Category Archives: States

The temple town of Ayodhya has been gearing up for religious and spiritual tourism. It is conducting tourism courses for guides in association with RML Avadh University, Faizabad. These courses will be conducted and managed by the university. The training went on for three days in the last week of June 2020. In the first batch, 150 candidates have been selected for further grooming as guides for religious and spiritual tourism in Ayodhya. These are in line with the anticipated boom in tourism in this sector as more and more tourists are expected from around the world for darshan of Sri Ram Leela. This move is all the more important as the Ram temple is coming up in full swing.

Uttarakhand tourism department has started online registration facility for its Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Tourism Self-Employment Scheme and Homestay Scheme. The step has been taken to make the process more transparent, provide more convenience to people and to ensure that more and more youths benefit from the government’s scheme. Under the Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Tourism Self-Employment Scheme, the beneficiary can start their employment by purchasing buses / electric buses to operate on the routes of the state and can avail 50 percent subsidy or up to Rs. 15 lakh for the purchase of bus under the scheme.

Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha (HRAO), has appealed Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture, to think of a long-term benefit for the tourism industry of Odisha. In a letter addressed to the Minister, JK Mohanty, Chairman, HRAO & IATO Eastern Region, has written, “On behalf of HRAO, we regret to inform that hotel industry of Odisha has not yet received any relief either from the Centre or from the State Government in spite of our continuous appeals explaining the miserable situation faced by the tourism industry. The hotel industry is bleeding profusely and reasons are very well known to your honour through our various correspondences and memorandums presented through our national chapters of HAI, FAITH, FHRAI, FICCI, CII, ICC, ASSOCHAM, PHD Chamber of Commerce, etc. In view of this, we appeal before you to think of a long term benefit that the tourism industry can contribute to the country in terms of employment, both Indian and foreign exchange earnings, image building of the country, and providing service to guests both Indian and foreigners. The Hotel industry as per Swami Vivekananda’s wording ‘Provide Service to mankind is service to God’. Both Union Govt. and the State Govt. must realize the benefit which the Govt. get than the relief which the industry is seeking for its survival.”

To promote tourism in the state, the Maharashtra cabinet has announced that 7 MTDC properties will be developed by the private sector. The properties will be let out for lease or JVs for 90 years. As part of the move, the cabinet has also allowed setting up of eco-friendly shacks at eight state beaches.

Admist the Covid-19 pandemic, the Uttarakhand government is focusing on generating more employment opportunities for the youth of the state. During the pandemic, the tourism department of the state has also started the online registration facility for the Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Tourism Self-Employment Scheme and Homestay Scheme to make the benefits of government schemes available to more and more people. Secretary Tourism Dilip Jawalkar said that with the implementation of online application system, transparency will be increased and time will be saved as well as monitoring of the scheme can be done effectively. Applicants desirous of availing benefits under both these schemes will no longer be required to visit the department’s office. The registrations of both the above-mentioned schemes can be done online. Any Uttarakhand resident who wants to take advantage of this scheme can make their registration online by visiting the given link (http://vcsgscheme.uk.gov.in). This system will also allow real-time monitoring of the applications for both the schemes. Under the Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Tourism Self-Employment Scheme for the youths of Uttarakhand, can start their employment by purchasing buses / electric buses to operate on the routes of the state and can avail 50 percent subsidy or up to 15 lakh for the purchase of bus the scheme. This self-employment scheme has been provided to the people of the entire Uttarakhand state. Buses will be operated only for the designated routes of the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation and for the inner city places. Along with this, it will also be mandatory that out of the places where buses will be run, the station to start or go to travel should be in Uttarakhand. To promote tourism in the state of …

Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma recently inaugurated ‘isolated cottages’ called Orchid Log Houses in New Shillong Township funded under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme.  He said, “The idea is to adapt to the changing situation. It is important that we have cottages that are isolated but have good infrastructure.” However, Meghalaya is currently closed for all tourists.

The Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), Government of Goa has started work on getting all its tourism stakeholders under the organised sector. It has outsourced this to Goa Electronics that will do data collection of all tourism stakeholders right from travel agents, tourist guides, taxi drivers as well as hotel owners and bring them on a single platform. Revati Mujumdar, CEO and Executive Director, Goa Electronics, says, “Part of the framework or data structure for collation is already happening. A majority of stakeholders have been brought onto the database.” She also spoke about working on product personalisation for every tourist entering Goa using Artificial Intelligence, but that is a few years down the line. Goa Electronics is associated with GTDC for developing and maintaining its website, its app and the state-owned online hotel bookings.

Government of Rajasthan has restored the free movement of persons in and out of the state, thereby removing the restriction imposed earlier vide its letter dated June 10, 2020. According to the statement released by the state government, the relaxation comes keeping in view that “daily new COVID-19 positive cases have now stabilised, that the recovery rate in the state has improved to being among the best in the country, and that regulations imposed on the inter-state movement of persons is causing difficulty to the people”. Free movement, however, is subject to the condition that all persons entering and exiting the state shall be screened at the point of entry or exit, respectively. There will no longer be any requirement for any person to obtain a pass or NOC for the purpose of entry or exit into or out of Rajasthan.

Madhya Pradesh has re-opened its State Tourism Development Corporation Hotels, Resorts and many private hotels at tourist destinations for tourists and hoteliers, promoting domestic tourism allowing in tourists from within the country. Madhya Pradesh forest department has also issued a circular regarding re-opening of national parks from 15th June 2020. National Park’s Buffer Zone will remain open during monsoon season.  Sonia Meena, IAS, Additional Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board said: “Madhya Pradesh being into inbound tourism promotion is very strong with its domestic tourism products, wildlife is one of them. Opening up tourist attractions would also give a sense of ‘returning to normalcy’. We see great potential after re-opening our destinations like wildlife, heritage, pilgrimage, leisure, and adventure tourism opportunities. Following the Health protection, safety and hygiene guidelines. We have sanitised and fumigated our premises. We are ensuring all hygiene and social-distancing norms and SOP issued by the Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India. The first segment of the travellers we are looking to attract, are people from within and neighbouring states coming to visit our tourist destinations. Madhya Pradesh is surrounded by 5 states and it is very easy to travel by car from neighbouring states to our state, we also have a very good road network, which connects major tourist destinations in the state. To begin with, people will start taking small/ weekend tours with 3/4 Days ITINERARY and MP will be perfect for that.”

The Odisha government plans to organise cruises in selected water bodies of the state with participation of players in order to promote tourism. Proposals invited to develop daily cruise services at Mahanadi, Bhitarkanika, Satkosia Gorge and Hirakud reservoir. Last date for submission is July 10.