Bhopal: With Madhya Pradesh recently bagging three national awards in toursim sector besides registering 70 percent growth in the inflow of visitors, the state is fast
emerging as a major destination on the country`s tourism map.
"The perception that Madhya Pradesh is not emerging as a major tourist spot is false and if that was the case then the Centre would have not awarded it with three coveted national
level awards in various categories," MP Tourism Development Corporation Chairman, Dhruv Narayan Singh told a news agency today.
The National Tourism Award 2009-10 was recently given to the MPTDC in three different categories -- Best state in the Country, Best Civic Management of a Tourist Destination
(Khajuraho) in India and for an Innovative/Unique Tourism Project (Caravan) in the country, he said.
Singh said that because of special efforts being made by MPTDC since last four years, the loss making body in the last fiscal turned into a profitable venture with an annual
revenue growth rate exceeding 25 percent every year.
However, he admitted that number of states in the country are far ahead with Madhya Pradesh in tourism sector because of the fact that earlier no efforts were made to promote it as a major tourist destination.
With the introduction of new tourism policy, change in rules, creation of better infrastructure, improvement in road and power condition, the state has registered a growth of 70 percent in tourist inflow.
"At present we are focusing on targeting domestic tourists and large number of people are coming from Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra and other places to
Madhya Pradesh," the chairman said.
"In view of the fact that large number of people from southern states have also started visiting Madhya Pradesh, we are opening two more offices at Bangalore and Chennai. We
already had an office at Hyderabad," Singh said.
He also informed that the MPTDC will soon establish two Five-Star hotels at Indore and Bhopal respectively and had already got a land for the purpose at both the places.
The hotel at Indore will be constructed by the MPTDC on its own while at Bhopal it will be built on PPP mode near Prempura ghat.
"Keeping in mind the tremendous potential in the state in the area of religious tourism, the corporation is devising innovative plans to attract large number of people in that
sector also," he said.
Places like Sanchi, Ujjain, Omkareshwar, Orchha, Maihar, Khajuraho and Pitambara Peeth near Datia have lot of potential to attract religious tourists.
In order to provide air connectivity at tourist places, an agreement has been made with the private sector to run nine-seater planes soon, he added.
PTI
