REEMA LOKESH – Indore
The recently concluded Madhya Pradesh Global Investors Summit (GIS) 2012 held in Indore witnessed high level investments and MoUs being signed across sectors including the tourism and hospitality industry. Receiving special focus at the GIS 2012, the tourism industry saw around nine MoUs to worth approximately Rs 1172.06 crore being signed. Apart from the MoUs, a series of EoIs (Expression of Interests) were also put forth. These developments also highlighted the importance of employment generation in the state through tourism.
Most of the MoUs were signed with hospitality investors from resorts, five-star projects to nature cure and wellness resorts to amusement park projects. Companies namely Total Diagnostics Solutions, Bhopal; Sukh Sagar Group, Jabalpur and Bhagwati B&H Ahmedabad are scheduled to undertake five-star hotel development projects in Bhopal, Jabalpur and Indore respectively.
AG8 Ventures, are scheduled to start work in the resort, nature cure and wellness space in Hoshangabad and Bhopal. Alfavision Overseas India, Vision Colonizer, Pachar Group, Rajasthan, and Immortal Theme Resort have also signed MoUs for hospitality development.
| Investment opportunities |
| Hospitality
Hotels: Star category, budget and business; resorts, amusement parks, etc Aqua tourism Rural Tourism Film Tourism Religious Tourism Eco Tourism and cultural festivals Wellness Tourism |
The panel discussion on tourism, highlighted interesting challenges and suggestions for the betterment of tourism in the state and also the country. From rationalisation of taxation to that of better connectivity and also the importance of technology and marketing in tourism were well defined by the panelists. The panel included Amitabh Kant, chief executive officer & managing director, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC); Ashish Kumar Singh, secretary to chief minister, Government of Maharashtra; Sunit Kothari, chairman, Madhya Pradesh Committee, Hotel & Restaurant Association (Western India); Subhash Verma, president, Travel Plus and president, Associations of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI); Subhash Goyal, chairman, STIC Travel Group of Companies and Raghavendra Kumar Singh, managing director, Tourism Corporation, Government of Madhya Pradesh. SPS Parihar, principal secretary, Urban Development & Tourism, Government of Madhya Pradesh, highlighted the opportunities that the state has to offer and kicked started the event with a Madhya Pradesh tourism overview, Tukojirao Puar, minister of tourism, Government of Madhya Pradesh, welcomed investors in the state and promised them a business friendly work environment. He added that Madhya Pradesh should not be known only as the heartland of India and for tiger reserves, but also for its hill stations, archaeological wealth, forests and water bodies and famous places of religious importance. Raghavendra Singh said that efforts are being made to link districts with aerial route to promote tourism and facilitate tourists in the state.
