Newstrack

MoT supports idea of international convention centre at Film City, Mumbai

Maharashtra admits need to wake up to state's tourism potential

ANDREA LOPEZ - Mumbai

Sujit Bannerjee

The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has agreed to support an initiative to develop a convention centre at the Film City in Mumbai. Speaking at an interactive session between the MoT and the travel and hospitality trade (western India), Anand Kulkarni, secretary, tourism and culture, Government of Maharashtra said, "There is no land available in Mumbai to develop a convention centre, even though it is in great need of one. The only land available would be at Film City, which has huge acres of land." A few members of the trade also pointed out that that existing hotels and makeshift arrangement at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) were inadequate for large trade fairs and that Mumbai was losing out on many international exhibitions. In response to this, Sujit Banerjee, secretary, MoT has expressed that the ministry would be open to funding MICE projects of this nature in the future and has supported the idea of a convention centre at Film City. In addition, the MoT has called for co operation from all state tourism boards, including Maharashtra to take emerging tourism concepts like heliport and caravan tourism, forward. "The MoT has issued guidelines for heliport and caravan tourism. We invite proposals from Maharashtra to take this further. Some states have been very pro active in this regard, for instance, we barely announced the guidelines, and we received three proposals from Sikkim. Madhya Pradesh has also submitted proposals for caravan tourism. The guidelines all exist, state governments just have to wake up to the same."

Meanwhile, Maharashtra has admitted to its lackadaisical approach to tourism. However, whether 2010 will see a change in this regard, remains to be seen. The state plans to revive the Elephanta and Banganga festival in Mumbai soon. "MTDC has not undertaken any publicity events, and we realise that we have to sell Maharashtra more aggressively," said Kulkarni. In addition, there were also suggestions to improve jetties and landing ports in Maharashtra to give weekend tourism a fillip, and to utilise Mumbai's close association with the film industry to promote Bollywood tourism. "Two niche areas that I see immense potential and will promote are wedding tourism and Bollywood tourism," said Banerjee, mentioning that there was still much to be done. "We have managed to get visa on arrival for five countries, and this is a very important step in the right direction. Our overseas roadshows have been successful, and we would like to focus on how we can cash in on visitors from the Middle East and West Asia. December has seen a turnaround, we have been able to get foreign tourist arrivals," he said.