There is a veritable buzz in the air. Literally, if you caught the recent International Kite Festival in Mamallapuram that dotted our blue skies with audacious shapes and colours and characters. This was right after the iconic Chess Olympiad 2022 that confirmed Chennai as a global destination for all things grand. As we wondered about this transformation in the city’s culturescape, all answers led to the man of the hour — Dr M Mathiventhan. The Minister for Tourism Development of Tamil Nadu, who was also instrumental in bringing the luxury cruise liner, Cordelia, to our shores for the first time in June, tells us that this is only the beginning. “This government under our honourable Chief Minister MK Stalin is concentrating on upgrading and optimising all the departments. Similarly, the tourism department is also energised with many plans and schemes — that included conducting the Chess Olympiad in Mamallapuram. So, now that has become an iconic site. With many players from different parts of the world coming here — it has become even more famous than before,” says the alumnus of Montfort School, Yercaud, who is not surprised when we cite the data released by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, that states that around 1,44,984 foreigners visited the Mamallapuram monuments in 2021-2022, and 38,922 foreign tourists visited the Taj Mahal!
Sky’s the limit
There does seem to be a focus on the coastline. Dr Mathi (as he is fondly called) agrees that the East Coast Road is being developed as a global tourist destination. “Yes, that’s true. We have a long and beautiful coast line. So, from a tourism point of view we were just sorting out as to where we have pre-existing areas which are directly controlled by the Tourism Board. In fact, that’s when we discovered that large areas down the coast lay unused for any tourism promotional activities in the past. That’s how the 13 acre rectangular plot facing the sea was found — we inspected it and were all set to use it for a novel idea — when the new kite festival idea was presented by a private group. And we went along with it and organised an International Kite Festival for the first time in Chennai and it was a massive hit,” says the minister who is among the youngest in the cabinet at 37 years of age and is known for his love for equestrian sports. Since we were among the many waiting to enter the kite festival, in queues that extended on to the main road, the rush and eagerness for new things in the city is obviously a true story. Dr Mathi adds, “Everyone wants to go to new sites, visit different tourist attractions. Even when we had finalised this kite festival — we were not sure of the response — we did it to check the waters — to check what people like and how they will react — the response was tremendous and it was not just for the kite festival but for the entire event which also saw live gigs and music and food towards the evening.”
Dr Mathi continues by assuring us that there are many more festivals planned. “The Food Festival is going to be a regular feature. And similarly, there are other ideas. But it is not just about that — the people are also looking for such outings. Look out for our Biryani Festival! Nowadays you also have revenge tourism — so, people just want to go anywhere and everywhere — whichever festival is happening — there no lack of crowd,” says the minister who is not only an MD (Medicine) but has also completed three additional medical fellowships.
Cultural hub
Talking about the city’s cultural heritage being a big draw, Dr Mathi says, “our Margazhi Festival is so unique to us and we are already identified as a destination for that — and now probably, we should develop that further. Bring more engagement with the audience and have creative ways of presentation to attract the crowds to the cultural performances.” Taking us by surprise he further adds that there were plans of bringing jallikattu to Chennai. “I think, that’s a great festival to showcase our traditions, since it is happens in rural regions only. However, regulations and guidelines have to be formulated first.” The Chennai Vizha on the Island Grounds will happen after a trade fair (that’s slotted for the Pongal Holidays) in January for about 75 days, we are informed.
Adventure in the making
While there is a great enthusiasm to add more festivals and events to the calendar in Chennai, we notice that there is a stringent focus on procedures and regulations. “We are bringing back the hot air balloon festival to Pollachi – but this time we want to standardise the procedures and regulate safety measures and make sure we are on par with the best in the world. Though, we were ready to launch last year — Omicron came along and forced us to pause and wait. This year, we will have about 5 to 10 countries participating,” informs Dr Mathi who adds that even as they recognised the effort and achievement of the Covelong Surfing Festival, they have taken it further and set down guidelines for surfers — procedures and safety. The minister lets on, “We are very open to collaborating with private players but to do that, first we have to have rules and regulations in place to level the playing field for everyone. We are now setting guidelines for adventure sports — we released the same on Tourism Day on September 27. Private players are invited to collaborate and now they will have direct access to us and also there is a procedure in place to standardise it all. From paragliding and parasailing to other adventure sports, we welcome private players to pitch and collaborate, making us on par with other Asian beach destinations.” He cautions us about the harsh sea at some spots on our shoreline that need to be explored before deciding what kind of sport to start. “We have Kovalam, the backwaters… space is not an issue. However, there will be no compromise on safety guidelines — and soon we can kick start many new programmes including camping and trekking!” he promises, and adds that he hopes more cruise liners will be docked in Chennai, throughout the year, in the future.
We gush about last year when Tamil Nadu beat Kerala and came second to Maharashtra as the most visited state in the country. Dr Mathi is again not surprised and says, “We were always famous for our temples — you don’t find such heritage spots and temple structures anywhere else in the country. So, people of course come here for temple tourism. But we are now participating in other forms of tourism — our big focus is adventure sports. Yes, the ECR belt is going to see a big change and lots of attractions!”
We have such effervescent plans and ideas set for the future; we are delighted to find that it includes joyrides on choppers, yachts on hire and parasailing, possibly too! “For the tourists from abroad who are fascinated by our shoreline — we plan to make the East Coast Road a tourist corridor,” says Dr Mathi, adding that they are planning to also focus on the dance festival that happens every year in Mamallapuram and how they plan to harness the power of social media to spread the word. “Yes, Chennai’s identity as a cultural hub is only going to get stronger!” he avers.
sabrina.rajan@newindianexpress.com
@sabrinarajan