According to a state report, almost 12 million tourists visited Telangana last year. And the major part of this number is of religious tourists—almost 3.6 million tourists visited the popular Buddhist, Jain and other religious sites in the state, the report reveals. In 2015, the state attracted double the number of pilgrims as compared to that of 2014. And a huge part of the tourist footfall last year is because of the Godavari Maha Pushkaram, which is observed once in 12 years and received plenty of pilgrims and travellers alike. According to the report, almost 10 lakh domestic and international tourists had taken a dip in the Godavari during the festival.

Products worth more than Rs300 cr were approved in-principle in Uttar Pradesh under Ramayana and Krishna circuits under the Swadesh Darshan scheme. 11 destinations spread across six states under the Ramayana circuit and 12 destinations across five states under the Krishna circuit have been proposed at the first meeting of the National Committee on Ramayan & Krishna circuits. It was held under the chairmanship of the Minister of Tourism & Culture Dr. Mahesh Sharma in the presence of Secretary – Tourism Vinod Zutshi, experts and senior officers of MOT. The destinations proposed under the Ramayana Circuit are Ayodhya, Nandigram, Shringhverpur & Chitrakoot (Uttar Pradesh); Sitamarhi, Buxar & Darbhanga (Bihar); Jagdalpur (Chattisgarh); Bhadrachalam (Telangana); Hampi (Karnataka); and Rameshwaram (Tamil Nadu). Expert committee suggested to include Chitrakoot (Madhya Pradesh), Nashik & Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Mahendragiri (Odisha). Under Krishna circuit, the destinations covered are Dwarka (Gujarat); Nathdwara, Jaipur & Sikar (Rajasthan); Kurukshetra (Haryana), Mathura, Vrindavan, Gokul, Barsana, Nandgaon & Govardhan (Uttar Pradesh); Puri (Odisha). The destinations were approved by the expert committee.

The new Civil Aviation Policy gives a boost to the domestic aviation sector by offering auctioning of unilateral traffic rights and tax incentives. Under the new policy, domestic airlines will be free to enter into code-share agreements with foreign carriers for any destination within India on a reciprocal basis. In fact, the policy has completely liberalised international code share between Indian and foreign carriers. Government will also liberalise the regime of bilateral rights, which in turn would lead to greater ease of doing business and wider choice to passengers. The policy also proposes real time safety tracking. The Civil Aviation Policy is aimed at creating an eco-system to handle 300 million domestic passengers by 2022 and 500 million by 2027, and 200 million international travellers by 2027. India recorded around 139.32 million domestic and over 50 million international air travellers in 2014-15.    

The new Civil Aviation Policy, which got the Cabinet’s clearance today, has made many provisions to boost regional connectivity in India. The policy has proposed increasing connectivity to the country’s smaller towns and cities by offering sops and incentives to airlines to fly on these routes. According to the new policy, a 2 per cent cess in domestic and international tickets for the regional connectivity fund will be set up. Air strips will be refurbished, depending on demand, as no-frills airports. This will be done at a cost not exceeding Rs 50 crore, mostly through AAI. There will be a window system for all aviation related transactions and complaints by aviation regulator DGCA.

The policy proposes a cap in fare of Rs. 2,500 for one-hour flights as the government plans an ecosystem that will lead to an increase in air travel by making it affordable. A cap of Rs 1300 is also put on 30 minute flights. According to the new policy, the centre will refund 80 per cent of the losses incurred by airlines due to the cap in fare on such routes. The policy has a slew of passenger friendly measures, offering respite to frequent flyers. The new policy comes after the tourism secretary had promised last month that the new policy will address issues of regional connectivity aggressively and in a fulfilling manner.

The much debated 5/20 rule has been replaced by 0/20 rule in the new civil aviation policy, which has been cleared today by the Cabinet. The new rule allows the airlines to fly foreign sector if it has 20 aircraft and without flying domestic sector for 5 years. The news brings a wave of cheer for start-up airlines. in fact, the new rule would also bring competition in the aviation market. The 0/20 rule is in line with what the Civil Aviation Minister, Ashok Gajapathy Raju claimed. He had said that the new policy would offer a level playing field for every airline company.

