Category Archives: States

To attract Cinema and Film making tourism, Maharashtra Tourism has launched Mumbai film city tour bus and curating tours to witness live shooting, informed Aditya Thackeray, Tourism Minister, Maharashtra government after flagging off the bus in Mumbai.

Maharashtra Tourism has joined hands with Things2Do to launch the Mumbai Festival from January 25 to February 14. The Festival aims to provide support to over 1000 enterprises in Mumbai.

The new tourism policy aims to attract large scale investments in the tourism and encourage organisations in the sector, Minister for Tourism Avanthi Srinivasa Rao. Releasing the ‘Andhra Pradesh Tourism Policy 2020-2025’ he said that four circuits (Rayalaseema, Coastal Andhra, North Andhra and Godavari) will be developed for which investor meets will be organised in the next couple of months. A restart package of Rs 200 crore for tourism is also being sanctioned.

India’s first hot air balloon wildlife safari in a tiger reserve has been launched in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve by Madhya Pradesh forest minister Vijay Shah. The balloon wildlife safari will be restricted to the buffer area and people can watch tigers, leopards, Indian sloth bear and other wild animals from a height,” revealed Shah. “One more adventure has been added for tourists coming to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve with the launch of the hot air balloon wildlife safari. It is the first in any tiger reserve in the country. Now like Africa’s forests, tourists in India will also enjoy hot air balloon wildlife safari,” he added. The plan is to introduce this service in Pench, Kanha and Panna tiger reserves as well. The service will be operated by Jaipur-based Sky Waltz, whose official Jai Thakur said that they are hoping for a good response from tourists.

Darpan Jain, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, has said that as part of Champions Services Sector, an amount has been earmarked for development of tented accommodation in the Buddhist Circuit. “We are aware that people from China and Southeast Asia travel to places of Buddhist interest, but don’t come to India,” he said.

Chief Minister of Goa, Pramod Sawant has said that the cancellation of lights connecting the UK and India will affect tourism in Goa. “Tourism in Goa is dependent for its revival on international tourists, mainly those coming from the UK and Russia, so definitively there will be an impact,” he said.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is likely to provide a Rs 2,100 crore loan to the Tripura government for the development of urban areas and tourism in the state. Out of this, Rs 500 crore will be earmarked for tourism development.

Regional commuter airline Flybig started its first flight from Shillong direct to Delhi on December 21, 2020. However, it used a SpiceJet aircraft for the same. Part of Big Charter, Flybig was awarded the contract for this route through a tender floated by Meghalaya Transport Corporation at the beginning of 2020. It will initially operate this route twice a week.

The first flight from Belgaum (Karnataka) to Surat (Gujarat) to Kishangarh (Rajasthan) was flagged off on December 21, 2020 by Star Air India under RCS-UDAN. This flag-off marks the inauguration of the 303rd route under the scheme and the 20th UDAN route by the airline. The airline is being provided Viability Gap Funding (VGF) under the scheme to keep fares affordable. The airline will operate thrice-weekly flights on the route and will deploy its 50-seater Embraer-145.

After nine months of restriction on the entry of tourists to Meghalaya due to the pandemic, the state re-opened its doors on December 21, 2020. The Tourism Department has issued SOP for all tourists wherein they will need to mandatorily register on ‘The Meghalaya Tourism App’ and generate an e-invite for the proposed itinerary.