Category Archives: States

Rupinder Brar, ADG, Tourism, has said that on 25th January, 2022, they will be having a big event at Pochampalli, which was one of the villages recommended to UNWTO for rural tourism. “We are going to set up a nice big event there. Also, there is world’s largest tribal festival, which we will be celebrating in Mulugu from 16th-19th February. We are going to bring some interesting stories and activities from there,” she said.

V Vigneshwari IAS is the new Managing Director of Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC), taking charge from VR Krishna Teja IAS, Director of Tourism. Vigneswari, was earlier the Director of Collegiate Education, and is a Kerala Cadre IAS officer of 2015 batch. Shri Krishna Teja’s two-year tenure as KTDC’s executive head was marked by a string of initiatives that saw the state-owned hospitality major making major strides, despite the pandemic-induced challenges.

Ministry of Tourism has recently tweeted that for strengthening tourism in Northeast, under the PRASHAD scheme, Rs 37.87 Crore have been sanctioned for the development Parshuram Kund in Arunachal Pradesh, which has been an iconic destination in the country.

Subhasish Panda (IAS), Principal Secretary– Tourism, Government of Himachal Pradesh, at a recent webinar informed that Himachal Pradesh is slowly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic with around 45 lakh tourists visiting the state in 2021. “Tourism remains a key contributor to Himachal’s economy with its current share of approximately 7% to the state GDP. The state government is in the process of taking its second loan from the Asian Development Bank worth Rs. 2100 crores for developing infrastructure to create new destinations. He also informed that heliport services in Shimla district is likely to start in a week’s time which will give further impetus to the tourists.

G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, on his recent visit to Goa, said that the MOT is working in synergy with the Rail Ministry, Civil Aviation and Shipping Ministry to encourage cruise tourism under Sagar Mala. “Cruise tourism will be developed on a mission mode which will greatly benefit Goa,” he said. He also informed that there are plans to connect Chennai, Vizag and Andaman with Goa through cruise tourism.

Government of Goa has constituted a 19-member tourism board and has dissolved three panels called the state-level promotion and marketing committee, the high-powered monitoring committee, and the state-level permission committee. Hence, all decisions pertaining to tourism in the state will be taken by this committee. Confirming the news, Nikhil Desai, MD, GTDC, has said that they have already been taking care of infrastructure, development and hotels under GTDC. The marketing had been taken care of by Goa Tourism, and will now be under the purview of the committee.

Kishan Reddy, Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and DoNER, reviewed the various tourism projects funded by the Government of India in Visakhapatnam recently. “We will develop the beautiful coastal city of Vizag not just as a world tourist destination but also as a centre of trade & commerce,” he said. He also assured all stakeholders that the Government will revive the industry and support the development of the tourism infrastructure.

IATO recently orgainsed a members meet where Hareet Shukla, Secretary Tourism, Govt. of Gujarat said, Gujarat has a progressive tourism policy. They have come up with various policies on heritage, adventure sports, homestays and are going to launch cinematic tourism policy soon. Through these policies the government of Gujarat aims to promote various sectors of the economy. The details of the upcoming 36th IATO Annual Convention from 16th – 19th December 2021 at Gandhinagar was also discussed. 

Harmandeep Singh Anand, MD, Global Panorama Showcase, has announced that they will be doing the next edition of GPS from April 2022 in 16 cities, covering 4 cities in each quarter. “The events will be physical and depending on the participation, it will be for one day in most cities, and in certain cities it will be for two days. The same GPS format will be followed, and the virtual platform is already there so that people can connect. There are almost 2000+ verified attendees, consisting of pan India buyers, who are registered, which is the USP of the GPs platform. The 16 cities will be the four metros–Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru; along with the 8 cities that were already there–Nagpur , Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Kochi, Pune; and we will be adding Jaipur, Indore, Guwahati and Visakhapatnam,” informed Singh. He added, “Pricing will also be according to the category of cities and audience we are targeting. We won’t be targeting 1000 agents per city now. Because of COVID, we will be restricting it to between 100-300 buyers per city. With more people expected in metros, the event would probably be split over two days. GPS would be a targeted event, where we want the decision makers to be present, and not anyone or everyone.”  

Speaking at a symposium on developing film tourism and facilitating film shoots in India, Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, said, “I request all states in India to establish film promotion offices that will help co-ordinate with all necessary departments to give permissions for film shoots on time. And of course develop film tourism policies if you don’t have them.”