Category Archives: States

In an effort to increase the domestic and foreign tourist influx into Nashik Valley, the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has associated itself with Nashik Valley Wine Cluster to promote India Grape Harvest 2018, a wine festival set to be held from February 9-11, 2018. The aim is to recognise the involvement of farmers to harvest grapes of the finest quality and produce the best wine as per the international quality in Nashik. Through this festival, MTDC aims to create awareness around the Nashik Valley as one of the leading tourist destinations to promote wine tourism. The festival will comprise workshops and seminars aimed to promote Make in India campaign to educate the youth and emerging entrepreneurs. Grape-stomping, wine-tasting, food courts, farmers’ market, live kitchen-cooking with wine, round-trip to bird sanctuary, kite flying, cycling and hot air balloon tour will be conducted to attract visitors during the festival. Jaykumar Rawal, Minister of Tourism & (EGS), Government of Maharashtra, “Nashik is blessed with fertile landscape and enjoys suitable climatic condition which is favourable for good crop produce. This wine festival offers an outstanding platform for the key decision makers to emphasise on the massive opportunities in terms of wine tourism in Maharashtra.”

The tourism arena in Kerala will receive added support from the government with the state budget 2018 setting aside close to Rs 381 crore towards development and promotion of the sector. The budgetary provisioning is Rs 36 crore more than the Rs 345 crore that was set aside last year. Presenting the Budget in the Kerala Assembly, Dr Thomas Isaac, Minister for Finance, said the state government will focus more on conservation and preservation of heritage monuments in the coming financial year. The Finance Minister set aside Rs 82.50 crore towards marketing of the tourism sector. Lauding Kerala Tourism’s nine international awards last year, Dr Isaac said the government would accord priority to conservation of heritage monuments in the state as part of its plans towards tourism development. An amount to the tune of Rs 40 crore has been set aside in this regard. The Muziris project, which has been progressing at a slow pace, shall be speeded up and will be completed in a period of two years. Plans are also afoot to include destinations such as Thalassery, Ponnani and Beypore in the tourism map. Dr Thomas Isaac’s budget has also set aside Rs 16 crore towards organising cultural events such as the Kochi Muziris Biennale, Nishagandhi Dance and Music festivals, Onam celebrations, Thrissur Pooram, Theyyam festivals, boat races and others.  

The Maharashtra government has renewed its MoU with Wakayama Prefectural Japan (WPJ) for five years. The agreement was signed by Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Yoshinobu Nisaka San, Governor of Wakayama. The MoU commenced in 2013 with the purpose of enhancing relations between Maharashtra and Japan for expanding association in the field of tourism and investment, and promote agro and food processing units. More than 40 delegates from WPG visited Indian Merchant Chamber to promote the prospects of Wakayama. The delegates also visited various heritage sites and commercial hubs in Mumbai including Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalay (CSMVS), Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and BSE to understand the importance of these heritage sites and explore the diversity of the state. Jaykumar Rawal, Minister of Tourism & (EGS), Government of Maharashtra, said, “I am delighted to be associated with Wakayama Prefectural Government and the MoU is a great stage for us to surge our global footmark and put Maharashtra on the international map. This MoU has strengthened the ties between two states of the nations.”

Goa Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar along with other officials and representatives from the government, Goa police, traffic police, municipal bodies have deliberated over the last few weeks to take stock of every minute detail towards ensuring the successful conduct of Goa’s gala festival – Carnaval, set to be held from February 10-13, 2018. Polluting vehicles in the junk car category will not be allowed in the parade and no offensive exposure will be permitted. Consumption of liquor and carrying of lethal weapons will not be permitted on the floats during the parade. All committees are in the process of submitting their centrewise programmes to be carried out during Carnaval. Likewise, committees have been directed to take assistance from the police and district administration for ensuring security arrangements at the events and parade routes. Float parades in the four major cities will be held as follows – Panjim on February 10, Margao on February 11, Vasco on February 12 and Mapusa on February 13. All floats in the parades will be screened  by a committee to ensure that it follows the theme and does not violate any of the rules and regulations.

Following Phase-II of its promotional campaign, Department of Tourism, Kerala has planned to target Europe with a budget of Rs 7.5 crore. Kerala Tourism has planned to showcase diversified products across the European terrain to entice travellers and has been promoting the state as a preferred tourist destination across the globe. Highlighting the significance of the campaign, Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism, Cooperation and Devaswoms, Government of Kerala said, “Considering Europe’s top position in the list of high-potential markets for overall tourism growth, Kerala Tourism has activated a rigorous promotional campaign involving diverse products that have the capability to attract travellers from the European countries to Kerala.” Highlighting the growth of state tourism, Rani George, IAS, Secretary, Tourism & Culture, Government of Kerala stated, “Through this promotional and marketing campaign, Kerala Tourism aims to double the foreign tourist arrivals and increase domestic tourist arrivals by 50 per cent, by 2021.” Under the promotional campaign in Europe 2017-18, Kerala Tourism has planned to utilise all forms of promotional tools under various categories, including television campaigns (Rs 3.5 crore), Out of Home (OOH) campaign (Rs 2.5 crore), Consumer Travel Mart (Rs 1 crore) and Kerala Blog Express (Rs 50 Lakhs).  

