MOT looks westward

A recent event in Mumbai conducted by Ministry of Tourism’s regional office brought together five western states and two Union Territories (UTs) to help them showcase their products to agents.

Hazel Jain

In a bid to further develop domestic tourism, the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India’s Mumbai office recently organised an interaction between five states along with two UTs in the western region and travel agents from these regions, on-board Karnika ship.

We conduct this event annually at different venues that have the potential of becoming good tourism products and introduce them to travel agents

Neela Lad, Regional Director, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, said, “The main purpose of this event is to handhold small destinations like our UTs, that may not have the budget to do it alone. We conduct this event annually at different venues that have the potential of becoming good tourism products and introduce them to the travel agents. This is the second one this year, while the first one was held at the Statue of Unity where state tourism boards interacted with Gujarat agents in Baroda.”

The states participating this time included Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Chhattisgarh and the two UTs of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu. According to Lad, more than 100 agents attended this event and had travelled from different parts of the region like Nashik, Pune, Goa, Mumbai and Gujarat. This was also the first time that Daman & Diu was participating in the event. Meanwhile, Dadra & Nagar Haveli informed that they had launched a new tourism policy on September 1, 2019, which includes initiatives for improving ease of doing business in the UT, such as single-window clearance for investors.

The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) made a presentation on cruise tourism, which Lad said was one of the focus areas for the Ministry of Tourism as well. “We are developing some niche products that include cruising, golf, and wildlife,” she said.