DUBAI: Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), signed multiple Letter of Intent (LOI) agreements with leading hotel chains, Tourism companies and potential investors at Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2018 in Dubai World Trade Center, Dubai, UAE the region’s leading travel industry showcase.
The agreements are the first step towards identification of partners to collaborate on the large opportunities of promotion of the State of Maharashtra as a medical tourism hub. Collaboration with large brands like BlueBay Hotels and Flora Hospitality has been signed to explore the areas of management and development of existing tourism locations in Maharashtra. In a bid to start identification of potential development and investment, agreements were signed with Eram Group and ITL Group offices from United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to promote Maharashtra as a preferred destination for medical, wellness, cultural, experiential and heritage tourism.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. V. K. Gautam, Secretary for Tourism, Government of Maharashtra, shared “Maharashtra has many large scale natural landscapes which have huge tourism potential. At ATM, our objective is to understand and adapt the best practices of some of the leading tourist locations. We are happy with the tremendous response on our maiden participation at ATM and were able to identify potential partners from this region. With our objective to design the roadmap in partnership with the members of the eco-system of travel and medical tourism, we were successful in taking some of these discussions forward and signed collaboration agreements with established names in the travel and hospitality space.”
Speaking on the response MTDC received at ATM 2018, Mr. Vijay Waghmare, Managing Director, MTDC said, “Arabian Travel Market 2018 was our first step towards creating a sustained campaign for promotion and establishment of Maharashtra to a wider international audience. Our participation in ATM 2018 was a huge success as we achieved our objectives of creating visibility and it has paved a way towards creating a roadmap for the State. We are looking forward to the next steps discussed with the partners and we are expecting some advancements in our mission for the State of Maharashtra by the next edition of ATM.”
Maharashtra, which is home to the financial capital of India – Mumbai, sees one of the highest number of tourists in the country. Over the last decade, the State has witnessed a growing number of tourists looking for medical and wellness services. With some of the best healthcare and wellness facilities, highly qualified doctors and world-class infrastructure, Maharashtra offers visitors some of the best medical and wellness services at the most competitive treatment costs in the world.
In addition to promoting its medical and wellness tourism, MTDC also promoted its major tourism attractions spanning magnificent coastline and beaches, breath-taking wildlife, hill stations, pilgrimage centres, adventure tourism, experiential attractions and rich cultural heritage, as well as various activities ranging from yoga, meditation to natural therapies to name some, which are provided in the State. News Desk
