Category Archives: States

Goa Tourism might have suffered a loss of around Rs2,000 to Rs7,200 crore and approximately 35-58% job losses because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report titled, ‘Coping with COVID-19: Survival and Revival of Goa’s Tourism Industry’ by Goa Tourism Ministry and KPMG Advisory Services.

Aaditya Thackeray, Cabinet Minister, Tourism & Environment, Government of Maharashtra, has said that they want to make tourism a priority sector. “I have been personally available to remove any hurdles that might come in the way because we want to develop this sector across the state and not just Mumbai,” he said.

The TAAI UP and UK chapter visited UPSTDC and met Director General Ravi Kumar to discuss promoting UP as a wholesome tourist destination for domestic as well as international passengers.

Satpal Maharaj, Tourism Minister, Uttarakhand, is focusing on developing ancient temples in the state and promote tourism around the same. In this regard, he conducted a meeting with the Uttarakhand Tourism Board (UTDB) to ponder over the plan and look at the possibility of developing a temple circuit for tourists. He also shared that he will be inviting filmmakers to shoot films and projects around Uttarakhand’s famous personalities.

In a bid to tap the potential of Rajasthan’s cultural heitage, the Rajasthan Tourism and UNESCO have joined hands for a project, wherein 10 cultural tourism hubs are being developed in Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner, and Barmer districts. These hubs are being developed by adopting the ‘Art of Life’ methodology. The project is adding prosperity to the life of 884 performing artists and 594 handicraft artists and safeguarding the traditional art forms.

Meghalaya is going to open its doors for tourists from December 21 for the first time since entry restrictions were put in place in the state in view of COVID-19 pandemic. Registration would be made mandatory through a dedicated app of Meghalaya Tourism.

Rajeev Jalnapurkar, Vice Chairman, Indian Association Of Amusement Parks And Industries (IAAPI) met Aaditya Thackeray, Tourism Minister of Maharashtra, to request him to allow the reopening of amusement parks immediately in Maharashtra and also submitted suggestions for a stimulus package for revival of this industry. Thackeray has assured its reopening in the next unlock notification.

Sharing an update on the popular North East festival, Arijit Purkayastha, Festival Organiser and Chapter Chairman for North East, Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI), says, “With the inputs from our stakeholders, we propose to organise the 8th edition of North East Festival on December 19-20 at Radisson Blu Hotel, Guwahati. It will also be streamed via the North East Festival Facebook and YouTube channels.”

Sunil C Gupta, Chapter Chairman, IATO -Northern Region, has said that the construction of Agra Metro Project, inaugurated by the Prime Minister, would make many monuments like Sikandra and Rambagh accessible to tourists. “There are a lot of tourists—both domestic and international coming to Agra. The Agra Metro for the first time connects the monuments of Agra and especially monuments alike Sikandra and Rambagh, which due to traffic congestion, distance and time taken to travel to these monuments were not being visited. Now the tourists will be able to easily visit these monuments. The Metro will also ease the traffic. This metro is going to be world-class and will be better than the ones in Lucknow and Noida,” he said.

The Tamil Nadu Travel Mart Society has elected a new Managing Committee after the AGM in Chennai. D Karunanidhi is the new President while Palani Murugesan and PK Gupta are new Secretary and Treasurer respectively.