Darpan Jain, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, has said that as part of Champions Services Sector, an amount has been earmarked for development of tented accommodation in the Buddhist Circuit. “We are aware that people from China and Southeast Asia travel to places of Buddhist interest, but don’t come to India,” he said.

GB Srithar, Regional Director, India, Middle East & South Asia, Singapore Tourism Board, has revealed that the theme of the STB India Virtual Tradeshow 2021 will be ‘Charting Our Pathways to Tourism Recovery’ which, according to him, will heighten or hasten the pace for increased partnerships and alliances among NTOs and their partner friends.

The Board of Enterprising Travel Agent’s Association (ETAA) has decided to waive the annual membership fee for Financial Year 2020-2021. Members who have paid membership fee for three years, valid till March 2021, will get an extension till March 2022. This was announced at ETAA’s virtual AGM on December 18.

According to Thomas Cook India’s travel survey for December 2020, confidence to travel is on the upswing, with 67% Indians willing to travel within the next 6 months.

Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Ministry of Tourism, was on a three-day visit to Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, during which she visited Uma Maheshwaram, Mannanur, Farhabad, Alampur and Hyderabad in Telangana, as well as SriSailam in Andhra Pradesh. These sites are being developed by the respective state governments under MOT’s Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD schemes.

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has removed the cap on number of visitors to Centrally Protected Monuments & sites. However, the total number of visitors to be allowed per day may be decided by the Superintending Archaeologist. Selling of physical tickets (where there are problems in QR code and network) and Sound & Light shows may also be resumed.

Singapore Tourism Board (STB)’s upcoming Virtual Tradeshow (to be held on 12th, 15th, 19th and 21st January for South, North, West and East India, respectively) aims to have profound interactions with the travel industry from each region. GB Srithar, Regional Director, India, ME & South Asia, STB, says, “With the intent to have deeper and focused dialogues, including pre-scheduled meetings, the roadshow will be held by region.”

Revealing details of new agent engagements after its Fantasy Cricket League, Hasan Patel, Director, Tripjack, says, “We have introduced two more campaigns: Hotel Booking Bonanza and Weekend Deals on tripjack.com. The first is a sale-based incentive scheme where travel agents can win Amazon vouchers for making hotel bookings. Weekend Deals are special deals for popular domestic hotels in India. It allows agents to make good recommendations regarding deals to their clients and assisting them in making a holiday decision. We are getting a good response for these campaigns.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the two-day North East Festival, Santanu Kalita, CEO, SpiceJet – Sea Plane department, said, “Sea planes can bring a revolution in the tourism sector, especially in the North East which is one of the most beautiful natural lands in India. We will reflect on the planned fly-scheme for Guwahati to Kaziranga to Dima Hasao, etc. We have sufficient eight months to set the fly-plan scheme which will result in flourishing of tourism in the region.” Kalita played a key role in getting the maiden seaplane service of the country off the ground in Kevadia, Gujarat.

After nine long months, South Tourism, a unit of Cholan Tours, welcomed five French tourists at Chennai airport for a 10-day trip to Kochi. The incoming tourists were provided with a six-seater Maharaja Tempo 2020 vehicle, considered the first to be fitted with a UV-light steriliser to ensure safety and hygiene. South Tourism claims to already have more than 500 bookings in the month of December.