MP amends tourism policy to woo investors

The Madhya Pradesh government has amended its tourism policy and decided to stop levying luxury tax on hotels charging less than Rs 3,000 per day for a room, MP tourism and culture minister Surendra Patwa said today.
"In order to encourage investment in the state, certain amendments have been made in the tourism policy this year. There is lot of scope for religious tourism, water tourism and wildlife tourism in the state," Patwa told investors during the ongoing Global Investors Summit here.
Following the efforts made by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Indore-Dubai flight service by Emirates airline is expected to start in December this year, he said.

As per the amended tourism policy, 25 per cent capital subsidy has been proposed on the construction of convention centres having a capacity of 500 or more seats. The maximum subsidy limit would be Rs 10 crore, state tourism secretary Hariranjan Rao said.
The number of tourists visiting the state has been regularly increasing, he said.
"In 2006, one crore tourists had visited the state. This increased to about six crore visitors in 2013," Rao said.
He also said that a 10 per cent subsidy would be provided on the expenses incurred for construction of budget hotels in the state.

Besides, bank loan facility would be provided for construction of hotels on leased land, he added.