M!CE at MP’s heritage sites

Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation (MPSTDC) has restored Minto Hall in Bhopal, a heritage building, as a convention centre in keeping with its two-pronged focus on promoting the state as a M!CE destination as well as maintaining heritage monuments.

TT Bureau

There are two things that Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation is currently focusing on – maintaining its heritage monuments and promoting the state as a M!CE destination. It has been doing this by restoring these structures as M!CE venues. Sharing an example is Sonia Meena, Additional Managing Director, MPSTDC, who says, “We have restored Minto Hall in Bhopal which is in the Old Vidhan Sabha, a beautiful landmark heritage building built in 1909, to its original glory, as a state-of- the-art international convention centre. Our focus is on promoting Minto Hall as Central India’s popular M!CE destination.”

The monument boasts of seven halls with a capacity ranging from 30 to 1200 pax. The composition of the building includes two meeting rooms, two committee rooms, a boardroom, a theatre hall, and a media centre. There is a rooftop restaurant as well.

There is a lot of scope to explore; we have partnered with the best names in the industry to facilitate hospitality and tourism in Madhya Pradesh

She adds that this is also one of its biggest steps towards maintaining a heritage site like Minto Hall. “This was our major initiative to maintain our heritage sites and to promote it as a M!CE destination in the domestic as well as international market. There are two more convention centres coming up; one at Khajuraho and the other one at Sanchi which are iconic World Heritage sites. These monuments will make Madhya Pradesh a preferred M!CE destination on the domestic as well as world map. We are promoting Minto Hall aggressively and are determined to host the best and the biggest names in the industry, and showcase our organising and hospitality abilities to the world,” Meena shares.

Domestic travellers to the state are expected to grow between 10-15 per cent and FTAs should range between three to five per cent in 2019. On roping in private players to maintain and manage MPSTDC properties, Meena says that MP Tourism has always encouraged public-private partnership, and has put out land parcels and properties up for lease as and when the opportunity beckons. “There is a lot of scope to explore the huge tourism potential available for private participation in Madhya Pradesh. The government has chalked out various attractive schemes for private participation. We have partnered with the best names in the industry to facilitate hospitality and tourism in Madhya Pradesh,” she says.

MPSTDC also has 63 well-located and maintained properties across the state. These are further classified into six residencies, 24 resorts, and 33 deluxe hotels. The collective room inventory stands at 1,221. Madhya Pradesh Tourism Hotels & Resorts is going to introduce 36 new rooms at Kalchuri Residency, Jabalpur, which is a three-star property. “We are also coming up  with one property near Kutni dam, Khajuraho, with 10 rooms; a three-star banquet hotel at Indore; and new rooms at Mandu and Sanchi,” Meena adds.