Category Archives: States

In a first such initiative in the country, Kerala Tourism will start issuing guidelines and a certification scheme from Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to promote more systematic approach and safety in adventure tourism. The procedural guidelines for registration are under consideration of the state government and is expected to be effective from October 2019. The BIS certification scheme is meant to comply with safety and security standards. As per the new guidelines, all adventure activity providers need to follow the guidelines and to be registered with the Department of Tourism for running business for a period of two years. Moreover, qualified instructors and employees must be appointed at the centre.  

Travel Trade Association of Uttar Pradesh (TTAUP) is holding its TTAUP Travel Mart, TTM 2019 today at the Hotel Hyatt Regency, Lucknow. Vivek Pandey, President, TTAUP said that, “At TTM 2019, we have 35 exhibitors and already 400+ online registrations for the buyers. The buyers from the travel trade are coming in exclusively from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Among the exhibitors we have a wide range of travel suppliers, DMC’s, cruise operators, visa facilitators, online portals and hotels.” Expected dignitaries include, Satish Mahana, Minister, Industrial Development, govt of UP and  Jitendra Kumar, I.A.S, Additional Chief Secretary & Director General, Tourism, govt of UP. The full day event will be followed by networking dinner and regional cultural performance.

At the occasion of the second edition of the Tamil Nadu Travel Mart and Medical Value Travel Mart 2019, Apurva Varma, Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Dept , Government of Tamil Nadu, says, “295 sites have been identified for the development under Tamil Nadu Integrated Tourism Promotion Programme.” He also shares that the Tamil Nadu Government has kept Rs 100 crore aside for the development of tourism in the state.”

In a grand opening ceremony, the second edition of the Tamil Nadu Travel Mart and Medical Value Travel Mart 2019 was inaugurated at the Chennai Trade Centre in Chennai. The three-day exhibition, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with Tamil Nadu Travel Mart Society will showcase the potential of Tamil Nadu’s tourism on a global platform. The inauguration was followed by an array of cultural programs and networking dinners organised for all the delegates. TTM 2019 will witness more than 300 exhibitors showcasing tourism business opportunities in the state along with 1000 domestic and international buyers from 54 countries. Apart from TTM, the Medical Value Travel Mart this year will reiterate the importance of Tamil Nadu in the medical value travel sector. Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, Union Tourism Ministry, said the government had recognised the potential of tourism and approved 77 projects under Swadesh Darshan and 24 under Prasad in Tamil Nadu.

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India will work on targeting the Indian diaspora settled abroad and encourage them to travel to India and explore the domestic destinations of the country under ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ scheme. Sharing details, Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India said, “Our emphasis has been to increase the tourist inflow to India. There is a huge Indian diaspora, which is travelling to various parts of the globe, and they should consider India as a destination as well. They should look towards enjoying the culture and experience of the country, where they have their roots. Getting the diaspora to travel to India is as good as getting the foreign tourists in the country. The industry should also start looking at this segment in a holistic manner and start offering packages, information and the facilities.”

Vishal Kumar Dev, Commissioner – cum – Secretary, Tourism, Sports and Youth Services, Government of Odisha, has said that the state will be coming up with a new tourism policy in 2020. Congratulating Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha for conducting the 4th Odisha Tourism Conclave, he shared, “An important agenda for the department of tourism is the drastic simplification of the process of allotment of land for new construction of hotels. There is a lack of enough star hotels in Odisha, especially in Bhubaneswar, which is a necessity for tourism.” They will be starting the Konark Sun City Festival to attract more tourists to the destination soon. Impetus remains on developing infrastructure, the department has also identified nine circuits touching 13 destinations, where developing infrastructure is the priority. While they have held six roadshows to promote Odisha, six more roadshows will take place this year. Next year, they hope to have international roadshows to promote tourism in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia

Business transactions worth Rs 3,000 crore are expected to take place during the second edition of the Tamil Nadu Travel Mart, scheduled from September 19-22 in Chennai. Sharing the details, Ligi George, Convenor, CII Tamil Nadu Tourism panel said the value of trade transacted in the last edition, which took place in 2007 was Rs 1,800 crore. “The total value of business in this edition is expected to b be Rs 3,000 crore, which would be through business to business meetings at the travel mart,” he added. More than 300 exhibitors and around 1,000 international and domestic buyers are expected to attend the three-day travel mart. Along with TTM, the Medical Value Travel Mart is also being organised by CII in association with the Tamil Nadu Travel Mart Society. (Source: Times of India)

In a bid to boost tourism, Madhya Pradesh Forest Department has proposed to develop 12 new wildlife sanctuaries in the state. The state government is reportedly looking for new ways to generate revenue and hence there is a focus on tourism sector. The Forest Department is working with the tourism corporation to provide more tourism activities in forest areas. In addition, district forest officers have been given the mandate to identify areas in their districts where parks and wildlife sanctuaries can be developed. Currently, Forest Department has directed to allocate 200 ha land for each sanctuary. At present, the state has 25 sanctuaries and 10 national parks, which generates around INR 27 crore every year to the government. With the new developments, the Govt. aims to increase the revenue by INR 200 crores from tourism activities. Also, in order to boost revenue from tourism, new wildlife sanctuaries and wildlife environmental zones have been proposed. As per the proposal, wildlife sanctuaries are being planned in districts like Balaghat, Sheopur, Mandla, Chhindwara, Shahdol, Dindori, Sagar, Khandwa, Jabalpur, Indore, Seoni and Hoshangabad. There are also plans to develop Ratapani and Mandhata (Shivpuri) as national parks. Source: Times of India

The Himachal Pradesh government has approved the draft of the new tourism policy in the state aimed at holistic development of tourism. The state cabinet has approved ‘Capital Investment Subsidy’ for tourism projects in underdeveloped areas of the state and grant for access of roads and water supply to tourism units. There will be five per cent capital subsidy for the new projects under this category maximum up to Rs 3 crores. To provide accessibility to new tourism projects, which lacked road connectivity and drinking water supply, the government proposed a 15 per cent subsidy. Srikant Baldi, Chief Secretary, Himachal Pradesh government said after the meeting, “There is also going to be subsidy component for the adventure tourism project of all kinds, and those setting-up tents will be encouraged with additional 10 per cent incentives on investments.” The policy will have special focus on ecotourism, agro organic tourism, snow tourism, lake tourism, adventure tourism, pilgrimage tourism, cultural and heritage tourism, health and wellness tourism, film tourism and  MiCE tourism. The main objectives of this policy is to promote tourism diversification through theme based development, to safeguard state’s tourism destinations through sustainable interventions, to ensure that sustainable tourism primarily benefits host communities, to build capacity and develop quality human resource for the tourism industry, to provide safe, secure and unique ‘tourism for all’ and to create enabling environment for investments for sustainable tourism.

The Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha (HRAO) is organising the 4th edition of Odisha Tourism Conclave on 18 September under the theme ‘Tourism to be the driving force of state economy’. Governor of Odisha, Ganeshi Lal, will inaugurate the Conclave with other dignitaries. The conclave would be an immense congregation to give a 360 degree boost to the growth of tourism sector in Odisha, attract investments in the tourism sector, the holistic approach to rediscover the potential issues relating to Tourism & Hospitality sector and to prepare a roadmap with specific recommendations from the stakeholders.  Although Odisha has vast tourism potential, it is yet to come at par with its neighbouring and other states like Kerala, Goa, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi etc.