Category Archives: MOT

Speaking on the theme of National Tourism Day— Rural and Community Centric Tourism— Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, said that rural communities are custodians of indigenous, natural, and cultural heritage as well as have an inherent ability to coexist with natural ecosystems. “It is important at this juncture, that rural communities and landscapes are leveraged to develop and promote sustainable tourism development models,” he shared in his address. 

Ministry of Tourism is planning a virtual event of about two hours on National Tourism Day on 25th January. Rupinder Brar, ADG, Tourism, shared, “G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and DoNER will be the Chief Guest and Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, will also be speaking in this online event. We have also invited Secretary, Culture; Secretary, Ministry of Textiles; Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change as well. The celebrations are a little low-key owing to Omicron spread across the country.”

G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, visited the National War Memorial and attended the retreat ceremony. He appealed to the youth to visit the National War Memorial built in the memory of martyrs who died in the line of duty. As part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, Reddy urged that the students of all the states and universities must come and visit the National War Memorial, which imbues every one with a patriotic zeal. 

Development of Northeastern Region, DoNER, Minister G. Kishan Reddy has said that the government has placed development of the northeastern region as a foremost priority through the ‘Act East’ initiative. During a virtual event, the Minister interacted with entrepreneurs and potential startups. He urged the business community to confidently carry the message of ‘investment ready North East’ across the country and beyond. Reddy felt that the Northeastern region now has the opportunity to lead the development journey of New India.

G Kamala Vardhana Rao, Director General, Tourism, has shared that recently, MOT has come out with the formation of tourism clubs in schools and colleges. “These clubs will make a calendar of events, which will include adventure tourism activities. We are trying to tell them to have more curriculum and activities under adventure tourism. State governments are trying to promote these activities and I am sure these tourisms clubs will give the much-needed orientation to the students. Future generations will see the result of all our efforts,” he claimed.

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, has said that the MOT has increased the use of digital ticketing at all the state managed monuments, which includes all the UNESCO World Heritage sites. “This step has not  to not only avoid long lines, but also to make sure that you can just plan your travel better, safer and with much more hygiene. Therefore, looking at investment in India is the right thing to do at this time,” she claimed.

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, has said that as they gear up for increased tourist footfalls, both domestic and international, they need to focus on the fact that the tourists that we will see in 2022-23 are bound to be different from the ones that visited in 2019. “Covid-19 has re-shaped our thought processes, and many people have started looking at alternate options to where they would have travelled in 2019. They are choosing more open green areas to travel in 2022. Also, the new age tourists are much more tech-savvy, owing to the pandemic, fuelled digitization and are very conscious about their health and safety. Hence, we need to work to make sure that the needs of the travelers and tourists post-pandemic are adequately met,” she added.

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, has said that the role of the state or national authority would be to incentivise the sustainable practices by local stakeholders and also to popularize responsibility and talk about responsible travel amongst tourists. Singh was speaking at the ‘World Majlis: Off the Beaten Path – Travel in the 21st Century’ session during the India Tourism Fortnight at Expo 2020.

At the India Pavilion in Expo2020 Dubai, Rakesh Verma, Additional Secretary, MoT said that India is a highly attractive market for exhibitions due to its rapid economic growth and rising demand from consumers and businesses. “India possesses excellent convention and hospitality infrastructure, unparalleled cultural, natural attractions and a rapidly growing economy all of which act as catalysts to India emerging as a hub of business and social events,” he explained. 

At the session, ‘Adventure & Wildlife: The untapped potential of Incredible India’, G Kamala Vardhan Rao, DG, MOT, said, “For adventure tourism, India will emerge as a major destination. Gulmarg is identified as an alternative skiing destination by international ski lovers as Alps are already saturated with traffic. While we have infrastructure but the international standard infrastructure needs to be created, to attract more skiers.”