Subsidy, tax breather to boost MICE tourism industry in Rajasthan

Rajasthan, which is famous for leisure travel because of its rich heritage, art, and culture, has decided to heavily promote meetings, incentives, conventions, and exhibitions (MICE) tourism.

The MICE market is one of the fast-growing ones, and Rajasthan is a popular tourist destination that offers almost everything a business traveller wants, except snow-clad mountains and beaches.

“We have decided to identify locations for MICE tourism, listed by the tourism department. A cell is planned to be set up to facilitate approvals for promoters establishing convention centres of national and international standards,” said a senior official of the Rajasthan tourism department.

“The desert state can also arrange for conventionalising theme conferences,” the official said.

He said promoters intending to establish integrated MICE facilities, such as convention centres, exhibition halls, and hotels with more than 200,000 square feet of carpet area, will be exempted from stamp duty.

Moreover, tourism units engaged in MICE activities will be given table space at subsidised rates in Rajasthan tourism pavilions at domestic and international travel marts.

    

On average 20-25 million tourists visit the desert state every year.

   

“With the facilities like convention centres, good and cheap transportation, good connectivity, and communication facilities, as well as good hotel accommodation, Rajasthan certainly is already a good destination for MICE," said Surendra Singh, a hotelier.

He said main and major centres like Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Udaipur are linked by air, while other venues are easily accessible by rail and road.

  

“The desert state is the best place to mix leisure with tourism, why can’t it be developed as a MICE destination?” suggested Rahul Rajpurohit, a travel agent. 

He said that Rajasthan also offers sightseeing, shopping and entertainment, and the desert state also offers facilities for conventions, receptions and banquets. 

Jaipur, also known as the Pink City, presently hosts major international and national confer­­ences and functions like the Jaipur Literature Festival, Stonemart — an international exhibition of dimensional stones — the Jaipur Jewellery Show, and doctors’ conferences. 

Besides this, small exhibitions and conferences are held regularly in the state in several cities like Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, and Ajmer/Pushkar.