Category Archives: States

The report titled ‘India’s Treasure Trove of Cultural Travel 2022’ by OYO said with over 3.5 times growth over the past year, Srinagar clocked the highest growth in bookings among cultural destinations in 2022. Besides Srinagar, Pahalgam and Jammu in J&K also ranked among the top cultural destinations in India 

After a day-long workshop conducted by West Bengal Tourism for industry, a detailed ideation was undertaken with officials led by Tourism Secretary. Dr. Saumitra Mohan. A milestone and timeline-based implementation roadmap will be put in place by the joint task force for subsequent consideration by the Government of West Bengal.

The hospitality sector is a critical part of the tourism industry. COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on Maharashtra, and the state government has been taking concrete steps to revive the tourism industry. In this regard, the Maharashtra government had announced that from 1 April 2021, hotels in the state registered with the Union Ministry of Tourism to be charged an industrial rate for electricity, seed fee, water tax, property tax, development tax, increased carpet area index, and non-agricultural tax. Hotels that are not registered with the Union Ministry of Tourism will be charged tax at the industrial rate only after meeting the stipulated criteria for attaining basic minimum standards. The state government also established an expert committee for this cause and also ensured that the process of meeting the criteria is completed within the duration of two months. Following that, hotels that meet the conditions for the online application process are levied taxes and fees at the industrial rate. The state government issued this decision in compliance with the approval given at the cabinet meeting on 5 November 2020. The mechanism in place is assisting in the growth of hospitality businesses by providing industry status in a fast and effective manner, as well as promoting sustainable practices.

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.