Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has identified 180 tourist sites for organizing Swachhta Action Plan (SAP) activities during the year 2019-20 to create Swachhta Awareness amongst the tourists, students of schools/colleges and stakeholders across the country. Besides, Swachhta Pakhwada and Swachhta-Hi-Seva activities have also been undertaken by MOT at several locations across the country. Facilities like drinking water, toilet, interpretation centre, wi-fi, illumination, ramps, pathways, publication sale counter etc. are provided at the World Heritage and Ticketed monuments. Further, existing facilities are upgraded as per requirement and its up-gradation is a continuous process.

Messe Berlin, the organisers of ITB Berlin have confirmed that this year’s show scheduled from March 4-8, 2020 is on track and only two Chinese exhibitors have cancelled attendance after coronavirus outbreak. At 0.3 per cent overall, the share of exhibitors from China is very low. The percentage of visitors from China is even lower at 0.02 per cent of 160,000 visitors. For the upcoming edition of ITB Berlin, more English-speaking staff as well as additional medical specialists and first responders on the grounds, have been added. The sanitary facilities will be cleaned and disinfected at more frequent intervals. In addition to hand cleansers in the bathrooms, there will also be sanitised dispensers at the entrances. The organisers’ highlight that the safety of our visitors and exhibitor will be their utmost priority and they are taking the situation very seriously.

Online travel company MakeMyTrip on Tuesday reported the elevation of Rajesh Magow as the Group Chief Executive Officer while founder Deep Kalra will take up the role of Executive Chairman.“We believe that separating the roles of Group CEO and Executive Chairman will allow us to focus more on long-term strategic opportunities within and outside India, while maintaining our market leading position in our existing businesses,” MakeMyTrip founder Deep Kalra said.

The venue of the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) to be held in Antalya, Turkey has been confirmed and announcing this is Himanshu Patil, Convention Chairman, OTOAI, who reveals, “Our convention will be held at the luxurious, five-star Titanic Mardan Palace hotel located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. All the members will also be staying in this hotel. For now, we have received around 120 registrations and we expect more to come in now that we have announced the hotel. We are looking to close it at 200 or 220 registrations, so members need to book promptly.” He added that the destination is offering gratis visa for the convention. The Titanic Mardan Palace Convention Center boasts a 5448 m² area of 17 halls and two ballrooms designed for meetings, conferences, workshops, administrative seminars, gala dinners and weddings. It has two column-free ballrooms, each of which can be adapted to accommodate events of nearly any size.  

Switzerland Tourism invites members of India’s travel trade to participate in its exclusive webinar series. The webinar series aims to educate the trade about the most sought-after destinations, activities and attractions in Switzerland and share news and updates that are important for their clients. The webinar scheduled on 17th Feb 2020 at 2:30 pm will highlight the Swiss Travel System and its products. Viewers get a chance to learn about one of the most efficient transportation networks in the world, as well as the popular Swiss Travel Pass, an all-in-one ticket offering travellers unlimited travel by train, bus and boat including panoramic routes. Travel partners who attend all the webinars also stand a chance of winning a trip to Switzerland. Those who are interested in participating can get in touch with  Jaspreet Kaur for further information either via email, jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com  or call  9650196532.

To attract more tourists through web series, advertisements, documentaries and films, the Gujarat government is likely to announce a policy soon to provide aid and financial incentives to shoot films and videos in Gujarat. The state tourism policy contains guidelines for cinematic tourism, but it does not offer any financial support or benefits to attract film producers. “Apart from Gujarat’s proximity to Mumbai, we have the best beaches, heritage properties, mountains, deserts, rivers, modern buildings and other locations to offer. The state government has decided to form a new policy to promote cinematic tourism in the state,” said, Mamta Verma, Tourism Secretary, Gujarat.

To encourage private investments in the Indian Railways, the Ministry for Railways has prepared an ambitious plan to allow private players to run 500 passenger trains, manage 750 stations and even buy rolling stock from private players. This has been included in the National Infrastructure Pipeline, which has been prepared for the next five years. So far, the Ministry has stated publicly that the government is keen to allow private players to run 150 trains on 100 identified routes. The ministry on Wednesday said the draft request for qualification and the draft concession agreement have been uploaded on the websites of Niti Aayog and Indian Railways for seeking feedback from the stakeholders.

In order to provide an impetus to tourism, the Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned seven projects worth Rs 594 crore in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh under the Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD scheme for development of tourism infrastructure. The schemes provide financial assistance to state governments / UT administrations. With a total sanction of Rs 594 crore, six projects are for Swadesh Darshan scheme for the development of the Himalayan circuit while one project worth Rs 42.02 crore for development of Hazratbal is for the PRASAD scheme. The allocation under Swadesh scheme is for the integrated development of Jammu, Kashmir, Pahalgam, Kargil, Leh under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 82.07 crore, integrated development of Tourist Facilities at Jammu-Rajouri-Shopian-Pulwama under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 96 .38 crore, integrated development of  Tourist Facilities under the Construction of Assets in lieu of those Destroyed in Floods in 2014 under PM Development Package for J&K under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 90.96 crore, integrated Development of Tourist facilities at Mantalai- Sudhmahadev- Patnitop under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 97.82 crore, integrated Development of Tourist Facilities at Anantnag- Kishtwar- Pahalgam – Daksum – Ranjit Sagar Dam under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 87.44 crore and integrated Development of Tourist Facilities at Gulmarg-Baramulla-Kupwara-Leh under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 96.93 crore.

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has estimated that there could be losses up to $500 million because of cancellations from tourists from China and other countries due to the coronavirus outbreak. According to an estimate, more than 50,000 Chinese tourists were expected to visit during January-February and most of these bookings have now been cancelled, as India has blocked the entry of people from China and Hong Kong apart from many other countries. “We fear an immediate loss of up to $500 million as the coronavirus outbreak has hit the arrival of tourists from China, Hong Kong and neighbouring countries,” said Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO. He said losses for domestic tour operators would be much higher, as many outgoing local tourists to China and other countries were also cancelling bookings after the outbreak. “There is a panic in the tourism sector as thousands of bookings have been cancelled,” said E.M. Najeeb, Senior Vice President, IATO. He said foreign as well as domestic tourists were cancelling travel to Kerala.

Prague is seeking restrictions on Airbnb and other short-term letting platforms in the city to curb over-tourism. City’s mayor, Zdeněk Hřib, said under proposed restrictions, property owners are barred from renting out homes or apartments in their entirety, except when it’s their own home and they’re not present for the duration of the rental. Rentals would be limited to single rooms where the owner also lived. Between 2016 and 2018, the number of visitors to the Czech capital increased by 840,000 to over nine million. At the same time, accommodation capacities in the city’s hotels and hostels only increased by around 1.4%. Short-term letting platforms stepped in to fill the gap, namely Airbnb, which increased its capacity by 34%, according to a 2019 hospitality study from Deloitte.