Spotlight on agritourism

The Directorate of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra, held a physical event in Mumbai focusing on rural and community-based tourism, which has started to gain popularity in last couple of years.

At a physical event held in Mumbai, the Directorate of Tourism (DoT) of Maharashtra government put a spotlight on agritourism, caravan tourism and adventure tourism. The programme was also streamed live via its Facebook page and Zoom. The theme of the event was rural and community-based tourism, which has started to gain popularity in the last couple of years.

The event was attended by Minister of Tourism, Aaditya Thackeray, who distributed provisional registration certificates under the Adventure Tourism policy to operators of adventure tourism centres such as High Places Management, Pugmarks Eco Tours, High Fly Paragliding, MTDC, IISDA and Pushkaraj Apte. The first registration certificate was given to Motohom Caravan under the state’s Caravan Tourism policy. The Tourism Minister also inaugurated tour brochures on ‘Landmarks of Freedom Movement’ on the occasion.

These showcase detailed information about various landmarks and places that played an important role during the freedom movement in Mumbai, Pune, and Nagpur, along with the details of tour operators that conduct these tours.

To encourage stakeholders in the field of tourism, the State Tourism Awards Scheme will consist of 39 categories. Awards will be declared on May 1, 2022. The new Motohom Caravan was also flagged off by the Tourism Minister.

Also part of the event were Minister of State for Tourism, Aditi Tatkare, Principal Secretary of Tourism, Valsa Nair Singh (virtually), Director of the Directorate of Tourism (DoT), Milind Borikar, and Joint Director of DoT, Dr Dhananjay Sawalkar. Tatkare highlighted the importance of Konkan tourism and added that Maharashtra will attract more tourists once the Konkan coastal highway work is completed.