Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Development of Northeastern Region, DoNER, Minister G. Kishan Reddy has said that the government has placed development of the northeastern region as a foremost priority through the ‘Act East’ initiative. During a virtual event, the Minister interacted with entrepreneurs and potential startups. He urged the business community to confidently carry the message of ‘investment ready North East’ across the country and beyond. Reddy felt that the Northeastern region now has the opportunity to lead the development journey of New India.

G Kamala Vardhana Rao, Director General, Tourism, has shared that recently, MOT has come out with the formation of tourism clubs in schools and colleges. “These clubs will make a calendar of events, which will include adventure tourism activities. We are trying to tell them to have more curriculum and activities under adventure tourism. State governments are trying to promote these activities and I am sure these tourisms clubs will give the much-needed orientation to the students. Future generations will see the result of all our efforts,” he claimed.

The travel services market share in India is expected to increase by USD 11.11 billion from 2020 to 2025, and the market’s growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 11.55%. This travel services market research report of India provides valuable insights on the post COVID-19 impact on the market, which will help companies evaluate their business approaches. Furthermore, this report extensively covers market segmentation by service (domestic flight services, hotel accommodation services, rail ticket services, cab services, and others) and booking (online and offline).

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, has said that the MOT has increased the use of digital ticketing at all the state managed monuments, which includes all the UNESCO World Heritage sites. “This step has not  to not only avoid long lines, but also to make sure that you can just plan your travel better, safer and with much more hygiene. Therefore, looking at investment in India is the right thing to do at this time,” she claimed.

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, has said that as they gear up for increased tourist footfalls, both domestic and international, they need to focus on the fact that the tourists that we will see in 2022-23 are bound to be different from the ones that visited in 2019. “Covid-19 has re-shaped our thought processes, and many people have started looking at alternate options to where they would have travelled in 2019. They are choosing more open green areas to travel in 2022. Also, the new age tourists are much more tech-savvy, owing to the pandemic, fuelled digitization and are very conscious about their health and safety. Hence, we need to work to make sure that the needs of the travelers and tourists post-pandemic are adequately met,” she added.

Rajiv Jalota, Chairman, Mumbai Port Trust, has said that according to a study initiated by them, by 2042-43, a growth of more than 10-12 times with 40 lakh cruise passengers is predicted, out of which over 20 lakh will be domestic cruise passengers. Domestic cruises have bigger potential from infrastructure point of view. It would need smaller vessels and less infrastructural availability.

Sunil C Gupta, Chairman-Northern Region, IATO revealed that there have been two corporate charters on Maharaja Express in December, which was almost 2 years after the luxury train operated in March 2020. “It’s the best train in India on IRCTC. This opens another avenue for incentives to happen on luxury trains. It’s a great idea, which has caught on and more groups are likely to operate in May-June, once things normalise,” he said.

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, has said that the role of the state or national authority would be to incentivise the sustainable practices by local stakeholders and also to popularize responsibility and talk about responsible travel amongst tourists. Singh was speaking at the ‘World Majlis: Off the Beaten Path – Travel in the 21st Century’ session during the India Tourism Fortnight at Expo 2020.

Sumita Saroch, JD, Tourism, Rajasthan, speaking at the Expo 2020, has said that Rajasthan offers multiple picturesque settings and culture. During her presentation, she showcased Rajasthan as a social events destination. “Rajasthan Tourism Policy 2020 strongly focuses on promotion of wedding tourism in the state,” she said while presenting the various offerings and facilities for such events.

WTTCII, appoints executive committee members for 2022-23 with Dinesh Khanna, Executive Director,Eastern International Hotels Ltd, as Chairman and Deep Kalra, Founder and Executive Chairman, MakemyTrip as Vice Chairman. Dinesh Khanna takes over from Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, Spicejet who served as Chairman of WTTCII for 2020-21.