India secured three Gold awards in the Marketing Media category of the 2016 PATA Grand and Gold Awards. The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) announced that Kerala Tourism will receive two Gold awards, one for the state’s tourism E-Newsletter and one for Visit Kerala’s Travel Advertisement Broadcast Media while SOTC’s Luxury Travel division Perfect Moments will receive the PATA Gold Award 2016 for the Consumer Travel Brochure. Dr. Mario Hardy, PATA CEO, commented, “This year’s winners exemplify the values of the Association in working towards a more responsible travel and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region and we look forward to celebrating their accomplishments at the PATA Gold Awards luncheon and presentation at PATA Travel Mart 2016 in Indonesia.” To be held on September 9, 2016, during PATA Travel Mart 2016 in Greater Jakarta, this year’s awards recognise the achievements of 26 separate organisations and individuals.

Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has approved projects worth Rs. 275 crore for the development of Krishna and Heritage circuit in Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme. The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) for the Swadesh Darshan Scheme met under the chairmanship of Vinod Zutshi, Secretary – Tourism where senior officers of MOT and State Governments of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Haryana participated in the meeting. Under Krishna Circuit in State of Rajasthan, the sites of Shrinath Ji (Nathdwara), Govind Devji (Jaipur), Kanak Vrindavan (Jaipur), Charan Mandir (Jaipur), Galtaji Temple Complex (Jaipur), and Khatu Shyam (Sikar) are covered with total project cost of approximately Rs. 98.00 Crore. Sites located in and around Kurukshetra (Haryana) have been included in Krishna Circuit for State of Haryana. Major thrust areas of development for sites of Jyotisar, Brahma Sarovar, Sannhit Sarovar, Narkatari: Baan Ganga, Amin: Abhimanyu Ka Tila are bathing ghat facilities (lockers, changing rooms, etc.), construction of Mahabharata Theme Park, multi-purpose tourist information centre, among many others. The total project cost for integrated development of Krishna Circuit in Haryana is estimated at Rs. 96.00 Crore. The Heritage circuit of Gujarat focuses on Gandhi theme, covering sites of Ahmedabad (Kochrab Ashram,Sabarmati Ashram,Dandi bridge, ) Rajkot (Alfred High School, Kaba Gandhi no Delo, Rashtriya Shala ), Porbandar (Kirti Mandir), Bardoli (Sardar Patel Museum) and Dandi (Gandhi Smriti railway station,Karadi village,Dandi Memorial). The total cost of the project is estimated at Rs. 80.00 crore.

The National Green Tribunal’s order to deregister diesel vehicles older than 10 years in Delhi and NCR will not have a major impact on tourism, says Krishan Dutt Yadav, President, Indian Tourist Transporters Association (ITTA). “There will be no significant impact on tourism with this ban as most of the taxis that we operate for tourists have a life of maximum nine years and are generally changed after five years. However the actual problem is the sluggish procedure for reissuance of national permits after five years. There is no clarification on the reissuance of these permits which leaves the taxis and heavy duty vehicles dysfunctional,” Dutt says. According to media reports, the NGT order to deregister diesel vehicles older than 10 years in Delhi and NCR could take away 70 per cent of the goods carriage fleet of the capital and nearly 90 per cent of its private chartered buses. Besides, around 11,500 buses would have to be deregistered. That’s 88% of the 13,000 diesel buses registered with the department. Earlier this year, the court had allowed diesel vehicle owners to get an NOC and dispose of their vehicles. However, whether this would still be applicable to the vehicles nearing 10 years or not needs to be clarified, officials said. According to figures with the transport department, there are 2.82 lakh diesel vehicles in Delhi which will be impacted by the NGT order. Of these, 1.61 lakh are private vehicles.

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) will be coming up with an web portal to provide an online selling platform to its members. Marzban Antia, Vice President, TAAI, said, “Small agents cannot afford a website or a travel portal. Hence, we at TAAI are forming a TAAI portal, under the proprietorship of the association, which will bring around 100-1000 agents together. When these many agents will be selling their products on that forum, it will certainly give a jerk to many existing OTAs. It’s in a very initial stage as of now, but once it is out it will empower many small agents.”

India Tourism is the Premier Partner for World Travel Market London 2016, as it looks to promote the diverse tourism product the country offers. Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, said, “India is privileged to be Premier Partner of WTM London 2016. The event is the perfect platform to promote the diverse tourism products the country has to offer, from cultural heritage to beaches, cruises, eco-tourism, medical tourism and religious tourism and to showcase that India is truly “Incredible”. “There is an ever-increasing amount of new and exciting products to educate the world’s leading buyers about. WTM London is an event when the Indian tourism stakeholders get to meet the world’s buyers and sign business agreements. The Ministry of Tourism and the Indian exhibitors look forward to a very successful WTM London 2016.”The Indian Government has in the last 18 months invested more than $300 million on developing its tourism infrastructure around the country as it aims for more than 13 million visitors a year by 2020. India is experiencing a 10 per cent annual growth in foreign tourist arrivals this year taking visitor numbers to a projected nine million in 2016. The Ministry of Tourism will be looking to speak to WTM Buyers’ Club members from its key source markets of the USA, UK, China, Australia, France, Germany, Canada and Spain as well as the growing markets of South East Asia, the Middle East and Russia. The key to India’s strategy is also to focus on a variety of products including heritage, cultural, rural, wellness, medical, adventure, and golf. A special focus is being put on coastal and beach tourism, cruise and eco-tourism. The government is developing …

