On March 3, IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry felicitated Valsa Nair Singh (IAS), Principal Secretary, Tourism, Civil Aviation and State Excise, Government of Maharashtra, for outstanding contribution and stellar leadership over the past several year in facilitating and promoting tourism in Maharashtra.
Speaking at the event, Farhat Jamal, Chairman, IMC Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Committee, Ashwini Kakkar, Former MD & CEO Thomas Cook India, Chairman, Action Against Hunger International Network, Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President, The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India and Sheldon Santwan, Editor & COO, Saffron Media Private Limited shared their thoughts about Valsa Nair Singh’s active engagement, remarkable contribution to the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Industry and personal experiences of working with her over the years.
While addressing the gathering, Valsa Nair Singh stated that the hospitality industry has benefited from the state government’s move to reduce the permission required to start a new hotel or restaurant from 72 to just 09 and made process of application submission online. Nair said that the hospitality sector being given the status of industry would help revive the sector will be eligible for various benefits including rebates in water and property taxes, with regard to electricity charges it is under consideration. She also talked about efforts in building infrastructure, skilling in tourism, policy level interventions and planning aggressive marketing strategies to boost the State Tourism. She added that the government is exploring the opportunity to work on Public Private Partnership (PPP) models and have identified 30 new tourist properties which will be developed under the PPP model.
