Steena Joy – Mumbai
Maharashtra which has Mumbai as an important global gateway in India is focusing on MICE tourism and plans are on the anvil to set up a promotion Board specifically for MICE tourism in the state. Speaking at a roundtable organised by the Indian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC) in Mumbai to discuss ‘Repositioning Mumbai as a tourism destination of the future’, Valsa Nair Singh, principal secretary, tourism and culture, Government of Maharashtra, informed, “We will soon set up a promotion Board for promoting MICE tourism in the state. The Board will be a one-stop-shop for MICE, facilitating permissions for big conferences and events. We are also looking at a system of pre-approved venues for the same and a Single Window System for hospitality.”
She added that the redevelopment of Film City was already in process under which 40 new studios with world class post production facilities will be set up as well as an archive for Marathi and Hindi films. She reiterated that the new Tourism Policy to be announced any time soon will have three main aspects : Project development, human resiources or skill development and investment & promotion which will offer a big basket of incentives for the industry including complete tax exemptions for 20 years for investment in some tourism districts.
Paraag Jaiin Nainuttia, managing director, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), agreed that the new policy will be a complete game changer for tourism in the state. He added, “MTDC’s chopper darshan has evoked a very good response. We plan to start the Mumbai Darshan buses in May. We will have 11 hop on hop off buses. We are also looking at promoting yacht tourism. There are about 93 private yachts in the state and by October 2016 we hope to make some of them available for commercial use to offer tourists leisure trips in the Mumbai Harbour. We are also planning to work on setting up a few casinos in the state with the required
permissions.”