Leading stalwarts from the film fraternity grace the Global Film Tourism Conclave 2019
Tourism Boards from 3 States and 12 Countries had a brainstorming session with the Film Production Houses for the promotion of Film Tourism
Mumbai: PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) 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.
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.”.
Sonu Tyagi, Director, Approach Entertainment said “ India has a vast potential for film tourism and the government is taking lot of initiatives to promote India as a destination for film shoots and tourism activities. Approach Entertainment has supported PHD Chambers of commerce and industry as a PR Partner to project India and giving film industry and tourism professionals to discuss the ideas to make India a top destination for filming. Approach Entertainment is already working as line producers and supporting International film makers to shoot in India.”
Approach Entertainment was the PR Partner with Global Film Tourism Conclave. Approach Entertainment is a Leading Celebrity Management, Films Productions, Advertising & Corporate Films Productions, Films Marketing, Events and Entertainment Marketing company based in Mumbai with offices in New Delhi, Gurugram and Goa. The fast growing celebrity management, films productions and entertainment marketing Solutions Company also have a bollywood newswire, Approach Bollywood and a PR and integrated communications agency, Approach Communications.
The Minister further said that India offers a much decorated platter to both national and international film fraternity with its myriad and diverse natural beauty, exotic palaces, vibrant cities, beautiful beaches, snowy mountains and much more unexplored locations where filming can be done.
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 and noted Actor, Producer and Director, Mr. Satish Kaushik were felicitated during the programme for their contribution towards the Indian cinema. They requested to curb the lengthy process of approvals and permissions to shoot in India and 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 Travels as 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 panelists 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 and Mr. Aashish Singh, CEO– Motion Pictures, Balaji Telefilms Ltd.
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.
For More Info:
Approach Entertainment
Visit us at www.approachentertainment.com
Write to us at info@approachentertainment.com