‘Agenda 9’, Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) Society’s new comprehensive nine-point charter, focuses on making Kerala a sustainable destination. It mainly calls for measures to tackle waste management, promote organic farming, efficient use of energy and extensive use of local produce and products. Other key areas which will come up for deliberations are rainwater harvesting, reducing the use of plastics and improving greenery. KTM 2018, to be inaugurated in Kochi on September 27, coincides with World Tourism Day. The opening ceremony will be followed by three days of business-to-business meetings. KTM has already received nearly 600 registrations in just five days after its pre-registration got underway. From the domestic buyers alone, KTM received 485 applications and 105 registrations from international buyers. July 28 is the closing date for the registration. Baby Mathew, President, Kerala Travel Mart Society, said the huge initial response from buyers is a clear indication of a larger number of tourism stakeholders getting attracted to the stellar tourism gathering over the years. “Nearly 600 applications in five days is very encouraging. We are expecting a record number of registrations for this year’s edition,” he added.    

The concluding day of the 6th Global Konkan Festival from January 6-10, 2018 held in Vashi, Navi Mumbai, started with Tourism Conference in which speakers from MTDC, Tourism Board, IRCTC and Tourism Ministry took part. Various schemes and facilities provided to the local as well as international tourists like train packages, spiritual tours, adventure sports, etc. were discussed. Suryahas Chaudhari from Bordi bagged the Paryatan Bhushan Awards 2018 for sustainable agro and ecotourism. Deepak Kesarkar, Minister of State for Home (Rural) said, “It is important to provide correct infrastructure to the people of Kokan region for them to develop businesses. Be it tourism, fisheries or any industry, we will be supporting each and everyone who wants to start their business. This will generate new jobs, aid reverse migration and raise the per capita income of the region.” The event also showcased Konkan’s culture with traditional dances, food and seafood available in the region, art and photo exhibitions, artifacts and local produce to promote trade and tourism opportunities in the region.

To reach out to the domestic market, Kerala Tourism is organising a string of Partnership Meets in Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Kolkata, Patna and Delhi in the 1st quarter of 2018. At the Partnership Meet in Mumbai on January 09, Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Co-Operation, Tourism and Devaswom, Government of Kerala, said, “To ensure the accomplishment of an ambitious target of a 100% increase in arrival of foreign tourists and 50% in domestic tourists in five years, a tourism regulatory authority has been formed. This would help put a stop to any unhealthy practices and guarantee better intervention of the Tourism Department through scrutiny and a licensing system.” The new Kerala Tourism Policy also forms a major highlight of this year’s domestic campaign. The revamped fare with an array of new tourism products was showcased at Mumbai today.

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) in association with the Ministry of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra, is set to launch the first edition of the Mumbai Shopping Festival (MSF). India’s first-of-its-kind citywide three-week festival will be celebrated from January 12-31, 2018 across Mumbai. The festival will include immersive retail experiences clubbed with live performances across the city. In lieu of the recent notification by the Government of Maharashtra where shops and establishments can now stay open 24X7, the Ministry of Tourism and MTDC will set up Mumbai’s first-ever Night Bazaar Flea Market which will go on till 4 am on weekends only. To enhance visibility of the Mumbai Shopping Festival, MTDC has teamed up with various associations with various retail and commerce bodies. Shopping partners for the Mumbai Shopping Festival 2018 include major malls and retail chains in Mumbai. Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, said, “I am pleased to announce this festival as we launch Mumbai as a world-class shopping destination. We are delighted to see interest from our partners including retailers, brands, restaurants, who have given innumerable hours to making the Mumbai Shopping Festival a reality. We look forward to the participation of each and every Mumbaikar, and citizens of the country in joining us to celebrate this mega extravaganza.”

Cox & Kings announced the ‘Free Fly to Kashmir’ packages in its bid to promote Kashmir Tourism under its domestic brand ‘Bharat Deko’. The initiative offers free airfare ex New Delhi, thus making the package attractive. ‘Glorious Kashmir’ and ‘Kashmir Delight’ are the two packages announced for travellers. The special packages were formally launched by Mahmood Ahmad Shah, Director Tourism, Kashmir along with Yusuf Poonawala, Senior Vice President, Cox & Kings at the Nigeen Club, Srinagar. The packages that span for a week have been specially crafted to offer a holistic Kashmir experience with price starting from only Rs 22,099. The Free Fly tours will allow the tourists to explore Kashmir’s nature, local culture and history. Sonamarg, Thajwas Glacier, Pahalgam, Awantisvamin and Betaab Valley are a few of the many sites that have been included in the tour. Poonawala said,”Kashmir is on the priority list of travellers. This offer will further boost tourist influx into Kashmir.” Bharat Deko has also created theme-based videos besides other marketing materials to promote the snow-state of India. The package offer is valid for travel period January 1 to June 30, 2018.