State Showcase

Maharashtra: Striving to hit the right chords

Maharashtra, the premier industrial state in the country with an average growth rate of nine per cent in the last three years, has unfortunately not been able to maintain a similar pace for its tourism sector. Although its economy has resumed its high growth trajectory with a revenue surplus of over Rs 265 crore as per the budget estimates for the year 2005-06, the tourism promotion budget for the months of September-December, 2005 is a petty Rs 1 crore.

Even though the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) is reeling due to insufficient budgetary allowance from the government, it has initiated projects on its own with available resources. The international airport in Mumbai gives it the right platform to convert visitors to tourists. This is the current strategy adopted by the department. "Mumbai gets about 40 per cent of the total international tourists arriving in India. Our strategy is to get at least half of them to visit the interiors of the state," remarks Bhushan Gagrani, MD, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation.

The prime focus of the state is to build on its infrastructure. The state budget has proposed to develop Mumbai with projects worth Rs 1,113 crore under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP). About a 100 new MUTP projects have been planned for 2007. To identify areas of special tourist importance, the state has recommended Gorai to be recognised as a Special Economic Zone. An eco-tourism project at Gorewada near Nagpur is also on the anvil. Focus is particularly on development of pilgrim places with an outlay of Rs 31.23 crore. "We are also planning to revive the Deccan Odyssey and take its occupancy figure to 50 per cent from its current 25 per cent during season. It is a good product but it has taken 3 years to create awareness. We are now looking at the overseas markets like the UK, Germany, Italy and the USA to market it," says Gagrani.

Other plans include formation of an eco-tourism authority, introducing houseboats in the Konkan belt and boosting development of 'Bed & Breakfast' with incentives. Also notable is the effort of the archeological department that has proposed privatisation of monuments. Efforts are also on to increase the forest area of the state from 20.91 per cent to at least 33 per cent by 2012 and an outlay of Rs 7.3 crore has been proposed for the year 2005-06. Moreover, a fund of Rs 3.3 crore has been planned to be made available to the forest department. Work is in progress under the regional tourism schemes of Konkan, Khandesh and Vidarbha packages for which tourism facilities are being created, while Rs 8 crore has been sanctioned for the year 2004-05 for development of Diveagar and Harihareshwar in Raigarh district.