MTDC slammed for poor mgmt, marketing
The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, with prime plots in some of the best tourist destinations in the state, has failed to cash in on them due to poor management, deficient marketing skills and ad hoc decisions, an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has found. Ketaki Ghoge reports.
The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, with prime plots in some of the best tourist destinations in the state, has failed to cash in on them due to poor management, deficient marketing skills and ad hoc decisions, an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has found.
As a result, the report states, the MTDC’s overall tourist share over the past five years has dropped — from an already measly 1.19 per cent in 2005-06 to 0.80 per cent in 2009-10.
The CAG report attributes this drop to a lax marketing approach and a lack of basic amenities such as back-up power generators and internet connectivity.
“There is no mechanism for taking remedial measures on consumer complaints, though consumer satisfaction plays an important role in the service industry,” the report states, adding that room tariff is also fixed in an ad hoc manner, without taking into account the rates of private operators in the area.
The company has no targets for occupancy, so there is no system for judging how they are performing against set goals either, and hundreds of crores in government funds were left unused or lost in project delays over the past five years, the CAG report found.
The corporation, in its reply, has maintained that occupancy levels are at par with similarly placed budget hotels.
MTDC runs 18 resorts, three independent restaurants and two water complexes, most of them in prime locations such as Ganapatipule, Harihareshwar, Tarkarli beach retreats and the Tadoba tiger reserve.