Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Sharing plans for the India market, Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head – MEISEA, South African Tourism, says, “The fact that we are seeing a huge uptake for travel with forward bookings is evidence of the potential India has. To tap into the millennial market and families, we have some high-end activations in the pipeline.” The NTO will conduct its first-ever virtual roadshow from Oct 20-22, 2021.

Ministry of Tourism (MOT) is targeting last-mile connectivity through Viability Gap Funding to MoCA under RCS UDAN scheme, revealed Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism. “We are also discussing with the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways for improving road connectivity to important destinations,” he added while speaking at the World Tourism Day celebration.

In an attempt to revive tourism and reboot the travel business in the eastern part of India, the Skål International Kolkata elected its new management team for the next season 2021 – 2023. Skål International clubs worldwide consist of travel and tourism industry company owners and decision makers, thought leaders and industry influencers at the highest level. At present India has 14 Skål International clubs which work very closely under a national leadership team with all the global tourism entities in support of their members’ good business. At its Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Kolkata on September 23, the new Skål International Kolkata committee re-elected Sk Sanjeev Mehra as the President, Sk Amin Asghar as the First Vice President, Sk Punam Arora as the Second Vice President, Sk June Mukherjee as the Secretary, Sk Jay Saraogi in Membership Development, Sk Pramod Lunawat and Sk Avanti Chattoraj as Auditors, Sk Sreemoyee Mitra in PR & Communications, Sk Avijit Sarkar in CSR and Sk Ritu Jolly in charge of Young Skål. With an ambitious objective ahead to bid for the Skål World Congress in 2024, the new team will now work towards bringing the world travel community in the city of joy. Sk Manav Soni, the past President of the club is now the Skal IPP and represents Skal at the international level. The Skål International India President Sk Carl Vaz was present in the occasion held at the Taj Bengal Hotel and expressed his confidence that the young and dynamic Skål International Kolkata team will not only take the club to a newer height but will also make a significant contribution to the overall sustainable tourism industry revival. Skål International …

Under the banner of AlUla Moments, AlUla’s events calendar published today highlights four festivals including Winter at Tantora which is back by popular demand and celebrates heritage, AlUla Skies, AlUla Arts and AlUla’s Wellness Festival.  The festivals will offer curated experiences of art, culture, music, nature, wellness, equestrian, gastronomy and astronomy. The events will include free and ticketed experiences, with tickets and information available at experiencealula.com. The four distinct festivals will commence on 21 December and run through to 30 March against the backdrop of AlUla’s many timeless wonders. Musical performances will also be back in AlUla with Maraya taking centre stage again as the venue for regional and international acts starting from this October. Winter at Tantora, the very first music and arts festival in the Kingdom returns – now in a six-week format. A stunning Candlelit Symphonic Concert at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hegra will set the tone for the festival season as the opening event.  Equestrian events will include the eagerly awaited new haute couture horse fashion event, Ikmah Fashion Calvary, the return of the competitive Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Endurance Race and the oh-so-chic AlUla Desert Polo. A new Citrus Festival will celebrate AlUla produce and the Harrat Observation Deck with Back to Black restaurant will offer stunning sunrise and sunset views of AlUla from the top of the Harrat Uwayrid. Archaeology and cultural workshops will be introduced at the heritage sites, there will be live immersion shows at AlUla Old Town and in the oasis. Winter at Tantora will run from 21 December to 12 February. From February 2021, the AlUla Arts festival will bring together exhibitions and encounters created by …

Inclusive tourism must be the way forward, especially after COVID. Currently, tourism only benefits a very small marginal section of the society and the community in large is totally left out. It’s not just for COVID times, but for other times as well, there should be an inclusive approach, starting from the government, and I am sure it will have sustainability. For inclusive tourism, it’s the people of the land who should be stakeholders in the activity of tourism, and not remain just menial employees. In fact, whenever a new destination is being developed, it would be the ideal space to work on this, in the right earnest. Also, if all hotels localise their purchase, it would help the local economy. Hotels can do partnership with the local communities or help the local government where there could be activities to support.

I would like to see more community-based tourism, for it to become a central feature, with its rich cultural, historic and tribal heritages. This can only be done by catalysing local communities/villages to bring together their key assets and own them – to ensure they are not exploited – so ensure that visitors can become a force for good in their lives. Tour operators can also contribute to building and developing sustainable tourism. They play a critical role in informing clients, in highlighting places, working with destinations and indirectly influence clients to make better, more informed decisions. This will ensure client are satisfied and the local destination will be the primary beneficiary.

I believe that India is already late but thanks to corona, the travel and tourism fraternity is now talking about inclusive tourism. Tourism without benefits to the local communities is not fair tourism but exploitative tourism. While the world can talk about sustainable tourism or eco-tourism, India has a privilege of talking about regenerative tourism because we had it implanted in our community and day-to-day life, but we lost it. Hence, we need to regenerate and go back to where we were. INDeco Hotels established rural tourism way back in the 90s and we saw development. For Indian villages, rural tourism is a magic wand that can resolve many of development issues. I strongly believe that it should be taken seriously and see what we can do to make it effective nationwide.

It’s good thing that UNWTO has recognised inclusiveness as the theme. For a country like India, we are looking at tourism and hospitality providing a huge amount of employment opportunities across the socio-economic spectrum. It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to work with a strategic focus on creating inclusiveness in our sector because in India the experiential possibilities, in terms of magnitude and offerings, are immense. This provide us an amazing opportunity to work at the grassroot level to ensure community involvement and to make sure that there are many benefits that can flow back to society, at large through inclusive tourism.

One must consider local needs when it comes to tourism. In responsible or inclusive tourism, local people try to come out and enhance their skills to suit the needs of 5-star properties in the area. In Kumarakom, Kerala for example, local self-help groups by ladies prepare fish and supply vegetables, linen, drinking water and coconut water to 5-star hotels. There are around seven 5-star hotels and over 200 hotels in Kumarakom and the supply chain management has been taken over by the local population. Local institutions and state governments have given this training to them. Hence, I insist that state governments should actively get involved into developing responsible tourism. Need-based tourism and skill development is essential.

I am proud that our state has taken the lead in agri-tourism. The concept of 30% Krishi Yojana proposed by the Agriculture Minister Dadasaheb Bhuse for women farmers is highly commendable. More than 60% of the country’s population engages in agriculture and it is crucial to link agriculture to tourism. Agri-tourism is instrumental for employment generation and economic improvement especially in these pandemic times when people have lost jobs. Agri-tourism has given us the opportunity to bring together the two major sectors: tourism and agriculture. The current pandemic offers an opportunity to grow agri-tourism in India. One of the safest ways to enjoy travel right now is to visit rural areas, experience rural life and enjoy clean environment.