Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray calls for providing high-quality service to tourists

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said tourists should be provided high-quality facilities so that they will become brand ambassadors of the state.

He also said if tourists become brand ambassadors there will be no need to appoint a separate brand ambassador for Maharashtra.

“‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ (Guest is God) is our culture and hence, if we make all the facilities available to them even foreign tourists will recommend others to visit Maharashtra,” Thackeray said while addressing a function commemorating the World Tourism Day.

He said the tourism department remained neglected earlier.

“We are now paying attention to tourism as we have understood its importance,” he said, adding that tourism is the mainstay of revenue for many states and countries.

Thackeray’s son Aaditya Thackeray heads the Tourism department in the Shiv Sena-led MVA government.

The chief minister said the state cabinet will hold a meeting on Deccan Odyssey, a luxury tourist train.

Maharashtra tourism secretary Valsa Nair had requested the CM to conduct such a meeting with a view that tourism in the Konkan belt will get a boost.

Giving an example of an unfinished Sagrada Familia monument in Barcelona city of Spain, Thackeray stressed the need to carve a modern cave in Maharashtra like the iconic Ellora caves carved in a single rock.

Thackeray said the tourism industry faced a major setback due to the lockdown, but he praised the state tourism department for bringing new policies, schemes, and generating employment.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Revenue Minister Balsaheb Thorat, Aaditya Thackeray and others attended the programme.