Rupinder Brar, ADG, Ministry of Tourism, will be chairing the first meeting of the Northeastern committee of tourism stakeholders in Guwahati on 19th March. “We have created a small dedicated group of people to work in the Northeast. We will bring the people who will help us craft itineraries and small promotional campaigns for the entire Northeast” she said.  

The Ministry of Tourism has launched the Swadesh Darshan Scheme for Integrated Development of theme-based Tourist Circuits for the development of tourism infrastructure in the country. The Coastal Circuit, which includes beaches, is one of the thematic circuits identified for development under this scheme. The information was given by Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.  

Uttar Pradesh Tourism will be revamping five well-known pilgrim sites to provide enhanced facilities to for the benefits and convenience of pilgrims and travellers. These sites are Chitrakoot, Naimisharanya, Shakumbari Devi, Vidhyanchal, and Shukratirtha. he state government is also planning development of Shakumbhari Devi at Saharanpur and Shukra Tirtha at Muzaffarnagar in a bid to promote tourism in the region.

Under the provisions of the Trekking Traction Center Home-Stay Scheme-2020 by the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, 32 villages have been notified for development under the Trekking traction scheme.  Ghutu of district Tehri, Budkedar, Pantwadi, Dar of Pithoragarh district, Pangu, Tapovan of Chamoli district, and all villages of district Rudraprayag  have been notified to provide benefits of the scheme to eligible persons.

In its bid to strengthen regional connectivity, IndiGo has announced Rajkot as its newest destination. The airline will operate direct flights from Rajkot to Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad as part of its summer 2021 schedule, w.e.f 28th March.  

Indiatourism Hyderabad organised a familiarisation trip for 10 tour operators from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to Chhattisgarh as part of promotion of Dekho Apna Desh initiative of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India from 11th to 14th March 2021 and fully supported by Chhattisgarh Tourism Board. The trip was led by Satrupa Dutta, Asst. Director, Indiatourism Hyderabad.

TravelBullz has signed up Bangalore Classic Tours and Travels as GSA for South Indian market for enhancing reach and expansion across South India. The move will allow travel partners to increase their product portfolio and earn more revenue with the advanced B2B booking engine provided by TravelBullz. Bangalore Classic founded by Amarnath N is serving the industry since 1983.  

Vishwas Makhija, President, ATOAI said that the Adventure Travel Operators Associations of India (ATOAI) has reviewed and restructured its sub-committees. “ATOAI Committee Formations have been completed, we need more active participation in our committees as we move ahead.” He also informed about the total revamp of the ATOAI website for which the work has already begun.

Rating agency ICRA in a note said that the domestic airport sector is expected to incur a net loss of Rs 5,400 crore, and cash loss of Rs 3,500 crore in FY21, impacted by a 66% year-on-year slip in passenger traffic amid COVID-19 induced travel restrictions. It also said the domestic passenger traffic may drop by 61% in 2020-21.

Sharing plans for fleet numbers, Vinod Kannan, CCO, Vistara says, “We have not cancelled any deliveries. We are still taking aircraft. In fact, over the last couple of years, we’ve taken about seven or eight of them. Very importantly, we took deliveries of the 787s and the 321s. We have two, each of them, in our fleet right now. We remain committed to the order book of about 70-plus aircraft in the next couple of years.”