M!CE and weddings MOT’s priority

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, believes that G20 has opened doors for India as a M!CE destination and that the country has huge potential for becoming an attractive M!CE and wedding tourism destination. In fact, MOT is planning a focused event on the segment soon.

Nisha Verma

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, said that the ministry is aggressively promoting India as a M!CE and wedding destination and G20 will aid in this mission. “Even when the Prime Minister addressed the post-budget webinar, he talked about how India must develop as a M!CE and wedding destination. A very important development that has happened over the last few years, and during COVID is that earlier convention centres were only in very big cities and metros, but now convention centres of good quality and size are coming up at many major centres across the country. One very good example of that we are seeing now is with the G20 meetings happening at 59 locations, and these are international standard meetings. This shows that these venues have the capacity to host big conferences, showcasing India’s potential as a M!CE destination. Hence, going forward, some policy tweaks at the state level, or giving some incentives will take this movement forward. We are also planning to organise an international M!CE conference in Hyderabad in July this year to take advantage of the tailwinds created by the G20, which will focus and deliberate on how India can develop as a major M!CE destination,” he claimed.

National Tourism Policy
A draft on National Strategy on Film Tourism was released at the third TWG meeting in Srinagar, Kashmir. Speaking on how that will be integrated in the national tourism policy, he said, “For the national tourism policy, we have had a long process of consultation. We have consulted a lot of stakeholders and it has reached the final stage. Once the national tourism policy comes out, these strategies will find mention there, and their key inputs will be present in that policy. Hence, we are awaiting final approvals.”