Madhya Pradesh, the heart of Incredible India, will showcase its rich forests and enchanting diversity of wildlife at WTM London 2017.

Madhya Pradesh, or MP as it is known, is home to three UNESCO World Heritage sites: the 10th century temples of Khajuraho, covered in erotic sculpture; millennia-old Buddhist monuments at Sanchi and Paleolithic cave paintings at Bhimbetka.

It is also home to some of the country’s best wildlife sanctuaries and is a vastly unexplored region.

At WTM 2017, Madhya Pradesh will showcase its rich forests which form about 25% of its land area.

Within these forests lie 25 sanctuaries and nine national parks covering an area of about 10,000 sq km.

The vast tracts of forested land are a refuge for tigers, barking deer, leopards, wild boars, blackbucks, nilgais and crocodiles.

The region’s state animal is the barasingha, is a swamp deer and the Kanha Tiger Reserve is the only place in the world where the species exists.

Madhya Pradesh also accounts for almost 20% of India’s tiger population, with six tiger reserves.

The UK is India’s second largest source market for tourists and MP will look to sign deals at WTM 2017 with UK tour operators that will see the number of visitors from the country increase further.

Key to the strategy of increasing tourists from the UK is for MP to expand its campaign to people living outside of London, with the belief that the close links between the two countries and their cultures will encourage repeat visitors.

There are currently 17 flights from the UK to India every day, from a variety of airlines including British Airways, Air India, Jet Airways, Emirates, Qatar and Etihad Airways.

Stand: AS130