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Though the meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) tourism hold great potential for Vizag city and a few other places in AP, state’s liquor policy and the poor air connectivity to Vizag city are hampering sector’s performance.
With liquor becoming expensive, popular brands unavailable and international air connectivity to city in poor condition, neighbouring Bhubaneswar has taken away the MICE tourism from Vizag city. With Bhubaneswar playing host to major conferences and events, the city is fast emerging as one of the top destinations for MICE tourism in Odisha.
There are at least 12 star hotels (primarily 3,4 and 5 stars) and more than 30 non-star hotels in Vizag city. But, some of the hotels have stopped serving liquor claiming that bar licences in star hotels cost a bomb.
Speaking to TOI, president of Tours and Travel Association (TTA) K Vijay Mohan said Vizag (the only coastal city in AP) was a top choice for MICE tourism a few years ago due to availability of popular brands of liquor at affordable prices in hotels and good air connectivity to Vizag city from other cities in state and abroad. Vizag city used to host at least 100 events and conferences between July and August and in December.
Buoyed by the success of hosting nine G20 meetings, Goa now aims to showcase its ‘beyond just beach’ offerings, with a focus on infrastructure investments and exploring partnerships in new markets. In an exclusive interview with ETTravelWorld, Minister for Tourism, Govt of Goa, Rohan Khaunte shared that the state government is keen on boosting ties with other countries for enhanced air connectivity and keeping ‘quality over quantity’ in tourism.
Due to high price of liquor and a lack of choices with regard to brands in hotels, and Vizag’s poor air connectivity, Bhubaneswar has now become synonyms with MICE tourism. Corporates and travellers are choosing Bhubaneswar city for MICE events. Availability of good quality hotels and popular brands of liquor at affordable rates, air connectivity and cultural links have made Odisha’s city a leading choice for events and conferences. Vizag city manages to host only 20 to 30 events in a year for the past few years, Vijay Mohan added. Though we serve liquor in our hotel, a very few corporates are coming forward to host events and conferences in the hotel. They cite various reasons including that hosting social gatherings at hotels in Vizag will pinch the pocket. The MICE tourism business has declined in Vizag region as corporates prefer other cities for events .
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