About 125 tourism industry professionals from the state attended a workshop and panel discussion that was organised recently in Bhopal by the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board (MPTB) and the IATO Madhya Pradesh Chapter. About 125 tourism professionals from the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh region were present in addition to senior representatives from the MPTB, the Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation, and the Indian Association of Tour Operators. The main goal of holding this workshop in Bhopal was to assess how to boost the number of foreign visitors to Madhya Pradesh, explore new locations and routes, work with hotels and airlines with support from IATO and its members, and expand IATO membership in the state.

The workshop’s opening speaker, Sheo Shekhar Shukla, Principal Secretary for Tourism and Managing Director of the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board, spoke on developing new relationships and collaborations, investment opportunities in tourism infrastructure, connectivity, the spoke and hub model in tourism, the three World Heritage Sites of Sanchi, Bhimbetka, and Khajuraho, the declaration of Gwalior as the City of Music, the need to work out partnerships among hotels and airlines, and creating new tourism products.

The 38th IATO Annual Convention will be held in Aurangabad from September 29 to October 2, and Rajiv Mehra, President of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, invited the audience to attend. He also informed them about Mahendra Pratap Singh’s appointment as Chairman of the IATO Madhya Pradesh Chapter. He stated that, in addition to other aspects like wild life, Madhya Pradesh should be promoted for culture tourism as well. He also mentioned that, according to feedback from foreign tour operators, the North East and Madhya Pradesh are in high demand. He stated that connectivity is a focus area for IATO and that Indigo will operate in the Khajuraho-Varanasi Sector. “This will significantly increase Madhya Pradesh’s tourism. IATO is pursuing last mile connectivity for the Madhya Pradesh tourist destinations with Indigo and Air India, he said.

Sanjay Razdan spoke about the importance of IATO and its activities in bringing up issues with government agencies, as well as how effectively it has brought up issues that are causing problems and issues that have been resolved thanks to IATO’s intervention.

In addition to thanking Shoe Shekhar Shukla and his team for helping to organise this workshop in Bhopal, IATO Vice President Ravi Gosain also expressed gratitude to the attendees, including members of the press and media.

Mahendra Pratap Singh, the IATO Madhya Pradesh Chapter’s chairman, had earlier welcomed Shukla to the workshop and panel discussion.

As part of on-site marketing, IATO visited Sanchi after the meeting.
Source- Travel biz
Link- https://travelbizmonitor.com/mptb-and-iato-madhya-pradesh-chapter-organised-workshop-and-panel-discussion-in-bhopal/