The Union Cabinet has given a go-ahead to the much-awaited Civil Aviation Policy, which is believed to bring many passenger friendly measures, promote regional connectivity and give the much-needed boost to the domestic aviation sector. The policy draft was first unveiled by the NDA government in November 2014, and was subsequently replaced with another draft in October 2015. The policy was to be implemented in the last financial year, but there were delays on account of difficulties in striking a balance between different key stakeholders, over issues like 5/20 rule that allows a carrier to fly abroad only if it has 20 aircraft and has flown domestic for five years.

Lemon Tree Hotels is all set to cash in on growing Indian tourists and corporate travel to the UAE, as it plans to operate eight properties in the next three years in the region. The company will be opening a mix of hotels and serviced apartments in Abu Dhabi, Fujairah and Dubai, where it expects to operate its first property. According to Rattan Keswani, Deputy Managing Director, Lemon Tree Hotels, they are trying to harness the spending power of Indians through this development. Lemon Tree has tied up with the Sydney-based real estate agent Raine and Horne to open Lemon Tree properties in the region, including in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The company, which operates properties under the Lemon Tree and Red Fox brands, said the planned hotels would have between 60 and 100 rooms on average, and could include pool, spa and up to three restaurants. Lemon Tree Hotels is also looking at Sri Lanka and the Thai capital Bangkok. Sanjay Chimnani, MD, Raine and Horne, said it would be looking at neighbourhoods in Dubai such as Jaddaf, Business Bay, City Walk, Al Barsha, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Jebel Ali and Jumeirah Village Circle to open more properties.

Ras Al Khaimah has recorded a growth of 37 per cent in visitor arrivals from India during the period of January to April 2016, a remarkable surge over the same period last year, according to Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (TDA). The positive figures indicate that 2016 is witnessing a strong start from India, the fourth largest international inbound market for Ras Al Khaimah. In line with the current tourism development strategy, Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Authority recently conducted roadshows and one-on-one interactions with Indian travel trade partners to educate them about the tourist offerings of the emirate. Haitham Mattar, CEO of Ras Al Khaimah TDA, said, “As part of our tourism strategy to attract 1 million visitors to Ras Al Khaimah by the end of 2018, we place great importance on diversifying our source markets and creating sustainable tourism growth. Our recent trade missions and industry partnerships in India are a key part of our strategy, and have resulted in a positive increase in visitor arrivals from India. We recently launched our new brand positioning which emphasizes Ras Al Khaimah’s natural assets, luxurious indulgence, range of activities for different types of travellers, and authentic Arabian heritage and culture. We are very hopeful that visitors from India will continue to grow as more leisure and business travellers discover the emirate’s unique offerings.” Furthermore, in the first quarter of 2016, Ras Al Khaimah’s hotels reported an occupancy rate of 71%, up by 18% over Q1 2015. Coupled with a 9.2 per cent year-on-year increase in RevPAR, this demonstrates the highest growth across the GCC region.

Sunil Kumar, President of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has revealed that the association has met and proposed to the Ministry of Tourism in Delhi to create a specialist programme for India for its inbound and domestic tour operator members. He said, “We have suggested to the MOT to create a programme called ‘India Specialist’ for our members like we have done for other countries like Turkey and South Africa. We have spoken to the Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi about this. We will send a detailed white paper proposal to the ministry and expect an agreement and confirmation to follow once the government has approved the programme. Since TAAI is the only travel trade association with 20 regional units with over 2300 members, we will be able to train around 2,000 agents and operators at one go. We want to launch this in a few months as government procedures take time. We have to set up the curriculum for this and invite the MoT to extend their blessings to us and certify this programme.” He added that TAAI will launch this in phases.