainuttia, IAS, informed, “The average age of Infosys employees is around 25 and have good spending capacity. Around 60 per cent of the employees are not from Maharashtra. We found an opportunity to introduce them to the state. Our aim is to provide them the best tourism facilities. MTDC has already invested around Rs 25 lakh to set up the infrastructure for tourism pavilion.”
Soni stated, “Leading brands in tourism industry have partnered us to help us provide all tourism related services at this tourism pavilion.”
