Tag Archives: Director of Tourism

Gujarat Tourism recently conducted a physical roadshow for the travel agents and tour operators of Madhya Pradesh. The event was held in Indore as well as Bhopal and was attended by RK Misha, Assistant Director, Director of Tourism, Deepika Roy Choudhary, Deputy Director of Madhya Pradesh Tourism, along with Hemendra Singh Jadon, Chapter Chairman (MP-CG) of TAAI. Gujarat showcased its new and popular tourism products including the Statue of Unity and Champaner. Dholavira in Gujarat has also been recently added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.

The Israel Ministry of Tourism, India Office will conduct a virtual presentation for the Indian travel trade on Tuesday, 13 July at 3pm IST. The session will highlight various offerings on leisure and MICE. To sign up, contact Jaspreet Kaur on 9650196532 or jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com. Highlighting the importance of the India market for Israel, Sammy Yahia, Director of Tourism (India & Philippines), Israel Tourism, says, “In the last year, the travel industry around the world has experienced significant challenges, especially in the Indian trade. With new travel relaxations being introduced every day I believe that in the next few years, India will lead the international travel boom with many Indian travellers itching to experience new international destinations.  Before the pandemic, Israel welcomed over 65,000 tourists from India, setting a new record for us. I feel that in the coming months and year, when things normalise, we will double the number of arrivals from India to Israel.”

Goa Tourism is on a fast track towards scaling up skill development in the tourism sector to young local Goans seeking avenues in tourism through self-employment opportunities. Sharing insights into how the state is catering to the industry requirements in terms of resources and skills development, Menino D’Souza, Director of Tourism, Govt of Goa said, “We are extremely keen on encouraging more youth to venture into tourism and providing them with all the necessary training, education and knowledge on latest developments in the tourism sector.” To begin with, Goa’s Institute of Hotel Management, Porvorim offers the best of education to those aspiring to enter the hospitality sector. Both degree and diploma courses, short term courses and trainings are conducted all year round. Around 500 to 600 students are availing education and training through IHM. Similarly, several professional colleges in the state are also offering courses in hospitality and food production, catering and restaurant management. Considering the increase in demand for hotel management, the Goa government is also in the process of setting up a state-of-the-art Hotel Management Institute in Goa. Following a slow-down in the mining sector, today Goa’s economy is surviving on tourism and the state government through the Department of Tourism and  Goa Tourism Development  Corporation is opening new doors and opportunities. More than one-third of Goa’s population is now engaged in tourism, both directly and indirectly.  

The government shall soon roll out its much-awaited National Tourism Policy, expected to provide single window clearance for organisation of meetings and conferences, informed Satyajeet Rajan, Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, while addressing the second edition of Global MICE Travel Mart, organised by FICCI jointly with the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, on September 14 at The Lalit, New Delhi. He said that there was a need to provide incentives to this sector to make it competitive in the world market. He added that there was a pressing need to conduct a study to assess size of the industry and a consultant was being appointed to suggest a workable roadmap for the development of the sector. During the inaugural of this mart, which is underway until Sept 16, a FICCI-MRSS Knowledge Paper on ‘MICE Tourism Powerhouse of a New Era Tourism’ was unveiled by the dignitaries. The six-point agenda of the study suggested a six-point roadmap for development of India as a MICE tourism hotspot. Chander Mansharamani, Vice Chairman, ICPB and Managing Director, Alpcord Network Travel & Conferences Management Company, said that MICE was an economic activity and there was an imperative need for the creation of a market for the sector. Besides, he emphasised on the need for readily available comprehensive database, building capacities and capabilities while taking into account competition to make India a MICE hub. Highlighting the immense potential of MICE tourism in West Bengal, Amitava Rathod, Deputy General Manager, West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation, said that that with new convention centres projects such as HIDCO, Digha and Bagdogra coming up in the state, West Bengal is bound to lead the country in …

After a really slow ending to 2016 for tourism in Jammu & Kashmir, J&K Tourism is determined to make 2017 a success. Mahmood A. Shah, Director of Tourism, Kashmir, was recently in Mumbai to meet the tour operators and ensure them that the state is now completely safe and secure. He said, “Our focus this year will only be to spread the word across the country and the world about the safety and security for tourists in J&K. We have planned a 20-city roadshow where we will meet the travel and tour operators and talk to them about the security measures we have taken in our state. We have also undertaken upgradation of tourism infrastructure in Kashmir.” The tourism  board recently organised a familiarisation tour to J&K for some members of the Maharashtra Tour Organisers Association (MTOA).

Tour operators from across the country visited Kashmir recently as part of a three-day familiarisation tour organised by the state tourism department with an aim to revive tourism in the valley. The visiting team expressed satisfaction over the return of normalcy in the Kashmir Valley and hoped that the tourists would return as the situation is conducive for sightseeing. Representatives of travel companies like Cox and Kings, Pooja Holidays, Raja Rani, Kaisri Travel, Thomas Cook, etc. were taken to Srinagar, Gulmarg and Pahalgam. The travel agents came from West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Gujarat. Mahmood Shah, Director of Tourism, J&K Government, says, “People would often ask if Kashmir is safe. Now that the situation is getting better, we invited leading tour operators here. We hosted them around Christmas.” (Source: ANI)

OTM 2016 was inaugurated by Thailand’s Tourism Minister Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, along with Satish Soni, Director of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra and Joint Managing Director of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) in the presence of other global leaders of the travel fraternity. Neil Llanes from the Philippines stole the show at the inauguration with his beat boxing. OTM is being held at Bombay Exhibition Centre, NSE Complex, Goregaon (E) from February 18 to 20, 2016. It is a three-day B2B trade show, where more than a thousand sellers from 50 participating destinations will meet 6,000 buyers on the exhibition floor. Side by side the trade exhibition, there are a host of innovative events to discuss emerging trends in the travel business, such as TechForum@OTM, #StartupKnockDown and Shoot at Site@OTMsessions. These have been planned alongside OTM to specifically address topical agendas that are increasingly catching the industry’s attention. The UAE is leading their participation with all its 7 Emirates, making them the largest destination exhibitor in OTM 2016. They are joined by several global destinations at OTM 2016 with the keenness to carve a piece of India’s projected 50 million outbound pie – Philippines, Indonesia, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Thailand, New Zealand, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Macao, Bangladesh, Maldives, Oman, Bhutan, Seychelles, Israel, Rwanda, Romania, Fiji and Greece are all in place at India’s biggest travel show.