The Madhya Pradesh Travel Mart (MPTM) 2015, was recently held at Hotel Lake View Ashok, Bhopal from October 16-18, 2015. The mart was inaugurated by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, chief minister of Madhya Pradesh in the presence of Surendra Patwa, culture and tourism minister, Government of Madhya Pradesh; Hari Ranjan Rao, IAS, managing director, Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation (MPSTDC); and other representatives of MPSTDC and travel associations from India. Speaking at the inauguration, Chouhan stated, “We want to focus on tourism and attract tourists from across the country and globally. We will work towards removing roadblocks that hinders tourism growth.”
He then spoke about various initiatives being presently undertaken by the government in this direction. Chouhan opined, “We are creating a tracking system for tourists so that we can track the kind of problems they are facing and can address them accordingly. We are also training guides in different languages so as to cater to a diverse range of international tourists.” He also highlighted the need for improving air connectivity and expressed the hope of receiving assistance from Air India and also advised travel agents to leverage the Navratri festival and create packages around it to attract tourists.
Adding to this, Patwa informed, “We will organise a light and sound show at Rajwada, Indore similar to the one in Ujjain.”