Tag Archives: MoT

Travel trade associations meet Tourism Minister seeking support and financial help

A combined united delegation of four travel trade associations (IATO, ADTOI, ATOAI and OTOAI) led by IATO President Pronab Sarkar met the Tourism Minister, Prahlad Singh Patel in Delhi to discuss various grievances faced by tour operators amid ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The minister heard out the delegation at length and also addressed issues individually faced by the associations. The Minister has assured all possible support and said the ministry has already reached out to the Finance Minister for industry-specific relief. Associations representatives felt content after the meeting and expressed gratitude to the Minister for giving them a patient hearing. The Minister has called out for a united stand of the industry to fight the pandemic and overcome all the challenges. Apart from the President, Rajiv Mehra, Vice President represented IATO while, heads of other associations, Captain Swadesh Kumar, PP Khanna and Riaz Munshi represented ATOAI, ADTOI and OTOAI. From the ministry, Rakesh Sharma, Joint Secretary, MOT and Meenakshi Sharma, DG, Tourism were present during the meeting.

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MOT extends validity of classifications of hotels till 30th June; 6 months’ relaxation to all categories of tour operators

Considering the current situation, The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has decided that validity of approval or certifications of hotels and other accommodation units whose project approvals/reapprovals and classification/reclassification have expired/are likely to expire during the period (24th March-29th June) are deemed to be extended till 30th June. Similarly, MOT has decided to allow six months’ relaxation or extension to all categories of Tour Operators (Inbound, Domestic, Adventure) Travel Agents and Tourist Transport Operators for their approval with the ministry subject to the following conditions: The previous approval expired or the current approval expires during the period of 20th March 2020 (i.e. the date of issuance of an order by the Ministry for discontinuation of inspection work by India Tourism offices) till continuation of lockdown. They applied for renewal before expiry of their current/previous approval. The Ministry has a scheme of approving Travel Agents, Tour Operators, Adventure Tour Operators, Domestic Tour Operators and Tourist Transport Operators etc. the idea being to encourage quality, standard and service in these categories so as to promote Tourism in India. Similarly, MOT classifies hotels under the star rating system to conform to the expected standards for different classes of tourists. Under this system, hotels are given a rating, from One Star to Three Star, Four and Five Star with or without alcohol, Five Star Deluxe, Heritage (Basic), Heritage (Classic), Heritage (Grand), Legacy Vintage (Basic), Legacy Vintage (Classic), Legacy Vintage (Grand) and Apartment Hotels, Homestays, Guest house etc. The classification/ certification is valid for a period of five years.

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MOT to release new post-lockdown protocols for accommodation units: Prahlad Singh Patel

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture, Govt. of India, has said that they will be releasing new post-lockdown protocols for accommodation units, so that the clients can feel confident about travelling as well as overall safety. “Our objective is to revive demand as soon as possible. One way we can do this is to help overcome the fear of health while travelling. The ministry will soon be releasing new post-lockdown protocols for accommodation units to give confidence to clients to travel and stay safely. We are also coming out with a set of recommendations for different segments—travel agents, tour operators, transport operators, and facilitators/guides,” he shared in an interview to Hindustan Times.

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DGFT to devise standard list of documents on filing SEIS claims

In a webinar organised by MOT and IATO to address queries related to filling Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) by tourism industry stakeholders, Suman Sharma, ADG, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), said that she and her team are trying to devise an industry-wise standard list of documents, which can help firms while filing SEIS claims. “The work on the document is almost complete from my end. I will submit the same to DGFT for their approval. It will probably help all the industries including tourism and will help them know what additional documents DGFT needs while they file SEIS and reduce the time of processing their application. Currently, DGFT doesn’t have FAQs specific to SEIS filing and claim procedure. Hence, a lot of travel industry professionals are facing issues with the same.” During the webinar, Rupinder Brar, ADG, MOT inquired about the FAQs looking at the number of queries from the trade and Suman Sharma agreed to do the same to help travel trade. Sharma is also the nodal officer to deal with SEIS claims and issues on tour and travel cases.

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MOT to provide incentives under CSS Scheme for promoting M!CE Tourism in India

In order to give a boost to M!CE Tourism and attract more M!CE events to the country, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has decided to extend the benefits to M!CE organisers in the form of certain incentives under the Champion Sector in Services Scheme (CSSS). For this purpose, a M!CE fund has been set up under CSSS. Under this initiative to encourage M!CE operators to bring more conferences/meetings/seminars to India, they will be entitled to avail certain financial incentives in the form of GST reimbursement. The incentive would be made available for a period of three years. A prior approval from MOT will be required to avail incentives under the scheme along with a NOC from the concerned travel trade association. MOT has made India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB) as the nodal agency for steering and promoting the scheme who in turn would motivate Indian Travel Planners / Societies / Associations towards publicising the scheme.

