The state tourism policy recently cleared by Maharashtra's Cabinet ministers will pave the way for the setting up of four tourism estates housed on 1,000 acre of land each, preferably by real estate corporates in Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg (as coastal tourist spots) and the Vidarbha (forest region) as well as the Ajanta and Ellora caves.
For promoting Maharashtra as a tourist destination, the bag of incentives offered by the state to overseas tour operators includes up to $10, 000 for the purpose of printing brochures of tourist spots in Maharashtra and marketing the same.
Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation chief Ashish Kumar Singh said: "Earlier, our emphasis was on encouraging the tourism business. Under the new policy, we will be taking up the business of the tourism business by employing the successful model used by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation to develop the industrial sector in the state. We are also keen that private participation in these ventures are undertaken by corporates other than those already in the business of hospitality and tourism and informal discussions are already ongoing with some corporates in this regard."
Under the policy, MTDC has been made the authority to acquire land at various places in the state having a tourism potential, developing the same and allotting them for tourism projects. A single-window clearance would be made available for all such tourism projects.
Eligible units such as hotels, resorts, health farms, motels, wayside amenities, apartment hotels, golf courses, camping, aerial ropeways, convention centres, heritage hotels, eco-tourism units, restaurants and entertainment centres would be given assistance keeping the macro-tourism objective in mind.
A special incentive by the way of subsidy to a maximum of $10,000 for brochure support would be provided to Indian tour operators with a minimum foreign exchange earnings equal to Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) per annum.
Among the fiscal incentives that would be made available to such units include: total exemption from luxury tax for a period of 3-9 years depending on the location of the project, exemption from entertainment tax for a period of 5 years for tourism projects located within Mumbai and 7 years for those outside Mumbai.
Also, exemption from stamp duty in respect of tourism projects located in Maharashtra will be provided and to promote information technology within the state, the government had allotted land to the sector under non-development zones.
MTDC is using a similar platform to promote its metros, Mumbai and Pune. Under this scheme, tourism activities such as entertainment centers, which include small golf facilities, tourism villages, handicrafts display, would require no extra FSI.