Under the capable leadership of Chief Minister, Tourism in Madhya Pradesh has achieved new feats; Madhya Pradesh is the first state where tourism cabinet was formed.
In the year 2002-03, 58 lakh tourist including 96000 foreign tourist visited the state while in the year 2016-17, 15.5 crore tourist including 3.63 lakh foreign tourist visited the state, said State Tourism Minister (State Minister-Independent Charge) Surendra Patwa replying to the discussion on budgetry demands of his department.
Patwa said that 72 residential and six non-residential hotels have been developed. Under the
tourism 2016 policy no subsidy is given on investment in the State.
Emphasis was given on water tourism and eco-tourism under the tourism 2016 policy and land allotment process has been made easy and transparent. For this in rural areas Rs 5 lakh per hectare of land and in urban areas additional value per hectare of land has been fixed.
In the year 2016
Madhya Pradesh tourism won five national awards. A national level institute Madhya Pradesh Institute of Hospitality Travel and Tourism Management would be established in the city.
For the expansion and promotion of tourism Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board was formed.
The board under Tourism Policy -2016 worked for developing facilities for tourism at big water bodies, marketing of tourism, publicity, conservation and promotion of
infrastructure, providing training to youths in all businesses involved in rural and urban tourism business.
Patwa informed about formation of 51 Tourism Conservation Councils in 51 districts and these councils would be headed by district collectors.