Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board is anticipating the state as an emerging all-round destination with an expected acceleration in the growth of tourist arrivals, says Yuvraj Padole, Deputy Director Marketing, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board.
Q. Kindly elaborate on the current scenario of tourism in the state of Madhya Pradesh? How has been the growth so far?
A. According to Statistics, there has been a steadily increase since last three years. The Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) mostly are from US, South Asia, European Union as well as Gulf countries. The electronic visa processing has made entry easier for foreign tourists visiting India.
Madhya Pradesh is continuously growing by taking part in national as well as international exhibitions and organizing road shows highlighting its key attractions. On the same lines, ‘Madhya Pradesh Travel Mart’ (MPTM) has become one of the iconic annual events which attracts the national and international buyers and media to interact with Madhya Pradesh based sellers/ stakeholders to market their products.
Q. Could you provide the numbers of foreign/domestic travellers visited the state in the year 2018?
A. According to the statistics the total tourist arrival for 2018 was 6,91,86,708 out of which Domestic was 6,88,98,910 and international was 2,87,798.
Q. How do you look at the exposure of Madhya Pradesh Tourism among foreign travellers? Which are the countries, MPTB is concentrating in the year 2019? Which are the Indian states as well?
A. Madhya Pradesh has increased the tourist arrivals by penetrating in the new source markets. Currently Madhya Pradesh has West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi and Rajasthan as its top domestic source markets and USA, UK, Germany, Spain, France and European Countries as its best International Markets.
Q. What are the major activities and initiatives undertaken by MPTB to accelerate the growth of tourism in the state?
A. We anticipate Madhya Pradesh as an emerging all-round destination with an expected acceleration in the growth of tourist arrivals. The factors that ensure growth in the State are new adventure tourism segments, better flight connectivity, developed infrastructure and activity driven approach by the Government.
Apart from this, we look forward to explore new international markets like China and Russia along with domestic penetration in North-eastern states, Jharkhand, Ranchi, Jaipur and Chandigarh regions.
Q. Last year Madhya Pradesh has hosted the ‘Adventure NEXT’, how do you see its impact on growth of tourism? What are your plans to get more from this mega event?
A. Adventure NEXT has given a major opportunity to capture India’s natural, heritage, cultural, adventure, wildlife tourism and beautiful architectural spots clubbed with physical activities and journals. Through such events, we plan to promote tourism in Madhya Pradesh with its natural assets to the world. This is just the beginning; the state plans to introduce more tours which are adventure driven and planning to explore the unexplored destinations of Madhya Pradesh.
Going ahead this year, we have an exciting line up for 2019-20 which includes innovative schemes, focused circuits, annual festivals and Roadshows as well as participation in national & international tourism marts, all these activities are planned keeping in mind the umbrella of developing tourism in the state.
Q. Kindly throw some lights on state’s association with travel-trade; is there any event scheduled for the year 2019?
A. We are participating annually in exhibitions, travel summits and travel marts across different National and International platforms. We look forward to SATTE, GITB, TTF, WTM, ITB and such exhibitions are on schedule for 2019. To all the travel fraternity, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board (MPTB) is planning the 6th edition of MPTM from 4th to 6th October 2019. One of the key objectives of conducting this event is to leverage Madhya Pradesh as a destination throughout the year and to increase the traffic of national and international tourist in the state through B2B meetings between buyers and sellers.
Q. Is there any mega tourism project in development pipeline? What are the updates in various segments of tourism?
A. Madhya Pradesh, the heart of Incredible India is moving ahead rapidly with new circuits and initiatives in different segments, from heritage and culture to adventure and wildlife. Apart from these, Rural tourism and MICE tourism are developing in Madhya Pradesh.
Since decades, Madhya Pradesh tourism is facilitating high standard travel services for travellers visiting central India with an approach to cover all the offerings by the state. The exciting line up for the year has cultural festivals, heritage runs, exploring Satpura cycling safaris and Exhibitions and road shows at various cities.
Q. What are the new developments in travel training centers and risk management facilities?
A. Tourism is increasingly becoming a major growth driver of Madhya Pradesh’s economy. Adding to the same, the state is working towards bringing maximum employment in Hospitality and Tourism sector. Apart from this, the ‘Hunar se Rojgar’ scheme for Skill Development for rural youth is reaching milestones in Madhya Pradesh promoting human resources.
We aim to attract tourist for longer vacations, explore lesser travelled sectors in the state. Regular trainings and workshops for guides and destination experts are organized along with risk management programs for hospitality and tourism sector at different levels in Institute of Hotel Management (IHM) and Food Craft Institute (FCI) in Madhya Pradesh.
