Speaking at the Conference of Tourism & Culture Ministers of Southern Region in Bengaluru, Ajay Bhatt, MoS, Tourism, has said that under the Swadesh Darshan scheme, MOT has sanctioned 15 projects, which include projects in Andhra Pradesh worth ₹141 crore; 5 projects in Kerala worth ₹413 crore; three projects in Telangana worth ₹266 crore; projects worth ₹73 crore in Tamil Nadu and in Puducherry projects were ₹148 crore.

G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and DoNER, in his address at the Conference of Tourism & Culture Ministers of Southern Region in Bengaluru, has said that the event is in line with the Prime Minister’s idea of cooperative federalism where GoI and state governments come together to find solutions for better India and for best cooperation. “Tourism sector is one of the major sectors that will create maximum employment. We should concentrate on creating employment generation in the southern region as well,” he said.

As the news of international borders and reinstating of e-visa has been announced, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has appointed tourism officers in 20 Indian missions abroad in a bid to boost overseas marketing and promotions. These officers were already posted in embassies in the countries where promotions will take place, revealed Rupinder Brar, ADG, Tourism.

A delegation from TAAI was present at the inaugural ceremony of IITM in Bengaluru. Bettaiah Lokesh, Hon. Secretary General, TAAI, said, “TAAI wishes to congratulate the organisers of IITM for extending the invite to TAAI for attending the ceremony. We are delighted to be a part of such an amazing event.” Amish Desai, Chairman, TAAI Karnataka Chapter, added, “We would like to thank the Hon’ble Minister for gracing the occasion with his presence. We are looking forward to early revival of the sector with such positive steps.”

Team India tourism, North East and the officials of Ministry of Tourism (MOT), India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and Nagaland government visited Khonoma, an Angami Naga village recently to conduct recce for ensuing ITM 2021in Nagaland. ITM 2021 is scheduled from 28-30th November 2021 in Nagaland, just before the popular Hornbill Festival in its capital Kohima. As per MOT, the idea to conduct the ITM before the event is to take advantage of the festival’s popularity.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, shares that he is running strong campaign with the Chief Ministers of all states for reduction of VAT on ATF. “I am approaching every CM sequentially and asking them to lower the VAT on ATF. There are 11 state governments, which charge between 1-5% and around 27 state governments charge between 5-30%. My target is to get as many states to charge between 1-5% VAT on ATF, so that there is increased penetration in terms of connectivity,” he said in Kushinagar.

Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has joined hands with John Cena for their new tourism campaign to promote tourism to the emirate. The actor is starring in a new tourism film for Abu Dhabi, in which he highlights why the Time is Now to visit the emirate. The film has been released after the announcement that Abu Dhabi is welcoming all international vaccinated travellers and those travelling from Green List countries back to the Emirate, without any need to quarantine.

Speaking about the impact its first virtual roadshow has made, Sthembiso Dlamini, Acting CEO & COO, South African Tourism, says, “We are delighted at the response received from all stakeholders including suppliers, buyers and corporates at the VirtuallyYoursSouthAfrica show. India is a critical market for us as we look at travel recovery and we believe that the partnerships formed and relationships built here will hold us in good stead. We look forward to creating customised itineraries specifically for the evolved Indian traveller basis the insights and inputs we received from our trade partners.”

Paras Lakhia, Managing Committee Member and Chairman, Airlines Council, TAAI represented the travel trade fraternity in a meeting on Ministry of Civil Aviation’s draft ‘Heli-Tourism Policy’. In the meeting, he said that Heli business may pick up fast if Aerial tours at Tourist destinations could be started on priority so that travellers and visitors may see the entire place in limited time. His suggestions in the meeting included inviting players to foray into the vertical of Heli Tourism & emphasis was given on the need of developing Heli infrastructure at the same pace as developing airports & seaports. He also mentioned that all-important religious and hill station destinations especially where road journey is tedious but are well visited and popular should be facilitated with Heli service from its nearest airport or seaport. This includes destinations & routes, such as Hampi, Coorg, Kevadia, Munnar, Goa, Udaipur to Nathdwara, Delhi to Agra, Bengaluru to Mysore, Srinagar to Gulmarg & many more.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, has flagged the inaugural SpiceJet Delhi-Tirupati flight and hence boosting the connectivity between the National capital and spiritual capital of India. Also present at the virtual inauguration were General VK Singh, MoS, Civil Aviation; Prahlad Singh Patel, MoS, Food Processing Industries and Jal Shakti; Ajay Singh, CMD, SpiceJet; an Usha Padhee, JS, MoCA.