UNWTO forecasts international tourist arrivals to increase by 3.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent over 2016, in line with UNWTO’s long-term projection of 3.8 per cent growth a year for the period 2010 to 2020. Asia and the Pacific (+9%) recorded the highest growth in international arrivals across world regions in January-April 2016, according to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. South-East Asia and Oceania both achieved 10 per cent growth, while arrivals in North-East Asia increased by 8 per cent and in South Asia by 7 per cent. Destinations worldwide received 348 million international tourists (overnight visitors) between January and April 2016, some 18 million more than the same period last year (+5.3%). This follows an increase of 4.6 per cent in 2015, and could make 2016 the seventh consecutive year of above-average growth, with international arrivals increasing by 4 per cent or more every year following the crisis in 2009. “Results show a strong desire to travel and this continues to drive tourism growth. Destinations keep benefitting from solid demand across all world regions despite ongoing challenges, showing that tourism is a dynamic and resilient economic sector,” said UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. “Yet, despite these good results, the tragic events of recent months remind us that safety and security remain a major challenge for all. We must continue to work closely together to address this global threat and ensure tourism is an integral part of emergency planning and response at global, regional and national level,” added Rifai.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) during the month of June 2016 were 5.50 lakh as compared to FTAs of 5.12 lakh during the month of June 2015, registering a growth of 7.3 per cent. FTAs during the period January-June 2016 were 41.86 lakh with a growth of 8.9 per cent as compared to the FTAs of 38.45 lakh with a growth of 3.7 per cent in January-June, 2015 over the same period in the previous year. The percentage share of FTAs in India among the top five source countries was highest from USA (22.20%), followed by Bangladesh (20.69%), UK (6.84%), Malaysia (3.90%) and Sri Lanka (3.20%). While Delhi Airport (24.69%) recorded the highest share in FTAs, Mumbai Airport (16.76%), Haridaspur Land check post (11.99%), Chennai Airport (10.90%) and Bengaluru Airport (7.74%) followed after. With Rs 10,732 crore, FEEs for June also saw an increase of 12.2 per cent over the same month in 2015. FEEs from tourism in rupee terms during January- June, 2016 were Rs 73,065 crore with a growth of 14.1 per cent as compared to the FEE of Rs 64,035 crore with a growth of 8.3 per cent during January- June, 2015 over January- June, 2014.

Turkish Airlines has resumed all its flights including those to and from the United States of America. By July 19, 2016, all Turkish Airlines flight schedule will be back to normal. Turkish Airlines Media Relations Office announced that FAA removed the recent order of all airline carriers, regardless of country of registry, are prohibited from flying into the US from Turkey either directly or via third country. Accordingly, all scheduled Turkish Airlines flights to the US will resume starting as of July 19, 2016, with Turkish Airlines Istanbul – NYC flight at 06:45 am. Turkish Airlines Chairman of the Board and the Executive Committee İlker Aycı stated that, “Earlier today I had stated that we saw no reason for the ban as all precautions were in line with the norms. Following our recent report and dense meetings, FAA removed the ban as expected.” Following the illegal failed coup attempt in Turkey, on July 16th 2016 at noon hours FAA had issued a ban of “all airline carriers, regardless of country of registry, are prohibited from flying into the United States from Turkey either directly or via third country.”

The Travel Agents Association of India has relaxed its rules for Active Category Membership and will be offering active membership to all IATA affiliated agents with or without having completed a year from the company operations. This was decided at the recently held TAAI Managing Committee Meeting, where it was discussed that in order to increase the Active Category Membership of our esteemed Association, prospective members who have got IATA can immediately apply for Active Category Membership With TAAI within one year itself and no need to complete one year from the company operations. According to a statement from TAAI, while applying for new Active Category Membership With TAAI, such members can attach the financial documents which they had submitted to IATA along with the other relevant documents pertaining to new membership.

Bangladesh is likely to allow India’s passenger and cruise vessels through its waterways helping the landlocked northeast to have better connectivity. Md. Shahriar Alam, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh, reportedly announced that the two countries were planning to start a movement of passenger and cruise vessels on coastal shipping routes and a memorandum of understanding is to be signed between New Delhi and Dhaka for the same. The Indo-Bangla coastal shipping agreement has opened up new avenues of connectivity and trade facilitation. The declaration by Alam comes amid a spate of other initiatives over the past couple of years that have allowed India transit rights through Bangladesh for better connectivity between the Northeast and other parts of India. The Indo-Bangla MoU on the use of Chittagong and Mongla ports by India would further enhance connectivity not only bilaterally but also sub-regionally when Nepal and Bhutan become part of the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) initiative. BBIN is a sub-regional architecture of countries in South Asia to formulate, implement and review quadrilateral agreements across areas such as water resources management, connectivity of power, transport and infrastructure. BBIN signed a Motor Vehicles Agreement last year. It enables vehicles to enter any of the four nations without the need for trans-shipment of goods from one country’s truck to another’s at the border. Under the system, cargo vehicles are tracked electronically; permits are issued online and sent electronically to all land ports. Source: Economic Times