Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

The Archaeological Survey of India, in an order issued recently, decided to allow photography within the premises of all centrally protected monuments/sites except three which include Ajanta Caves, Leh Palace and Mausoleum of Taj Mahal. This comes in the wake of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi observing that space technology in the modern era has developed to such an extent that one can photograph even minute objects from far off distances, and in this background, it is indeed ironical to restrict the tourists/visitors from taking photographs of their experiences at heritage monuments and sites. He recently inaugurated Dharohar Bhawan, the new headquarters building of ASI at Tilak Marg, New Delhi.

Imparting knowledge through seminars and product updates is key to growing the industry and GPS is doing just that. GPS Ahmedabad opened with a full house of enthusiastic trade members from across West India eager to learn and update their skills. Inaugurated by Bijal Patel, Mayor of Ahmedabad, the show was supported by all regional and national travel associations. Accepting technology with open arms, the travel fraternity in Gujarat welcomed GPS’ paperless mission. B2B meetings are set to kick off on the second day when the buyers meet over 70 exhibitors.

Uzbekistan has started issuing an electronic visa for citizens of 51 countries, including India, to enter the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan, effective July 15, 2018. The issued e-visa is valid for 90 days from the date of its issuance. The application for processing an e-visa must be submitted at least three working days before the planned date of trip to Uzbekistan. The consular fee for processing and issuing an e-visa is $20. Foreign citizens aged under 16, holding an international passport or a biometric travel document, may enter and stay in Uzbekistan for the validity period of the entry visa of the accompanying person, but not longer than 90 days from the date of entry into Uzbekistan. From July 15, the five-day visa-free transit procedure will take effect for the citizens of 101 countries, including India at the Uzbek airports, provided they hold an air ticket to a third country, and the carrier must provide information about passengers to the border authorities of Uzbekistan.

In its monthly luncheon meeting held at The Metropolitan Hotel and Spa, New Delhi, the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) updated its members about its upcoming convention and participation in various roadshows with the Ministry as well as in the India Tourism Mart. Chairing the meeting was Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO; EM Najeeb, Senior Vice President, IATO and Rajesh Mudgill, Honorary Secretary, IATO. They attended to the queries of the members and solved their concerns regarding GST. The IATO Managing Committee also felicitated Ajeet Bajaj and his daughter Diya Bajaj for accomplishing the feat of climbing Mount Everest recently.  

Around 250 regional level guides from different units of India recently attended the Tourist Guides’ Federation of India (TGFI) Annual National Convention in Hyderabad. Representatives from tourism associations like Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) and Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) also marked their presence at the event. The convention held discussions on current tourism policies, tourism promotion, tour guide fee revision, general body elections and cooperation with Ministry of Tourism (MOT) and IATO, etc. Sunita M Bhagwat, IFS, Commissioner, Department of Tourism, Government of Telangana was the chief guest for the inaugural ceremony. Shreevats Sanjay, Regional Director (South), India Tourism; Subhash Goyal, Honorary Secretary, FAITH; K Ranga Reddy, Chairman, IATO Telangana & Andhra Pradesh Chapter; C V Shankar Reddy, Assistant Director, India Tourism were also present at the opening ceremony. TGFI unanimously elected New Executive Body for 2018-2020. Ajay Singh has been elected as the President of the association.

Vietnam Airlines has withdrawn its IATA commission for travel agents applicable for all tickets issued in India, effective July 15, 2018. According to a statement released by the airline, the commission will be reduced from the existing 3 per cent to 0 per cent. Earlier, Oman Air, Jet Airways and Etihad have also have withdrawn IATA commission for agents.

K J Alphons, Minister of State (IC) for Tourism, highlighted that the tourism industry alone has created 14.62 million jobs in India over the last 4 years. The minister met ambassadors from 20 countries in New Delhi to further promote India. Reaching across the world, the ministry of tourism recently conducted roadshows in the USA and will be conducting roadshows in Russia and China. The Moscow office is also slated to open in the next 3-4 months.

In a bid to increase the number of tourist arrivals to India, K J Alphons, Minister of State ( IC) for Tourism, met ambassadors from 20 countries to further promote India. The minister met with ambassadors & diplomatic representatives of various embassies including Austria, Argentina, Bhutan, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Philippines, Brazil, Malaysia, Germany, Indonesia, Finland, Russia, New Zealand, Oman.  He personally made a presentation and showed promotional films further to attract more foreign arrivals to the country. He also highlighted the transformational experience, a visit to India provides. The minister will continue to meet more ambassadors. The newly launched video “Yogi of the Racetrack” has already got 25 million views. Global promotions will continue with films in 9 foreign languages.

Thomas Cook (India) has said that its domestic business is growing at a robust pace of 35-40 per cent, and its share in the total revenue is expected to rise in the next few years. The outbound business currently contributes 80 per cent and is growing at 20-25 per cent, while domestic travel generates the rest, but over the next two-three years, the revenue ratio is expected to change, Romil Pant, Vice President, Thomas Cook (India) said. “I think the share of domestic business is ideally expected to move up to 30 per cent from 20 per cent now in the next two to three years, looking at the growth rate,” he said. Pant was in Kolkata to promote special regional Bengali tours in the city during the Durga Puja festivities. In these tours, managers will use the local dialect, and more such tours in other languages are also planned, such as Assamese, Pant said. Deepening reach is another step to maintain growth momentum, he said, adding, “In the next two to three quarters, the total number of exclusive outlets will touch 300. The major focus would be to expand in Tier-II and tier-III cities,” he said. Pant said about 60-70 per cent of the tours are in the packaged tour segment, while the rest are customised. Customised leisure travel has got traction in recent years and is growing at 30-40 per cent. Source: PTI  

The Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT) has announced a four-city roadshow in July and August in India in alignment with its plan to increase Indian arrivals to the country. The Ministry will begin with its maiden roadshow in Nashik on July 19, followed by Ahmedabad on August 27, Kolkata on August 29 and concluding in New Delhi on August 30. The events will start off with a destination presentation leading to an interactive workshop followed by a press conference with the IMOT team. The Israeli delegation will be led by Hassan Madah, Director, Israel Ministry of Tourism, India & Philippines along with Judah Samuel, Director – Marketing, Israel Ministry of Tourism, India and will include representative partners from the tourism industry of Israel. Hassan Madah said, “Israel is an emerging destination for the Indian traveller and tourist arrivals have been growing progressively over the last couple of years. 2017 was a record breaking year for us with close to 60,000 Indian tourists visiting Israel, and we are constantly striving to increase destination awareness among consumers, Indian travel trade and MICE agents. Besides the source markets, we are looking to focus on cities like Nashik that has immense potential and recently conducted maiden roadshows in Guwahati and Lucknow as well. The plan is to organize 11 roadshows in different cities of India by end of 2018 and successfully introduce and reinforce the varied tourism offerings of Israel.”