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Need to re-align promotions and marketing campaigns for markets that revive from COVID-19 earlier: Rupinder Brar

Rupinder Brar, ADG, Tourism, has said that MOTs marketing and promotional campaigns have to be re-aligned according to the markets that could come out of the impact of COVID-19 earlier and have the disposable incomes to travel again. While speaking at the first TravTalk Digital Conclave, she said. “We would need to re-align our promotions and marketing campaigns in the light of the situation worldwide and we are still in the middle of this crisis. Quarter 2 would require us to now sit down on the drawing board and really work and re-align some of our marketing plans. Even regarding the Global Media Plan that we worked out in November-December this year, we need to be expanding our footprint. We have started our campaigns in Latam and we have identified some countries from Africa where the campaign will be followed. We need to work on the metrics of the impact of COVID in different countries to identify markets, and also see in those countries what kind of disposable income and what is the age bracket will be open to travel. Accordingly we need to picture the marketing plans for those countries.”

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Around 1200 tourists assisted through ‘Stranded in India’ portal till 9th April

The StrandedinIndia portal of the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) continues to provide support to the tourists. Until 9th April, the number of tourists who have been assisted are 1194. In addition, the regular toll-free helpline 1363 which the MOT runs has had 779 calls from 22nd March to 9th April. Besides this, the Ministry officials are working round the clock with the tourism and hospitality industry to understand the immediate and long term issues that are coming up as an impact of COVID-19.  

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MOT holds virtual conference with travel and hospitality associations

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) held a virtual conference with the tourism and hospitality sector associations of the industry recently, which was led by Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary Tourism, MOT, along with senior officials of the Ministry. The Associations represented through remote conferencing were FAITH, CII, FICCI, PHDCCI and IMAI. The industry put forth a number of ideas and suggestions for tiding over the crisis created by COVID-19 in the sector of tourism and hospitality. The Ministry on its part shared the concerns and assured the associations that the government is very much with them in this grim hour and that they would work towards the suggestions put forth. There would be a lot of thrust on promoting domestic tourism was a common takeaway. MOT is using its social handles to create awareness of the need to stay at home safe in the period of lockdown and prepare to travel once the world opens up. In the meantime, the course modules of the Institutes of Hotel Management are being held online and faculty and students are using technology to remain abreast with their course curriculum.

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As an industry, we should start formalizing plans for revival: DG Tourism

Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Ministry of Tourism in a letter to all the travel trade associations on taking measures on COVID-19 has said that as an industry, we should start formalizing plans for revival, once the situation stabilizes and is under control. “Tourism stakeholders have made several suggestions on measures that could be taken to keep the confidence of the industry, consumers and stakeholders, which will be considered for taking up with the concerned authorities. We look forward to everyone’s support and assure you of ours in overcoming the situation,” said Sharma. She was talking in reference to a meeting with stakeholders chaired by the Tourism Minister on March 16.

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FAITH shares regular updates with PMO & MOT on COVID-19 impact on industry

Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) has been sharing a regular updates with the Ministry of Tourism(MOT) and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on the impact of COVID-19 on the industry and apprise the Government on the effect of the outbreak has been till now. The update letter reads, “This is one of the worst crisis ever to hit the Indian tourism industry  impacting all its geographical segments – inbound, outbound & domestic, almost all tourism verticals— leisure, adventure, heritage, mice, cruise, corporate & niche segments. The whole tourism value chain across hotels, travel agents, tour operations, destinations, restaurant, family entertainment venues & air, land & sea transportation.” – Inbound foreign tourism of $ 28 bn + in value terms accounts for on an average basis almost 60-65%  between October to March. As the news of the virus started picking up from November, the percentage  of cancellations started going up in this segment exponentially and is reaching a peak of almost 80% now in March in many Indian locations. The value at risk from this segment will be in multiples of tens of thousands of crores. – The forward bookings for the inbound season of October 2020 – March 2021, which should have started picking are all muted.  These are showing highly discouraging signs with cancellations of important global travel marts which are marketplaces for contracting for the next season. – The value of NRI segment from developed markets whose major season for visit to their families and relatives is around 60% + during April to September. There are reports of large-scale forward cancellations from these and unless the progression of the virus stops the almost entire value …

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