By IANS,
New Delhi : India is now keen to woo international business houses to hold their key officials events in different parts of the country. The government is offering grants to states to set up convention centres to promote what is called Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) tourism.
Tourism Minister Kumari Selja, who is focussing on promoting niche tourism products, has announced that the ministry would give central financial assistance for construction of one convention centre in each state and union territory.
The grant would be given under the product or infrastructure development of destinations and circuits for promotion of MICE, according to a tourism official.
“The assistance will be provided up to Rs.50 million (Rs.5 crore) for each project on the basis of proposals received from the states,” the official added.
India is trying to pitch for MICE tourism, inspired by the success of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur as favoured destinations for international conferences and conventions.
MICE tourism as a concept has gained popularity over the past few years with the corporate world as companies use off-site workdays to motivate staff by taking them for conferences, incentive trips and focussed business meetings, usually organised in exotic locations. These trips include sightseeing, recreation and shopping.
The official said the ministry is also focussing on creating infrastructure that will add to experiential tourism like adventure sports.
“Some of the tourist destinations in hilly and remote areas suffer from lack of connectivity. So the ministry has decided to grant financial assistance up to Rs.7.5 million to states and union territories for construction of heliports,” the official added.
The proposals for setting up of heliports will be part of destination development projects.
The aim behind this move is that it would “open up several new destinations for tourism and also provide a unique experience” to both foreign and domestic tourists.
About 5.36 million foreign tourists visited India in 2008. The first five months of 2009 showed a sharp decline in the numbers of foreign tourists arrivals in the country as compared to the same period in 2008. But from June onwards, a slight increase was witnessed, officials said.
In June this year, about 341,000 foreign tourists visited the country as compared to 340,000 in June 2008 and 310,000 in June 2007.