``Mumbai is the best shopping destination''

``Mumbai is the best shopping destination''
SHAILESH GAIKWAD

Mumbai Shopping Festival is the first step towards selling the city as a major attraction on international tourist map, says Ashish Kumar, Managing Director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), the nodal agenc for the festival. The young IAS officer was part of the team that developed Kerala tourism and succeeded in attracting tourists to the Venice of the East. Kumar switched to the Maharashtra cadre recently and is now calling the shots for the festival. He spoke to SHAILESH GAIKWAD

Do you really expect Mumbai to become a major tourist attraction like Dubai or Singapore?
What is in Dubai, Singapore, Tokyo or even London is in Mumbai too. Maybe there are some problems but the whole idea is to build an image of the city. It takes a lot of planning and efforts. Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal has taken to the idea, and very seriously too. He has taken the initiative to appoint a cabinet sub-comittee which will work out the details of the shopping festival. The MTDC is only a nodal agency to implement the plan charted out by the committee.

Why should tourists shop in Mumbai, that too at the height of summer?
Our thrust is on domestic tourists as well as NRIs. We chose the month of May as NRIs return to the country for summer vacation and stay over in Mumbai for a day or two. Now, Mumbai is the best shopping destination in India or say, our part of the continent. All we will be doing is to bring them to the shops and make them spend on goods that they normally buy at other places.

Will the event evoke response from the retailers?
Gold, diamond, garment and leather markets in Mumbai are anyway famous. Even domestic tourists shop for these things in Mumbai. When we were planning the shopping festival, we discussed it with the gold traders who organise the Gold Festival in Mumbai every year. That festival evoked very little response even from jewellers in the first year but now it's a big success.

You have less than six weeks. How do you plan to organise the event in a such a short span of time?
The planning began in November last year. We have worked out the details with the concerned agencies, the trading community and associations of hoteliers as well as retailers. Our first year will anyway be a learning experience for us. But give us two-three years and Mumbai will emerge as a major tourist spot on the international map. The shopping festival is a first step in that direction.