One of the sectors that has been savagely impacted most by Covid-19 is the tourism sector. However, during the lockdown period, Maharashtra ensured that it introduced policies and packages which would help attract more investments and domestic tourists.

Mr. Dhananjay Sawalkar, Director, Directorate of Tourism said that during the pandemic, the Directorate of Tourism played dual roles. In the first lockdown, the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of External Affairs (at the centre) had assigned us the responsibility to help foreign tourists stuck in the state during the lockdown. Tourists were stuck in many destinations of Maharashtra like Tadoba (Nagpur), Aurangabad etc. So, we were assigned the task to help these tourists on board the flight when their respective countries provided flights to take their citizens back. So, we helped 243 foreign tourists as lockdown restrictions were in place and travelling across the state was difficult.

There was no — or very minimal — work taking place in the tourism sector during the first wave of Covid-19. So, we decided to focus on policy-level changes for the industry. The first thing was implementing a 20-year-old policy — we gave tourism the desired industry status — making Maharashtra the first state in India to do so. After that, we ensured that agro-tourism, caravan tourism, beach shacks, and ease of doing policies got an impetus. These policies are very important for the tourism of Maharashtra. There is a change in tourist behaviour today, and travellers are avoiding crowded places.