Category Archives: States

Uttar Pradesh Tourism will be revamping five well-known pilgrim sites to provide enhanced facilities to for the benefits and convenience of pilgrims and travellers. These sites are Chitrakoot, Naimisharanya, Shakumbari Devi, Vidhyanchal, and Shukratirtha. he state government is also planning development of Shakumbhari Devi at Saharanpur and Shukra Tirtha at Muzaffarnagar in a bid to promote tourism in the region.

Under the provisions of the Trekking Traction Center Home-Stay Scheme-2020 by the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, 32 villages have been notified for development under the Trekking traction scheme.  Ghutu of district Tehri, Budkedar, Pantwadi, Dar of Pithoragarh district, Pangu, Tapovan of Chamoli district, and all villages of district Rudraprayag  have been notified to provide benefits of the scheme to eligible persons.

Indiatourism Hyderabad organised a familiarisation trip for 10 tour operators from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to Chhattisgarh as part of promotion of Dekho Apna Desh initiative of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India from 11th to 14th March 2021 and fully supported by Chhattisgarh Tourism Board. The trip was led by Satrupa Dutta, Asst. Director, Indiatourism Hyderabad.

Underlining the need for developing, promoting and harnessing the potential of coastal and beach tourism, Valsa Nair Singh, IAS, Principal Secretary (Tourism), Govt. of Maharashtra, emphasised on growing the Blue Economy in a sustainable and inclusive manner in Konkan. “The first tourist district in the country lies in Konkan i.e. Sindhudurg district. We have provided special incentives to the Special Tourism District under the Maharashtra Tourism Policy. We have also formed PPP for MTDC resorts and open lands there,” she says. Operations at the new Chipi airport in Sindhudurg district can start from March 1 if the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) gives a go-ahead.

The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), has suggested to the Pramod Sawant, Chief Minister of the state, to allow chartered flights in the state from ‘safe destinations’ under an ‘air bubble’ agreement to boost tourism. In a memorandum, they have suggested to form travel bubbles with Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, other CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries, the UK, Poland and Finland for commercial flights.

Rani George, Principal Secretary – Tourism, Government of Kerala, has said that the new tourism campaigns by the state government are helping Kerala resume tourism and that Ayurveda can be an added attraction for tourists arriving in the state. “We are also seeking suggestions from tourism stakeholders on how we can further promote domestic tourism in Kerala,” she added.

Vishal Kumar Dev, IAS, Principal Secretary, Dept. of Tourism, Sports & YS, Govt. of Odisha at a interactive meeting with HRAO members and government officials in Bhubaneswar said that new Tourism Policy in Odisha is ready to publish and will be declared after announcement of IPR. He also said that tourism has been given a priority sector by Chief Minister and as a result the tourism budget for the year 2021-22 has got doubled to Rs 1500 crore. “.  The Government is also working on various plans like development of hospitality infrastructure in the tourism sector to bring number of good category hotels to the State. He assured that next 2 / 3 years will be very exciting time for tourism to take to its greater height and will be the best tourist destination in the country,” he said.

Union Minister for Culture & Tourism, Prahlad Singh Patel, was the Chief Guest at the inauguration ceremony of Udaipur Science Centre in Tripura. Late last year, it was announced by Government of Tripura that the state will have its first Science City by early 2021, while a sub-centre of the science city will also be inaugurated around the same time. Also present at the inauguration was Tripura Governor Ramesh Bais. The Ministry of Culture operates Scheme for Promotion of Culture of Science (SPOCS) which provides for setting up of Science Cities and Science Centres in all the states of the country. Science Cities are already established in Kolkata, Kapurthala, Ahmedabad and Lucknow.

Government of Andhra Pradesh has issued a Restart Package to support the tourism sector in the state. The approved package of Rs198.50 crore is a loan for hotels, M!CE, function halls, restaurants and service providers by extending interest subsidy at 50% of the interest on the loan for 12 months subject to a maximum of 4.50% of the loan amount for one year.

The Goa government has granted an extension of 6 months to the off-shore casinos operating on Mandovi river in Panaji till an alternate location is recommended to them. Vessels with casinos can continue their operations for another 6 months from 31 March to 30 September.