Category Archives: MOT

Tourism Secretary Rashmi Verma announced that in May the ministry witnessed a 19 per cent increase in inbound tourist numbers despite it being peak summer. She informed that MOT has created a GST cell two days ago to address the industry issues. “We want to handhold the industry through the transition from current tax regime to the new GST regime and solve any hurdles through this,” she said. The much-awaited National Tourism policy would most probably be released before World Tourism Day commemorated on September 27, she added. Verma said that the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet had suggested some changes in the draft policy which have been incorporated and will releasing it soon. This was revealed during a special session on GST organised by the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) for its members, which was attended by members from Central Board of Excise & Customs, Govt. of India. The government officials addressed the issues related to tour operators and explained to them the intricacies of the GST regime and how would it affect them. The event was also a farewell from IATO to former secretary tourism Vinod Zutshi, where they also welcomed the new secretary Rashmi Verma.

The Ministry of Culture has offered a total of 116 ASI monuments to the Ministry of Tourism (MOT), which would then be open to PPP model, it was revealed by Rashmi Verma, Secretary of Tourism, in a meeting with FAITH recently. Under the PPP model, these monuments will be taken over by private players for the upkeep, maintenance and to be illuminated for night tourism as well.

During the month of April 2017, total of 1.14 lakh tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 0.7 lakh during the month of April 2016, registering a growth of 63.4 per cent. The January-April 2017 period saw a total of 5.82 lakh tourists who availed e-Tourist Visa as compared to 3.91 lakh during January-April 2016, registering a growth of 48.8 per cent. Tourists from UK (21.6%) availed the most number of eTVs, followed by USA (10.2%), China (6.1%), Russian Fed (6.1%) and France (5.1%). The top five ports in tourist arrivals on e-TV during April, 2017 were New Delhi Airport (48.6%), Mumbai Airport (20.4%), Dabolim (Goa) Airport (7.2%), Bengaluru Airport (5.4%) and Chennai Airport (5.1%). The number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in April 2017 were 7.40 lakh as compared to FTAs of 5.99 lakh in April 2016 with a growth rate of 23.5 per cent. FTAs during the period January- April 2017 were 35.85 lakh with a growth of 15.4 per cent, as compared to the FTAs of 31.08 lakh with a growth rate of 10.1 per cent. The percentage share of FTAs in India during April 2017 among the top five source countries was highest from Bangladesh (23.07%) followed by USA (10.65%), UK (10.51%), Germany (3.28%) and Australia (3.15%), while the percentage share among the top five ports was highest at Delhi Airport (29.20%) followed by Mumbai Airport (15.48%), Haridaspur Land checkpost (12.88%), Chennai Airport (6.56%) and Bengaluru Airport (5.67%).

Rashmi Verma (IAS), of 1982 batch from Bihar Cadre, has joined as the new Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. Before this, Verma was serving as the Secretary in Ministry of Textiles. Not new to tourism, she has previously served as the Chairman & MD of Bihar Tourism Department as well as Additional Director in Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. She will be replacing N. K. Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Culture, who had taken up the additional charge as Secretary Tourism after Vinod Zutshi retired from the position.

The number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in March, 2017 were 9.05 lakh as compared to FTAs of 8.17 lakh in March, 2016 and 7.29 lakh in March, 2015. The growth rate in FTAs in March, 2017 over March, 2016 is 10.7% compared to 12.1% in March, 2016 over March, 2015. During March, 2017 total of 1.46 lakh tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 1.16 lakh during the month of March 2016 registering a growth of 25.8%. During January-March 2017, a total of 4.67 lakh tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 3.21 lakh during January-March 2016, registering a growth of 45.6%. The percentage shares of top 15 source countries availing e- Tourist Visa facilities during  March, 2017 were as follows: UK (21.5%), USA (11.8%), Russian Fed (10.3%), France (6.4%), China (6.2%), Germany (4.8%), Canada (3.7%), Australia (3.7%), Korea (Rep.of) (2.2%), South Africa (1.9%), Malaysia (1.7%), Singapore (1.7%), Spain (1.6%), Netherlands (1.5%) and Japan (1.3%). The percentage shares of top 15 ports in tourist arrivals on e-Tourist Visa during March, 2017 were as follows: New Delhi Airport (46.5%), Mumbai Airport (17.1%), Dabolim (Goa) Airport (13.8%), Chennai Airport (5.5%), Bengaluru Airport (4.8%), Kochi Airport (2.9%), Kolkata Airport (2.3%), Amritsar Airport (1.8%),Hyderabad Airport (1.7%), Trivandrum Airport (1.2%), Ahmadabad Airport (1.0%), Tirchy Airport (0.6%), Jaipur Airport (0.6%),Gaya Airport (0.1%)and Luck now Airport(0.1%) . FTAs during the period January-March 2017 were 28.45 lakh with a growth of 13.4%, as compared to the FTAs of 25.08 lakh with a growth of 10.0% in January- March 2015 over January- March 2014. The percentage share of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India during March 2017 among the top 15 source countries was highest from …

