The Government of Maharashtra’s ambitious international tourism promotion project, Maharashtra International Travel Mart 2015 – popularly known as MITM – was launched amid the huge number of buyers and sellers of the tourism industry from various countries. The first ever edition of MITM, which is set to take Maharashtra’s robust tourism growth story on a global level was launched by Devendra Fadanvis, Chief Minister, Maharashtra State.
Formally inaugurating the MITM at the JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra announced a slew of measures being taken by the state government for giving a boost to the tourism and hospitality sector. He said, “The number of hotel licences have been reduced from 71 to 25 and further would be consolidated into 6, for which only 1 form has to be filled on the digital platform. Enticing the film industry, he said that the Government of Maharashtra has also relaxed regulatory framework for film shooting. Film-makers have to apply online and if they don’t get a response in 7 days, it will be deemed as granted.”
“Mumbai can be a city for live performances. Organising a live show in Mumbai is a tough task, because of the number of the permissions required. He added,” We want to promote Mumbai and Maharashtra as event destinations. Therefore, they will be designated as event destinations and no permissions will be required. The organisers just need to inform the government about the event they are organising.”
Talking about the draft tourism policy of the state, Fadanvis said, “Within a week we will circulate the draft to all the stakeholders in the travel and tourism industry. The policy is aimed at attracting private investments and the travel and tourism industry is welcome to give suggestions. The policy should be tourist-operator friendly and actually be aimed at ease of doing business.”
Nainuttia informed that MTDC is planning to organise the Elephanta festival, Kalidas festival in Nagpur in November, and Allora Festival in Aurangabad. “We are planning to organise Mumbai Shopping Festival on the lines of Dubai Shopping Festival in January, which will showcase footwear, apparels, jewellery and transform Mumbai into a shopping hub. The entire city will participate in Mumbai Shopping Festival. The Government of Maharashtra will soon implement a single-window clearance policy for the hospitality sector. This Department is headed by the honourable CM. Tourism is the only industry which can bridge geographies and has multiplier effect.”
Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State with Independent Charge for Tourism & Culture and Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Government of India,, “I compliment Maharashtra Tourism for coming up with MITM. Besides generating forex, tourism also generates employment and leads to women empowerment. Tourism is all about perception, when tourists are aware that India is a clean and friendly destination, people will start coming to India.”
Lauding the potential of Mumbai, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, who was the guest at the event, rounded up saying, “I don’t see why Mumbai cannot be the entertainment capital of the world, when it is already home of Bollywood and the entertainment capital of Asia.”
The inauguration witnessed presence of Ram Shindhe, Minister of State for Tourism, Maharashtra; Vinod Tawade, Minister of School Education, Government of Maharashtra; Poonam Mahajan, MP, Mumbai; Satish Soni, Joint Managing Director, MTDC, and MLA Parag Alavani.
