Tag Archives: Ministry of Tourism

Udai Pratap Singh has joined the Ministry of Tourism as Additional Secretary. He succeeds Girish Shankar. The 1984-batch senior IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre was previously the Resident Commissioner of Jharkhand in NCR before which he was posted as Officer on Special Duty to Chief Minister, Jharkhand Bhavan, New Delhi.

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) is celebrating the 2nd International Day of Yoga on June 21, 2016, by hosting a FAM tour for a group of 50 foreign delegates consisting of Tour Operators/Travel Agents/Media Persons/Opinion Makers/Scholars from 20 countries which are source markets and the markets that matter for promotion of Yoga and Wellness. This group of 50 delegates will split into two group, which will participate in Delhi and Chandigarh on 21st June, 2016, separately. Both the groups will then follow a tour program including visit to the wellness & spiritual centres in Haridwar, Rishikesh, Trivandrum, Cochin, Neyyar (Kerala), Pondicherry & Chennai.

As part of the action plan, the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) will launch an aggressive marketing strategy to enlist more bed and breakfast establishments to the Incredible India Bed & Breakfast /Home Stay Scheme and involve online travel agents in its promotion. Rationalisation of taxes and simplification of procedures will be addressed to move towards ease of doing business while groups were constituted to study various aspects of this scheme and submit recommendations in a time bound manner. Through this action plan, MOT aims to fill the desired additional hotel capacity and give impetus to establishments run by the central and state government as well as those run by OTAs since construction of hotels has a long gestation period. This was imparted by Vinod Zutshi, Secretary – Tourism, at MOT’s workshop  on Incredible India Bed & Breakfast /Home Stay Scheme held on 30th May 2016. The workshop was attended by officials from MOT and various State Governments, representatives from the hospitality and the travel trade industry and CEOs of OTAs.

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) will be organsising a convention for BRIC nations in Khajuraho from August 31-September 1.  The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) will be hosting Fam tours for the delegates participating in the convention, revealed Rajiv Mehra, Vice President, IATO, during the IATO Interactive Luncheon Meeting on June 1 at Pride Plaza Hotel, New Delhi. The ministry will be inviting at least 25 foreign operators from these countries. However, a final confirmation from the Ministry of External Affairs is awaited. The meeting was held to discuss the New Exim policy introduced by the Govt. last year, under which tour operators earning foreign exchange are entitled to get SEIS scrip @5 per cent. Sanjeev Gupta, an expert on Exim Policy, made a presentation on SEIS Scheme as to how the scheme would benefit members.

Meenakshi Sharma, a 1988 batch officer of the IA&AS, has been appointed as Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism for a period of five years. She will replace Usha Sharma, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre.

PATA India and the Ministry of Tourism’s (MOT) first leg of its five-city US roadshow begins today at San Francisco and will cover the West Coast. Imparting more details on the roadshow, Vikram Madhok, Hony. Treasurer, PATA India, said, “One of our mandates for PATA membership is to add value so we embark on roadshows across the world, primarily in the main feeder markets. Now, we are going back to the US and have more than 20 people from every segment participating. It’s going to begin from May 24 in San Francisco, May 25 in Los Angeles (Orange County), May 26 in Los Angeles (Beverly Hills), May 31 in Vancouver ending on June 1 in Seattle. Another roadshow in Europe is currently in the pipeline.”

Around 32 Foreign Tour Operators from 12 countries, and 10 corporates attended the first edition of Global MICE Travel Mart (GMTM). In all, 42 buyers and 27 sellers were in attendance. The next edition of GMTM will be held in July 2017, announced Dr. Jyotsna Suri, Immediate Past President, FICCI, and Chairperson, FICCI Tourism Committee at the inauguration of the 1st edition of Global MICE Travel Mart. Organised by FICCI in association with the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) and India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB), the mart is being held from May 19-21 2016 at The Lalit, New Delhi. Dr Suri said that the conference is a step towards promoting India as a MICE destination and will be held annually here onwards. The FICCI-MRSS report on ‘India Inbound MICE Tourism – Trends and Opportunities’ was released during inaugural session where Dr A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI, Chander Mansharami, Vice Chairman – ICPB, Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, MOT and Rahul Chakravarty, Director & Head – Tourism, FICCI, spoke about MICE tourism in India. A panel discussion on ‘Furthering MICE Tourism into India – Rejuvenating the Roadmap’ with several well-known industry professionals followed after.

As revealed by Ministry of Tourism, India witnessed a 10.7 per cent growth in FTAs in April, 2016 over the same period in 2015. The total number of FTAs during April, 2016 was recorded at 5.99 lakh, which is higher than the total number of FTAs in April, 2015 and April 2014, where the numbers were recorded as 5.42 lakh and 5.35 lakh foreign tourists respectively. Bangladesh accounted for the highest percentage share in foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) into India with 18.09 per cent during the month of April 2016. Among the top 15 source countries, USA was ranked second with 12.24 per cent share, followed by the UK with 9.58 per cent share, making Bangladesh, USA and UK, the top three source markets for India in April 2016. The percentage share of FTAs from other source markets like Sri Lanka was 3.71 percent; Malaysia was 3.23 per cent; China was 3.14 per cent; Australia was 3.05 per cent; Germany was 3.02 per cent; France 2.86 per cent; Canada was 2.83 per cent; Russian Federation was 2.81; Japan was 2.50 per cent, Nepal was 2.07 per cent; Singapore was 1.85 per cent and Thailand was 1.61 per cent.

According to the data released by Ministry of Tourism, foreign exchange earnings (FEEs)through tourism was recorded at Rs 11,637 crore in the month of April, 2016 as compared to Rs. 10,091 crore in April, 2015 and Rs. 9,179 crore in April, 2014. The growth rate in foreign exchange earnings (FEEs) in terms of rupee during April, 2016 over April, 2015 was higher, with 15.3 per cent as compared to the growth rate of 9.9 per cent in April, 2015 over April, 2014. The FEEs during the period of January-April, 2016, was recorded at Rs. 52,048 crore with a growth rate of 15.7 per cent as compared to the FEE of Rs. 44,966 crore with a growth rate of 5 per cent during the period of January-April, 2015 over January- April, 2014.

Oman received 299,022 Indian arrivals last year recording 17 per cent growth in 2015 over 2014. Oman’s National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) released the figures from India which highlight an increase in inbound numbers. The statistics also reflect a growth of 60 per cent in Indian arrivals to Oman in the last five years. Lubaina Sheerazi, India Representative, Ministry of Tourism, Oman, said, “The increase is very encouraging and reflects all the hard work we have put in promoting and marketing the destination in India. Since 2014, we started promoting Oman as an ideal wedding destination for Indians as Muscat is close to India. Our efforts were rewarded as we witnessed several large-scale weddings take place in the last two years. Many Indians are now visiting Oman for destination weddings. MICE has also seen an increase and to attract more MICE activities this year, our efforts are aimed at increasing interactions with tour operators and corporates.”