Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation (MPSTDC) Principal secretary Hariranjan Rao said that our marketing of state’s nature trails is proving its worth as there has been an increase of around 15% in occupancy of tourism hotels compared to previous years.
He said, Pachmarhi was always a favorite of tourists but now other destinations like Raneh falls in Chhatarpur, Patalpani and Mandu in Indore are coming up as a new favourite destination. “Most of the properties of MPSTDC have seen an average occupancy of about 65%. These hotels remain packed at weekends since the onset of the monsoon,” said Rao.
MPSTDC is also earning good response from recently developed monsoon destinations including Amarkantak, Omkareshwar, Orchha, Hanuwantiya and Rewa. Earlier, the period between June and July was considered as an off-season for tourism.
However, this trend has changed and people want to enjoy monsoon excursions. All our properties in the Pachmarhi and Mandu belt are sold out on weekends,” said Rao. Though the other monsoon destinations were seeing a ‘lukewarm’ response on weekdays, overall, the tourism development corporation’s properties reported 50% occupancy in June, and 60% occupancy in July (so far), officials said.
Another remarkable fact is that tourist influx from Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal has increased. One of the reasons was also that the MPSTDC had been working on improving hospitality on micro level said Rao. Tourism Development Corporation has also tied up with Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA) to promote adventure activities in the state.
Akshay Kumar, chairman, ATTA said that MP is a high potential place to promote monsoon tourism and several activities are in the anvil. But still there is a lot to be done to bring MP to bring it at par with the likes of Kerela and Goa- considered to be best destinations for monsoon tourism.
