Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board (MPTB) participated at a recently-concluded Travel Tourism Fair in Kolkata at Biswa Banga Mela ground.

Among other inquiries from the state’s prospective tourists, there has been a huge interest in the cheetahs, which have been transported to the state from Africa.

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One of the main attractions of the state is wildlife tourism. After the advent of cheetahs at Kuno National Park, interest amongst city travellers to the central state has gone up. Officials from the board said that many Bengal tourists made enquiries at the MP stall.

Madhya Pradesh has 11 national parks and 24 wildlife sanctuaries. It is called the tiger state, leopard state, vulture state, wolf state and gharial state of India. After the reintroduction of cheetahs in 72 years, MP is now also the cheetah state of India.

In order to deliver a sustainable and delightful tourism experience and attract tourists from Bengal, Madhya Pradesh Tourism (MPT) brought together gram stays, farm stays and homestays under rural tourism.

Kolkata is a major domestic market for MP. “We have been receiving tourists from your city for a long time. Seeing the interest in people, we opened our office in 1986, said Yuvraj Padole, deputy director (event, marketing & film tourism) Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board.

“Tourists during Puja and Dussehra vacations come here in good numbers. We offer religious, heritage, history and wildlife tourism in MP. All hotels, from October to December, are booked to capacity and tourists from Bengal are in majority. If we rate them in terms of volume, they would be in the first three in the list of states from which we have maximum tourists. Tourists from Bengal, especially from Kolkata, are mature tourists, with a high level of awareness. They are more towards wildlife tourism, spiritual tourism and nature tourism. These are also the points we highlighted at the TTF in Kolkata,” said Mr Padole.

The deputy director is also eagerly waiting for permission from the government to allow tourists at Kuno. “We are the only state to have cheetahs. Once the forest department gives the permission then we will also start the cheetah circuit. The animals are a big attraction,” said Padole.

The officer said that people come to MP for the two jyotirlingas, and also 3 UNESCO world sites. Mature tourists, who come for close to a week, cover multiple places.

The prime concern is to have a good number of the cheetahs, he agreed. “The board has witnessed tremendous growth in tourism in the central state, post-pandemic,” he said, adding, “We have crossed 2019 figures in 2023. The growth has been close to 33 per cent.”