The Tourism and Entertainment & Media Committees of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) jointly organized the 3rd edition of Global Film Tourism Conclave with the theme ‘Transforming Location into Vacation’ on 11 January 2019 at JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu. The programme was supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. Producers Guild of India was the Synergy Partner for the programme.
Inaugural Session of the Conclave witnessed Mr. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Government of India; Mr. Satyajeet Rajan (IAS), Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India; H.E. Mr. Radu Octavian Dobre, Ambassador, Embassy of Romania in the Republic of India; Mr. D. K. Aggarwal, Senior Vice President, PHDCCI; Mr. Mukesh Gupta, Chairman– Entertainment & Media Committee, PHDCCI; Mr. Rajan Sehgal, Co-Chairman– Tourism Committee, PHDCCI; Mr. Kishore Kaya, Co-Chairman– Tourism Committee, PHDCCI; Mr. Mukesh Bahadur Singh, Co-Chairman– Uttar Pradesh Chapter, PHDCCI and Mr. Yogesh Srivastav, Principal Director, PHDCCI.
Inaugurating the Conclave, Mr. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Government of India, said, “During my tenure as the Information & Broadcasting Minister, I persuaded the government to form a single window clearance for Indian and international films. It is the right time now to create a uniform single window system across India to get the permissions for shooting of films. Organizations such as PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry can play an important role in encouraging these possibilities.”
PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its Knowledge Partner- Ernst & Young have jointly released a Knowledge Report on Film Tourism. The focus of the report is to bring out the benefits of films, on tourism in today’s world and portray films as a prudent investment choice to market a destination from a tourism perspective.
Mr. Satyajeet Rajan (IAS), Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, spoke about the initiatives of the Ministry of Tourism and various state governments for promoting Film Tourism. He said that the Government of India has also approved execution of MoUs with countries such as Romania and Bulgaria to foster bilateral cooperation through film tourism for promoting the two countries as attractive tourism destinations.
Leading Indian Film Director and Producer- Mr. Ramesh Sippy andnoted Actor, Producer and Director- Mr. Satish Kaushik were felicitated during the programme for their contribution towards the Indian cinema. Theyrequested to curb the lengthy process of approvals and permissions to shootin Indiaand urged the state tourism boards to come out with film industry friendly policy.
Mr. D. K. Aggarwal, Senior Vice President, PHDCCI, said films are a great source of showcasing any country’s culture, heritage and vast economic potentials. “Indian film industry achieved exponential growth of 27% in 2017- both domestic and international. PHDCCI is committed to create such meaningful platforms, to do its bit in enabling all the parameters of the tourism industry to grow and flourish further,” he said.
Mr. Mukesh Gupta, Chairman– Entertainment & Media Committee, PHDCCI, said, “Films work as virtual brochures and offer more subtle way of marketing compared to traditional touristic campaigns. The effort of the Conclave was to draw the attention of the filmmakers to promote Film Tourism.”
Mr. Rajan Sehgal, Co-Chairman– Tourism Committee, PHDCCI, said, “To make India a global filming destination, Film tourism needs to be promoted in our country. This will create an environment and inspire the filmmakers to tap the vast talent available. The policy changes at the central and state levels would surely make India a more film-friendly destination.”
Several other Film and Television personalities like Mr. Anupam Shyam, Mr. Deepak Tijori, Mr. Rahul Mittra, Mr. Rajat Rawail, Mr. Khemchand Bhagnani, Mr. Vinod Bachchan, Mr. Amitabh Parashar, Mr. Rajesh Puri, Mr. Ashu Trikha, Mr. Ganesh Jain, Mr. Raju Mavani, Ms. Aarti Singh, Ms. Ihana Dhillon, Ms. Pooja Bisht, Mr. Nisheeth Chandra, Mr. Dilip Shukla and Mr. Umber Jafri were felicitated during the programme.
Panel Discussion 1: ‘Making India a Global Film Tourism Hub: Opportunities and Challenges’ had Mr. Abhijeet Patil, Chairman, Raja Rani Travelsas the moderator and witnessed Mr. Vinod Zutshi (IAS), Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India; Mr. Sudhir Sobti, Chief Manager, Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation; Mr. Vikramjit Roy, Head– Film Facilitation Office, National Film Development Corporation; Mr. Aashish Singh, CEO– Motion Pictures, Balaji Telefilms Ltd; Mr. Shashank Khaitan, Indian Film Director; and Mr. Utkarsh Sanghvi, Partner, Ernst & Young India.
Panel Discussion 2: ‘Importance of Bollywood movies in increasing Indian tourists overseas’ had Mr. Kulmeet Makkar,CEO, Producers Guild of India moderating the session. The panellists were H.E. Mr. Radu Octavian Dobre, Ambassador, Embassy of Romania in the Republic of India; Mr. Iliya Dekov, Counsellor, Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria to India; Mr. Ferenc Jari, Consul General, Consulate General of Hungary; Mr. Zaal Choksi, Executive- Marketing & PR, Macao Government Tourism Office; Ms. Marijke Desouza, Executive Producer, Dharma Productions andMr. Aashish Singh, CEO– Motion Pictures, Balaji Telefilms Ltd.
The panellists urged the government to reduce the number of permissions and approvals for shootings from various governmental agencies. The current regime de-incentivizes the filmmakers to rather shoot at spots available domestically and go overseas as the procedure to shoot there is much easier and hassle free.
In parallel to the Panel Discussions, there was also an Exhibition Platform for destinations to showcase locations, tax incentives and subsidies.
Senior officials from Production Houses like Azure Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Balaji Telefilms Ltd, Benchmark Pictures Pvt Ltd, Coconut Motion Pictures, Creative Eye Ltd, Dharma Productions Pvt Ltd, Eagle Films Pvt Ltd, Essel Vision Productions Ltd, Excel Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Friday Filmworks, Rajkumar Hirani Films Pvt Ltd, Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Yash Raj Films Pvt Ltd marked their presence at the programme.
Countries like Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Egypt, Fiji, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sri Lanka, Vietnam were represented by the respective Consul General at the programme.
Mr. Yogesh Srivastav, Principal Director, PHDCCI, gave the formal concluding remarks. The Conclave proved to be a successful interface and attended by over 150 delegates. PHDCCI has confirmed that the Tourism Committee will ensure to have such meaningful sessions in future too to promote inbound tourism.