Tag Archives: Tourism Minister

The 32nd IATO Convention was inaugurated in Chennai today in the presence of Vinod Zutshi, Secretary-Tourism, Government of India, T.K. Ramachandran, Principal Secretary-Tourism, Culture, & Religious Endowments Department, Ministry of Tourism, Government of Tamil Nadu, Thiru. Pandiarajan K, Ministry of School Education and Sports and Youth Welfare (responsible for archaeology), Government of Tamil Nadu, Thiru. Vellamandi N. Natarajan, Tourism Minister, Government of Tamil Nadu, Ashok Chandra Panda, Tourism and Culture Minister, Government of Odisha, and senior IATO officials. Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, thanked the VIPs and the Chief Minister for having the convention in Tamil Nadu. Sarkar said, “Tamil Nadu has all the ingredients to attract tourism. Tourism is one of the major engines of economic growth in the world and has exceeded the automotive and oil industry. We organise IATO Convention to allow members to get a first-hand experience of the States and educate them about the services and offerings. I hope after this convention, Tamil Nadu will experience the growth in tourism as well.”

Arief Yahya, Tourism Minister, Indonesia, has informed that the number of Indian tourists holidaying in Indonesia has kept increasing over the past six years. The number of Indian tourist arrivals to Indonesia from January to June 2016 was recorded at 185,911 with a growth rate of 28.25 per cent amid negative growth of foreign tourists from other countries due to global economic slowdown. Compared to the same period in 2015, the number of Indian-tourist arrivals in Indonesia was recorded at 145,734 people. Indonesia conducted a two-city roadshow in Kolkata and Ahmedabad to promote its brand ‘Wonderful Indonesia’ and attract more tourists from India. The Indonesian Tourism Ministry as part of the marketing plan organised Sales Mission India 2016 in Kolkata and Ahmedabad on August 22-24, 2016. Deputy Tourism Minister for Overseas Promotion I Gde Pitana said this Sales Mission India 2016 is the continuation of the previous sales missions held in Hyderabad, New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai during the first half of the year 2016. We hope this event will also add positive impact and further increase the Indian footfall in Indonesia,” he said. Sales Mission India 2016, will facilitate the Indonesian sellers and Indian buyers to meet and produce seller-buyer transactions of tour packages of various Indonesian tourist destinations. There were around 18 stakeholders from Indonesia.

A new civilian terminal is expected to come up at the Kheria Air Force Station in Agra to provide international facilities to passengers visiting the Taj city, revealed Mahesh Sharma, Tourism Minister, Government of India. The Kheria airport is currently under the control of Indian Air Force which allows one of its air strips to be used for civilian flights. Post discussions with the district officials, Sharma informed, Rs. 100 crore has already been sanctioned for upgrading the Kheria airport and construction of the civilian terminal, for which about 50 acres of land has already been acquired. Sharma further informed that the proposed Jewar International Airport in Gautam Buddha Nagar is expected to cater to the aviation needs of the national capital region (NCR), while the Agra airport will primarily cater to the tourists visiting the Taj Mahal. (Source: Business Standard)  

Nashik will be developed as a mega tourist destination under the Visit Maharashtra plan 2017. Jaykumar Rawal, Tourism Minister, Maharashtra, Government of India, said that Nashik Circuit, comprising tourist spots in the region, would be promoted under the 2017 plan and the idea of ‘Visit Nashik’ would be publicised on the lines of Visit Maharashtra. He also assured of making air service available through small airlines and the gap payment will be borne by the Union and state governments. Various tourism options were also discussed like ropeway at Saptashrungi Gadh, promotion of medical tourism in the state, dam tourism, wine tourism and agro tourism promotion including the controversial boat club. “The chief minister announced 2017 as Visit Maharashtra year. He wants to give number one priority to tourism. We are trying to attract tourists not just from India but from abroad. We can promote Nashik in Visit Maharashtra project. Our tagline Maharashtra Unlimited can also be applied as Nashik Unlimited. We will develop a circuit here,” said Rawal. He further revealed that Nashik Circuit will include travel from Mumbai to Igatpuri, Trimbakeshwar, Bhandardhara, Bhavali, Hathgad, Shirdi, Shani Shingnapur, Nandur Madhyameshwar, Saptashrungi, Chandwad, Nashik, Trimbakeshwar in a planned manner. “We can have Godavari Aarti every evening like Ganga Aarti. Nandur Madhyameshwar Bird Sanctuary is of international importance. We will also resolve the problems with respect to Gangapur Boat Club and will start it soon,” said Rawal. (Source: Times of India)

Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, has revealed that Rs. 400 crore assistance will be provided by the Centre for developing the airports in Agra, Allahabad, Kanpur and Bareilly. And this would be done within a period of one and a half months. He said that a major effort is underway to operationalise numerous airports in the State of Uttar Pradesh. This is an outcome of a Review meeting that was held earlier in the day which was chaired by Dr. Mahesh Sharma. The meeting was attended by Secretary, Civil Aviation, R.N. Choubey, senior officers of Airports Authority of India, Director, Civil Aviation, Uttar Pradesh Government and District Magistrates of the concerned Districts in Uttar Pradesh. Dr. Sharma also revealed that an airport in Kushinagar will also be developed, for which the State Government had provided 200 crore and the work is being executed by RITES and would be complete with a year. The Minister said that a Committee had been set up, comprising of two senior officers from the Ministry and two officers from the Uttar Pradesh Government. This Committee will study the feasibility of developing no frills airports in Meerut, Faizabad and Moradabad. Dr. Mahesh Sharma also informed that the case of constructing airport in Jewar had been sent to the Ministry of Defence for their NOC. The Minister informed the media that the push for developing airports in small towns was a natural follow up to the Regional Air Connectivity Scheme that had been announced last week.