Category Archives: States

The tourism in Leh has seen a big decline, with numbers declining by over 50 per cent in 2019 as compared to last year, claim hospitality stakeholders in the region. The reason for the low numbers is because of Jet Airways grounding, Lok Sabha elections, safety situation in Kashmir and late opening of Leh-Manali road, according to reports. Zahoor Qari, Chairman, J&K Chapter—TAAI, however says that the situation is improving, saying, “There was a steep decline initially, but the situation is now improving and we are seeing a rise in numbers now going to Leh. Things have settled down and demand is increasing, and people are travelling to Ladakh in good numbers. We might not see a huge rise this year, but the situation is not bad.”

The Confederation of Indian Industry is organising the Seventh Edition of Kerala Health Tourism from 3-4 July at Hotel Le Meridien, Kochi. The Kerala Health Tourism will mainly have 3 components – an International Conference, Exclusive Medical Exposition and B2B Meeting. The event will provide an interactive platform during which practitioners and leading experts in the Medical Tourism sector will share, discuss and construct strategies for future growth and innovation. We are expecting to have more than 400 delegates for the conference (national & international) and above 1000 visitors for the exhibition. The Kerala Health Tourism 2019 will deliberate on the Importance of Cultural Competency in International Patient Care; Challenges In Healthcare Insurance & Medical Tourism; Medical Tourism Marketing : New Age Online Marketing / The Power of Public Relations; The Future of Telemedicine and Health; Specialised Treatments in Health Tourism – Sports, Dentistry, Eye care, Geriatrics; Role of Medical Facilitators in Medical Tourism; Using Technology to Power your Healthcare Business etc. There will be a Banquet Session on day 1 on “Health Tourism and way forward” by an eminent personality – apart from Inaugural Sessions and Valedictory sessions of the Summit.

The tourism sector has been a key source of employment in India, directly accounting for 26.7 million jobs in 2018, according to WTTC India Annual Research 2019. Further, the total jobs from indirect and induced activity was 42.7 million. The number is estimated to reach 43.7 million in 2019, accounting for 8.1% of the total employment in the country. By 2029, the sector is expected to provide employment to nearly 53 million people, directly and indirectly.

Goa Tourism has dropped the US and China from its list of marketing and promotional activity destination citing minimal footfall from the long-haul destinations. Explaining the move, Dayanand Sopte told a news organisation that there is no point in marketing Goa in destinations from where the footfall is minimal. In a state-level marketing and promotion committee meeting the board discussed destinations and events it should participate in and it should avoid. Sopte said that the state’s participation in any international road show or trade fair should be decided by considering all facts especially weather the market or countries will bring in tourists in big numbers. “We have decided not to participate in certain countries because experience has shown that despite spending crores of rupees, the resultant footfalls were not impressive. We don’t have many US tourists visiting Goa. Is it worthwhile then to spend over Rs 1 crore to promote the state there?,” said Sopte.

In a bid to tap the domestic source markets, Kerala Tourism will organise 20 partnership meets in different cities across the country, and will also take part in 10 major trade fairs in two phases starting July. The first quarter of 2019 had seen a dip of 4.14 per cent in tourist arrivals in Kerala, as compared to the same period last year. However, the domestic visitor arrivals recorded an 8.07 per cent. The tourism board of Kerala did roadshows in 2017 across all metros and Tier-II and Tier-III cities, which led to around 18.57% domestic growth in 1st quarter of 2018.

Tourist arrivals in Kerala shot up by 6.82 per cent in the first quarter of 2019, as compared to the statistics recorded last year. The total number of tourist arrivals (both domestic and foreign) during January-March 2019, was 46,12,937 as compared to 43,18,406 during the same period in 2018. The number of domestic tourists arriving in the state was 41,90,468 as against the figures of 38,77,712 during the corresponding period in 2018, registering an increase of 8.07 per cent. However, the arrival of foreign tourists suffered a dip of 4.14 per cent. “Last year’s floods were unprecedented in fury and devastation and it battered large swathes of the state, affecting its infrastructure that had a bearing on the tourism sector. There was rampant apprehension that Kerala’s tourism would take a long time to recover. But we were able to allay these apprehensions by swiftly putting in place an effective action plan to win back the confidence of tourists,” said Tourism Minister Shri Kadakampally Surendran. “The uptick in domestic tourist arrivals is a strong testimony to it.” Ernakulam, with an increase of 108,169 domestic tourists, registered the highest growth among the 14 districts of the state. The total number of domestic tourist arrivals in this district was pegged at 9,96,091 during January-March this year as against 8,87,922 in the corresponding period of 2018. The districts of Idukki, Alappuzha, Kannur and Kozhikode also registered decent growth during the period. The number of domestic tourists was 3,43,938 (2,48,052 in 2018) in Idukki, 1,80,562 (1,32,442) in Alappuzha, 2,10,247 (1,84,389) in Kannur and 3,20,795 (2,76,188) in Kozhikode. Kollam, Kottayam, Malappuram, Wayanad and Palakkad were among the other districts that registered an uptick in domestic tourist …

