Category Archives: States

Rajasthan government has accorded industry status to the tourism and hospitality sector in the state. The notification came through an official statement by Shanti Dhariwal, Minister of Urban Housing Development and Local Self Department. The announcement for the same was made in the budget announcement in February by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.

Zeeshan Khan, Assistant Director, Kashmir Tourism said that to celebrate 75 years of independence, Jammu and Kashmir government has identified 75 off-beat destinations among which 38 are in Kashmir and 37 in Jammu”. The Jammu and Kashmir government is focusing on campaigns aiming at confidence building. The government is also focusing on capacity-building programs, as a result of these rigorous promotions, the state witnessed a record-high tourist footfall of 6,00,000 this year.

Jaipur has become India’s first city to get two leopard reserves – Jhalana Leopard Reserve and the newly-added Amagarh Leopard Reserve. The reserve forest of Amagarh is an important leopard habitat and is spread across a total of 1,524 ha. It is home to 15 leopards.

Colonel Ashvin Pundir, Additional CEO, Uttrakhand Tourism Development Board has said that adventure tourism is taking big leaps in Uttarakhand, the government is promoting offbeat locations to evenly distribute tourism benefits all around the state. New adventure locations like Tehri, Nayar Valley, and Marchula for the tourist who wants to explore the unexplored are being developed and publicized.  

Zahoor Qari, CEO, Airlinks Tour & Travels, Kashmir, has said that many hotels, owing to increase in tourist footfall in Kashmir, have hiked their rates extraordinarily, despite not offering services and value for that kind of money. Hence, this puts the tour operators and travel agents in question and jeopardizes their image in front of the clients.

The government of Goa has set an aim to have 1,000 certified tourist guides in the state within the next two years after Goa tourism department adopted the ‘Incredible India Tourist Facilitator (IITF) (basic) certification programme of Ministry of Tourism. The plan is to enhance the travel experience of tourists in Goa through guided tours, and hence the state government has planned to train Goan youth and provide tourist guide certification.

Rohan Khaunte, Minister of Tourism, Goa, said the state is trying to position itself as a tech-tourism state by attempting to sell sun, sand and software. “Goa has all the potential in port, air, road; we will look at more infrastructure support through the Sagarmala projects”, he said.

The tourism department of Jammu and Kashmir has revealed that 600,000 tourists have visited the valley in the past four months—the highest in the last ten years. The famous Kashmir valley has hotels and houseboats fully booked with tourists queuing up for shikara rides on the Dal Lake. The tourist destination is witnessing record-breaking tourist footfall in the past one decade.

Minister of Tourism, Government of Uttarakhand, Satpal Maharaj, highlighted the importance of developing tourist destinations in Uttrakhand and revealed that the state is looking at creating a Beatles Ashram. He said, “The problem with that is that it is located within the forest. So we will request the PM to expedite the process so that we can preserve the Beatles memorabilia from their visits to India and their influences. More than 48 of their best songs were written in Rishikesh. We don’t understand its importance; it’s a heritage site.”

Satpal Maharaj, Minister Tourism and Culture. Uttarakhand said, “A panel under the direction of the district magistrate is searching for land to build the airport. The proposal has been approved by the Centre, and once the airport is constructed, we would like to start offering meditation flights, yoga flights, Char Dam flights, and so on to facilitate better connectivity for visitors traveling to India.