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Published on : Wednesday, February 17, 2021
For attracting more tourists to the State, the Madhya Pradesh government is re-working its tourism strategy focusing on health and wellness as well as rural tourism after COVID-19.
To quote Sonia Meena, Additional Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board, “We are working on re-branding the State and re-organizing our strategy in post COVID-19 times where the stress will be on health and wellness. We are in discussions with some good players in this space who are willing to offer quality service to tourists across various budgets and needs.”
Ms. Meena said that these players would soon be invited to set up shop in Madhya Pradesh for offering services, together with spas and yoga retreats. “Madhya Pradesh is less commercialized till now … We want to give not just yoga but other options as well which will help tourists cut away from the routine. In this direction, rural homestays will also be our focus,” she added.
Ms. Meena said that although tourism was harshly affected, tourists have started coming back and there is an uptick in the number of tourists in various destinations and wildlife sanctuaries.
“From October onwards, there has been a definite jump in number of tourist arrivals. This is driven by destinations such as wildlife area, national park etc … which are isolated and not very crowded. For example, the Kanah National Park saw 49,000 tourists in October-December 2019, which grew to 55,000 in the same period of 2020,” Ms. Meena said.
Ms. Meena expressed confidence that next year they are targeting to get back to pre-COVID tourist levels.
Madhya Pradesh is also organizing a series of festivals to attract tourists, including the two-day Mandu Festival with curated historical walks, experiential cycling tours, Malipur horse trail, photo contests, yoga workshops, culinary delights, art and craft and musical performances.