TBM Staff - Mumbai The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) is all set to promote local tourism and literature through its ‘library project’ for which libraries will be set up at almost all its resorts across the state, reports Gayatri Vajpayee for Mint.
Starting this summer, each resort will have a library where books related to local tourism and by renowned writers, poets and famous personalities will be made available to tourists.
Dipak Harne, Regional Manager, MTDC, said, “Tourists of all age groups visit the MTDC resorts. Many a time during the summer season, tourists prefer to stay inside during the afternoon to avoid heat stroke and exertion. At times, indoor activities are needed to keep them engaged. Therefore, we decided to set up libraries at resorts.”
Every year between April and mid-June, a period considered the summer holiday season, thousands of people visit tourist destinations across Maharashtra. Coastal areas such as Konkan and Goa, and hill stations like Mahabaleshwar and Matheran especially witness a huge influx of tourists. A majority of tourists prefer MTDC resorts as they have ideal locations and provide good facilities at affordable rates. The MTDC has initiated several activities to engage tourists ranging from events to promote local food and culture to safety and awareness programmes among which the library project is the most recent.
Harne said that the MTDC also has in-house publications that provide insights into various destinations across the state. “Along with those, we also have some books gifted by tourists, writers and famous personalities. Apart from this, the corporation is also planning to purchase more books which will help promote local literature. These books include travelogues, pictorials, coffee-table books, and biographies of novelists and other famous personalities. The books will be made available in many languages including foreign languages such as German, French and Russian as many foreign tourists too visit these resorts,” Harne said.’
There will be no separate funds for the ‘library project’ which will be managed as part of the resorts’ overall expenditure. Currently, libraries have been activated in MTDC resorts across Mahabaleshwar, Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad) and Nashik. Libraries at various resorts in Pune district too will start in a few days, Harne said.
Tourists of all age groups visit MTDC resorts. Post Covid-19, it has been observed that children are less interested in reading books. The ‘library project’ at MTDC resorts will help encourage reading habits among children as the libraries will have pictorials, coffee-table books and other interesting reading materials, Harne said.
