TravTalk India Online Magazine
Valsa Nair Singh, Principal Secretary (Tourism), Government of Maharashtra, says that their work in three verticals will surely aid the sector’s revival.
Manas Dwivedi
Valsa Nair Singh says that revival of tourism can be in many ways. “One can be by providing concessional packages, second can be by infrastructural support from the government, and third can be by way of policies. So, these are the three verticals we worked on,” she says, adding, “To get more investment in the hospitality sector in the state, we implemented two policy changes. One was to focus on the ease of doing business in the sector in which the post-operationalising licences were reduced to 10 from 70, which makes things easier and everything is done online. The second was announcing PPP for investments.” They are also believed to be in the process of working out a M!CE board in Maharashtra which will lobby along with the private players to have more M!CE events in the state. Singh says that they have developed Nashik as a good medium-segment M!CE centre along with a new MTDC resort and grape wine park. In fact, she adds, “Banquet licences for hotels have been made into an annual process now. Electricity rate, electricity charges, water charges, property tax, development tax, increased carpet area ratio and non-agricultural tax shall be charged at industrial rates with effect from April 1, 2021, from the hotel entrepreneurs registered with the tourism ministry of the central government.”
The state’s 720-km-long coastline is also rapidly emerging as a prime destination for those seeking water sports and adventure tourism. As a result, the Maharashtra government has been pursuing multi-faceted initiatives to boost tourism.
Sindhudurg, centre of focus
Singh puts spotlight on promoting, developing and harnessing the potential of coastal and beach tourism, and emphasises on growing the Blue Economy in a sustainable and inclusive manner in Konkan. She also highlights some of the achievements and initiatives undertaken by Maharashtra government towards sustainable coastal tourism in Konkan. “Maharashtra state ranks number one in India in tourism. The ‘Industry’ status has been granted to the hospitality sector recently and will be implemented from April 1, 2021. The first tourist district in the country lies in Konkan, i.e. Sindhudurg district. We have provided special incentives to the Special Tourism District under the Maharashtra Tourism Policy. We have also formed a public-private partnership model for MTDC resorts and open lands,” she says.
The Maharashtra government also recently announced `3,000 crore investment MoUs this year. Investment MoUs were signed in Sindhudurg with Taj group, at Shiroda, Velgar and Fomento Resorts at Aravali Beach. A scuba diving centre, namely the Indian Institute of Scuba Diving & Aquatic Sports (IISDA), is already operating in Tarkarli, Sindhudurg. Moreover, MoU investments have been signed for resort and golf course under the tourism policy to Morve and Munge in Devgad – all in the Konkan region. Singh also highlights the initiatives undertaken to promote tourism in the Konkan region, including beach shacks and other facilities, Swadesh Darshan Scheme and RTDS Projects in Konkan. The Beach Shack Policy will allow setting up of 10 temporary beach shacks on each beach along the Konkan coast. Eight beaches were identified during the first phase of implementation of this policy.“The Beach Shack Policy will take off next year; it is permissible under the new Coastal Zone Management Plan that is pending with the ministry of environment for approval,” says Singh. Under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme, development of theme-based Sindhudurg Coastal Circuit is expected to be fully completed by May 2021.
Other policies
Caravan Tourism policy: The current trend is to avoid using public transport and taking shorter vacations. Singh says, “We have announced the Caravan Tourism Policy, which will take time to gain momentum and in a couple of years, will take off and be as popular as it is in the West. We have caravan parking bases as part of the policy. They can also tie up with hotels for parking. MTDC can collaborate with any caravan operator, and resorts with open spaces can also be used for caravan parking. We have incentivised caravan tourism and also partnered with certain resorts.”
Agro Tourism Policy: The Agro Tourism Policy has not been limited to farming and includes other activities like wine-making, fisheries, etc. “We are providing incentives for that and have partnered with various ministries. We have planned a lot of activities around it, such as strawberry picking. We may also host an Agro Tourism Summit virtually, tentatively around May-June this year,” she says.
Vacation Home Rental
Policy: According to Singh, this is the new USP for Maharashtra. “Almost 8,000 rooms are available, which are not part of hotels in the state. The credit for vacation revival in Maharashtra in the last couple of months should go to various vacation rentals that have come up in the state post COVID. This trend was pushed by homes of the rich and the famous. They have now opened their houses as vacation rentals. We are coming up with a policy for the same which will make the process of setting up vacation rentals easier, and we would try to ensure that licensing is limited and is more of a self-certification,” Singh shares.
