‘Shoot at Site’ for Bollywood Tourism
At the recently-held FICCI ‘Shoot At Site’, industry stalwarts discussed the promotion of Film Tourism in the country, and the roadblocks it faces as of today. reports...
LYANDRA D’SOUZA In
order to bring tourism and entertainment together on the same platform, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry ( FICCI) recently hosted the first-ever film tourism conclave titled ‘ Shoot at Site’ at the Renaissance, Mumbai.
Speaking at the event, Jyotsna Suri, Vice President, FICCI stated, “This focused and interactive B2B conclave will help stakeholders discover the benefits of shooting in India and facilitate relation-
We hope to see the government providing more support and incentives to film producers to increase film tourism in the country
presenting the FICCI-Yes Bank study on Film Tourism; Antonio Rozario Menezes, Vice President-SIGA, Yes Bank stated, “In India, tourism contributes 6-7 per cent of the GDP and works as a strong complement to growth in other sectors. There is a strong influence of film on the motivation of travellers and this should be harnessed to promote tourism. To do so, we need infrastructure augmentation, integrated film cities, single window clearances, tax incentives and greater focus on skill development.”
In the session on ‘Finding the Right Spot: Tourism, Locations & Effective Film Making’. Apoorva Mehta, CEO, Dharma Productions observed, “Internationally, most countries have realised the potential of film tourism and generally the main problem is those of clearances. However; in India, especially in the smaller cities, producers have to face a lot of red tape. The fear of being handicapped by a lack of government support is holding film tourism in India back. We need an information body to provide information as well as guide to film directors and line producers. Electronic clear- ances will make it much easier to shoot for both international and domestic film shootings.” Vikram Sen, Principal Secretary, Tourism Department, Govt of Bengal detailed the steps undertaken by the state tourism board to attract filmmakers to West Bengal.