CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan will dedicate Chhatrasal Convention Centre and inaugurate Meet in India Road Show
Bhopal : Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan will dedicate the newly-constructed Chhatrasal Convention Centre at Khajuraho. The centre has been constructed by Madhya Pradesh Tourism in collaboration with the Swadesh Darshan Scheme of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, and the Government of Madhya Pradesh. He will also inaugurate the MICE Road-Show “Meet in India” on March 26 at the World Heritage Site and historical tourism city Khajuraho. The programme will be held in the presence of Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture (Independent Charge) Shri Prahlad Singh Patel, state’s Minister of Tourism, Culture and Spirituality Sushri Usha Thakur, Khajuraho MP Shri Vishnudutt Sharma, Union Tourism Secretary Shri Arvind Singh, Principal Secretary of Madhya Pradesh Tourism and Culture Shri Sheo Shekhar Shukla and local public representatives.
Managing Director of State Tourism Development Corporation Shri S. Vishwanathan told that the Chhatrasal Convention Centre is of international standards. It has all the ultramodern facilities available. The inugural programme will be attended by travel agents, tour operators of India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICBP) and other cities, besides event management agencies, corporate clients, stakeholders and a limited number of other guests. This centre will be useful for future investment meetings in Madhya Pradesh as well as government, private and corporate conferences. Conferences of the national and international level and the corporate meets will be held here which will provide employment opportunities to the local people and lead to commercial development of not only Khajuraho but also of Panna, Orchha, Bandhavgarh etc.
Shri Vishwanathan informed that cultural programmes will also be held during the three-day event. Among them, the performances of the famous Maihar Band and folk dance parties of the state will be prominent.
There will be multiple sessions
The first session of this three-day event will be based on ‘Responsible Tourism’ in collaboration with the Responsible Tourism Society of India on March 25. Tourism experts will make their statements in this session on how Khajuraho can become an example of Responsible Tourism as an iconic destination.
On March 26, Shri Amresh Tiwari, Vice Chairman of India Convention Promotion Bureau, will deliver his statement on “Road Map for Mice (MICE) Industry”. Also, the Union Tourism Secretary Shri Arvind Singh will deliver a speech on “National Importance of MICE Tourism”. Former Managing Director of MP Tourism Shri Ashwani Lohani will be addressing the session virtually. Principal Secretary, Tourism and Culture, Shri Sheo Shekhar Shukla will deliver a speech on the topic “Madhya Pradesh Mice Vision”.
The theme of the first session will be ‘Meet in India’ India as Mice destination. In this session, the strategy and works required to develop India as a Mice destination will be discussed such as expansion of hotels, connectivity, service providers and availability of skilled human resources. Experts from the tourism industry and members of the ICPB will also address the session.
The theme of the second session will be “Iconic Khajuraho’s Culture, Nature and Heritage”. The Union Ministry of Tourism has identified 19 iconic tourist destinations across India including Khajuraho. The Ministry is preparing a roadmap to bring these sites to the international standards. The session will discuss the master plan of the iconic Khajuraho. Strategies to establish Khajuraho as a sustainable and responsible tourism destination will also be discussed.
In the third and technical session, the proposed master plan of Khajuraho will be discussed in detail. Industry experts, planners etc. will discuss topics such as destination, marketing, publicity, skill development, heritage and destination management.
On the third day, on March 27, there will be a heritage walk and plantation. After this, the event will conclude with guests and speakers undertaking tours of Panna, Chanderi and Orchha.
Chhatrasal Convention Center
A large 1200-capacity hall has been built at the Chhatrasal Convention Centre. It can be converted into 5 smaller halls through a sliding folding partition as required. Also 3 meeting rooms on the ground floor of the centre, pantry, kitchen, store, pre-function lobby, organiser room, parking area and admin office on first floor, gents and ladies artist room, staff locker room, audio visual room, medical facility room, S.T.P., interpretation centre, other public facilities of international standards have been developed with the setting up of H.V.A.C., Audio, Video System, Building Management System, Fire Fighting Equipment, Projector, Video Wall, C.C.T.V. Surveillance. The area of the centre campus is 8.38 acres. It has a parking area of 3.55 acres. The construction cost is about 50 crores.
Concept of Mice tourism
MICE is an abbreviation for meeting, incentive, conference, exhibition, which is the main type of business tourism. It is a special tourism category; under MICE tourism, an event is organised by a business establishment at a particular destination for the purpose of expanding its business with the gathering of a large number of participants.
Firstly, the participants taking part in the event also get an opportunity to visit the destination and its surroundings along with business activities. They remember this forever, which they share with their friends. In this way, the destination is propagated.