In a bid to boost untapped tourism in the state, MP Tourism will be organising a new festival in Orchha to celebrate cultural diversity, natural beauty and architectural heritage in the state. The Madhya Pradesh Government has identified tourism as one of the leading sectors for development and will be taking multiple initiatives to promote the state for both domestic and international travellers. The festival will showcase Madhya Pradesh in Orchha bringing it alive with music, dance, heritage tours, workshops, local cuisine, arts and handicrafts.

Government has implemented schemes for the promotion of local tourism in the country. Under the scheme, the Ministry undertakes promotions through advertising in print and electronic media, participation in fairs and exhibitions, organising seminars, workshops for stakeholders and service providers, as well as printing of brochures, collaterals etc. The various tourism products are also promoted on the Social Media accounts and website of the Ministry. Government is raising awareness regarding local tourism and to promote local religious and non-religious spots to the tourists coming from both outside and within the State. The Ministry of Tourism, under its Domestic Promotion and Publicity including Hospitality (DPPH) scheme for promotion of Domestic Tourism implements various measures for the promotion of tourism in the country. The main objective of DPPH Scheme is to create a general awareness among the domestic population about the potential tourist destinations in the country, which will help to increase the local / domestic tourism market. The Ministry through its 20 domestic India Tourism Offices located across the country, which also act as information centers, undertakes the promotional activities to promote India in a holistic manner which includes promotion of domestic/local tourism by raising awareness about local tourism products which include local religious and non-religious spots for the tourists coming from both outside and within the State.

In a recent interview, President and CEO of InterGlobe Hotels says, “We enter 2020 with enthusiasm and hope. We have 6 hotels with a total of approximately 1000 rooms under active development and are currently pursuing some very promising fresh deals in Pune, Goa, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. We expect the operating performance to generally improve as the fundamentals of the industry remain strong with a slowing supply graph and an improving demand curve which has historically been in the 8-10% range.”

Somon Air has started regular non-stop once-a-week flights from Dushanbe (Tajikistan) to Delhi. The new direct service will reduce the flying time between the two destinations to 2.5 hours from 10-12 hours. The flight currently flies on Sunday, and a second frequency will be added on Wednesday soon and would eventually be increased to thrice-a-week service. The flights are operated by a Boeing 737 aircraft. Speaking at the launch, Hallam, said, “India is a potential market and we are hoping that Indians discover the tourism potential of Tajikistan, which is a destination that will appeal to Indians a lot.”

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has recently announced that the Imphal-Mandalay route will soon be included in the ‘International UDAN’ scheme. Manipur government had been pursuing the introduction of flight operations between Imphal and Mandalay for quite some time, but instead of a scheduled flight service, permission for chartered flights just for a limited duration of time was granted. The bidding process for selection of airlines to be completed within two months. The service was launched on 23 November and will be run till December 7.   (Source: Indian Express)

Travel M!CE Show has been scheduled for December 14 & 15 at the Trident Chennai. The show will be conducting one-on-one meetings with 60+ pre-approved buyers. The show will conduct 1800 meetings over two days. The show will entail pan-India corporate meetings on day 1 and interactions and meetings with MiCE specialists on Day 2.

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will set up another museum to house objects excavated from across India which have been lying in the Central Antiquities Collection at Purana Quila. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 2 crore and is proposed to be opened by April 2020. The museum will be housed in the arched cells of Purana Quila. Central Antiquity Collection Section is a centre for housing the collection of antiquities explored and excavated by Archaeological Survey of India. These antiquities date back from the pre-historic period to post independence era. The objective to open new museum is to display antiquities such as tools, potteries, terracotta, beads of semi-precious stones, sculptures, architectural fragments, etc. for general public, students and research scholars. This information was given by the Minister of State (I/c) of Culture and Tourism, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

In a bid to promote Kerala in the China Market, Kerala Tourism with a high-profile delegation, along with the travel trade partners from the state, participated in China International Travel Mart (CITM) 2019 at Kunming and also organised two roadshows in Shanghai and Beijing. Kadakamapally Surendran, Minister, Tourism, Kerala, said, “We are trying to ensure brand visibility in East Asian markets using innovative strategies.  China is an important emerging market for Kerala Tourism. In just two decades, it has become the world’s largest outbound travel market, with some 145 million Chinese travellers visiting abroad in 2017.” Apart from Japan, Kerala Tourism is also focusing on Singapore and Japan, and participated in ITB Asia 2019 in Singapore and Tourism Expo Japan, held in Osaka, Japan.  

As a part of MITT 2020, ‘MITT Digital’ will be held on 17 March which will talk about startup technologies for travel agents and tour operators, current technology trends of incoming tourism to Russia etc. MITT Digital programme will also include sessions by leading international and Russian experts about online travel sector, current trends, new opportunities for business, and future or tourism business.

Goldstone Hotels & Resorts has spread its wings in the state of Bihar as the brand is set to launch two new properties; one at Motihari which will open next week and the other one in Patna, which will be unveiled in the next 15 days. Sandeep Singh, Managing Director Goldstone Hotels says, “The brand’s presence in the state was long due and we aim at having at least 7 more properties in Bihar by the end of this financial year to cater to every segment of clientele.”