Orchha, the historical town in district Niwari, Madhya Pradesh has been included in UNESCO’s tentative list of world heritage sites. Surendra Singh Baghel, Minister of Tourism & Narmada Valley Development Authority (NVDA) shared in a statement that a detailed proposal was made by the tourism department in collaboration with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and was sent to the UNESCO in this regard. Mandu is already included in UNESCO’s tentative list.   Orchha is located in Niwari district on the banks of river Betwa. It was established in the 16th century by Bundela Rajput King, Rudra Pratap. This ancient town has two magnificent towers (Saavan and Bhadon), along with four palaces namely Jahangir Palace, Raj Mahal, Sheesh Mahal, and Rai Praveen Mahal. These magnificent buildings of Bundelkhand’s heritage are unparalleled depiction of cultural and charming devotional beauty. The stone carved idols of God and Goddess, along with the painting of animals and birds which reflects the master art of painters of those times, are fresh and attractive. In the southern part of city, on the bank of Betwa River at the Kanchan Ghat one could also explore 14 cenotaphs of different Bundela kings.   It is the only place in India where Lord Ram is worshipped as King and has a dedicated temple called Sri Ram Raja Mandir. Chaturbhuj Temple, Lakshmi Narayan Temple etc. are also beautiful and fine examples of stone carving and paintings. Apart from the tourists who visit Orchha for it architectural and historical magnificence, there is a constant flow of other tourists who are nature lovers, wildlife enthusiasts and those who like to experience the water sports (river-rafting) after the monsoon. Orchha has fairly good connectivity …

Hampi’s tourist inflow has dipped by nearly a lakh between April 2018 and March 2019 where 6,34,145 lakh tourists visited Hampi. The footfall for the same period last year was 7,30,456 lakh.  Despite, the dip, tourism officials are hopeful that the numbers will go up by the end of the year since the tourist season is mostly from September to March. The arrival of foreign tourist is above 500 in the months of April, May, June, and July which gradually increases from August. (Source: The Hindu)

The Rajasthan government will soon come up with a new tourism policy, informed Sreya Guha, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Arts and Culture Department, Government of Rajasthan. Elaborating on the policy, she said, “In order to tap new avenues of growth in the tourism industry, we are starting up on the new tourism policy. At present the policy is at the draft stage and we will soon share details with all our stakeholders. The thrust areas are to develop new destinations, develop rural destinations and try and generate as much employment in rural area.” On the other hand, Rajasthan’s luxury train, Palace on Wheels has bagged the first bulk booking of the season with a deal worth Rs. 5.2 crores during the GITB 2019 on account of 20 per cent advance bookings for the next two seasons of 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. “It’s our best selling product, we are also looking to revamp the train. With constant feedbacks, we are working to make it more better and convinient for our travellers,” Guha said. The first draft of Rs 4 crores was presented by Arun Kundu, Director- Incoming, The Rail Journeys, Mercury Travels to the Principal Secretary. The total business from Ebix Group will be Rs. 20 crores in the season. While the second draft worth Rs. 1.5 crore was presented by Manish Saini, CEO, Worldwide Rail Journeys on account of 20 % advance booking for next two seasons. The next two upcoming seasons of the heritage train already have a total advance booking of 80 per cent

The Election Commission of India has levied a ban on serving alcohol after 11 pm which has pushed many tourists away. Concerned over the impact of the time restrictions and inflow of tourists, hoteliers in Goa submitted a representation to the Director, Department of Tourism seeking relief from the ECI on the same. The representation stressed on the need for a relaxation in timings as the tourism season is currently at its peak and is expecting a further surge for the weekend festivities. In November last year, the state government made a draft public for comments- Tourism Policy and Masterplan by KPMG Advisory Services and Tourism and Leisure Advisory Services. Post which, the stakeholders of tourism industry were upset since there wasn’t much for small-scale restaurateurs and businesses while the big players were taken more into consideration. In the future, tourism officials want the state to plan a roadmap in such a way that doesn’t hamper the inflow of tourists. Goa has concluded its polls on April 23 and Panaji assembly by-poll will be held on May 19.