Surviving the Covid
In the last two years, contrary to our expectations, our tourist inflow did not stop. Once the lockdowns were opened in all the three phases there was whole flow of events, tourism. There was a lot of pent up demand for tourism and we had the best ever business done last year. Best ever. What also helped us was the fact that Madhya Pradesh was one of the first states to have completed the first two rounds of vaccination and now we are actively giving booster doses. We also followed liberal policies when it came to people traveling towards the state and apart from some advisories we never had very tough restrictions in place.
Additionally, we also in the meantime, during the Covid period, thought how our travel is going to change course. We could anticipate that Covid has definitely moved the entire tourism and hospitality industry to a slightly different direction and we that post Covid, people will be on a lookout to explore new destinations – undiscovered and less crowded and Madhya Pradesh has plenty of options for both. From kids to grownups to elderly, everybody has something to enjoy in Madhya Pradesh. Secondly, we realised soon enough that short distance journeys are going to be very common and road itineraries are going to be very important and thus, neighbouring states are going to be very important. So we focused our energy on that. Thirdly, post Covid, people wanted to be close to nature – to anything that takes them back to their roots and makes them reflect as well as gives them that entertainment which a traveller looks for while vacationing.
Initiatives underway
We anticipated these trends and worked towards it. In a conscious manner, we promoted rural homestays and triggered the momentum of responsible tourism. We took up a mission in our state towards responsible mission and collaborated with Kerala, which has prior experience in this field.
Another project that we took up is regarding safe travel for women. It is one of its kind project in the country where we have collaborated with Government of India – Ministry of Women and Child Welfare Tourism Ministry and got it funded. We are working on making 50 destinations in the state women friendly through various mechanisms – be it solo women or women travelling in group. We will also skill more than 20,000 women across various sectors of hospitality and so that the presence of women in tourism sector increases and give women traveller more security while travelling through the state.
Growth of MICE
There is a lot that Madhya Pradesh is doing in terms of growth of MICE, especially with the renovation of Minto Hall and opening of the new Convention Centre in Khajuraho. We are promoting Madhya Pradesh as a great destination for MICE because when people go for MICE activities they also love to explore the place. We have a number of good hotels dotted around the state and if we couple that with our wildlife offerings, the attraction is too great. Madhya Pradesh is the perfect hub for adventure, MICE, nature, heritage and a destination that can be visited all year round. Our wildlife treasures and UNESCO heritage sites together make MP an ideal tourist destination.
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