The country’s first Medical and Wellness Policy will be launched on June 21, 2017, announced Dr Mahesh Sharma, Union Minister – Tourism and Culture, Govt. of India at a press conference in New Delhi. The policy will be instrumental in streamlining the process for making India a preferred medical and wellness destination, owing to its affordability and quality of services. The Board had recently held its second meeting with various stakeholders to discuss the framework of the policy. As many as 201,333 foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India on Medical Visa were recorded in 2016, while there were 1,34,344 FTAs in 2015 and 75,688 FTAs in 2014.

The Ministry of Tourism will host the Grand Finale of “Smart India Hackathon” on April 1-2, 2017, in Kochi, Kerala, featuring 53 teams comprising of 230 students from technology institution/engineering colleges across the country. The Smart India Hackathon is being held across 26 cities in the country including Kochi with the involvement and support of 29 government departments. This Hackathon is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resources Development organised in collaboration with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and i4c and is aimed to help institutionalise the model of harnessing the creativity and technical expertise of youth in technical institutions. The Hackathon for Tourism sector, to be held at the Mar Baselios Institute of Technology and Science [MBITS], Kothmangalam, Cochin, will focus on the use of technology to solve problem statements pertaining to Tourism Sector posed by Ministry of Tourism such as Safety & Security of Tourist, Path breaking technological solutions that would catapult India as a leading tourist destination, Museum Commentary etc. The problem statements pertaining to tourism sector were given directly by the Ministry of Tourism based on the industry requirements which will be used to challenge the students for developing innovative digital solutions. The newly developed solutions/technical products will be evaluated by experts and prizes shall be distributed for winners, 1st runner up and 2nd runner up. After the event, the Ministry of Tourism will prepare a plan of action for integrating the products/software which has come out this hackathon into the Departmental functioning.

As many as 201,333 foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India on Medical Visa were recorded in 2016, while there were 1,34,344 FTAs in 2015 and 75,688 FTAs in 2014. This information was given by Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Tourism and Culture (Independent Charge) in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. In order to simplify and speed up the procedure of obtaining Visa for tourists coming to India for medical purposes, the Government of India has extended the facility of e-Medical Visa. Other measures taken by the Government to facilitate the tourists coming through e- Medical Visa are: Extension of duration of stay for upto 6 months may be granted on case to case basis on merits of each case by the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO)/Foreigners Registration Officer (FRO) concerned. Triple entry will be permitted as against single entry earlier. In case of emergency, if Medical Visa is recommended by an accredited hospital in India, Indian Missions/Posts abroad should decide on such request within 48 hours of getting the application.

The e-visa facility for film enthusiasts has now been principally approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The visa can now be availed under the category of film tourism. This was informed by Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism. He further added that the procedure of availing this facility will be similar to those for eTV for business and medical tourism. On the need to increase accommodation facilities in the country, Billa said, “The last time we counted, we are short of almost 200,000 hotel rooms in India and this gap has to be filled at a faster rate than the time it takes to build these properties. I believe homestays can play a big role in this aspect and alternative accommodations like OYO Rooms, Airbnb etc., can also fill the gap. A regulatory framework will be introduced by the Ministry of Tourism to uphold acceptable standards and quality of service and open lucrative accommodation choices for the travellers. We will accredit these accommodations as per the standards required.”

The number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals in February 2017 was 9.56 lakh as compared to FTAs of 8.47 lakh in February, 2016 registering a growth rate of 13.0 per cent in comparison to the previous year. The highest arrival numbers were from Bangladesh (17.46%) followed by UK (12.20%), USA (11.83%), Russian Fed. (4.29%) and Canada (4.26%). Delhi Airport received the most number of FTAs (31.86%) followed by Mumbai Airport (16.10%), Haridaspur Land checkpost (9.44%), Chennai Airport (6.72%) and Goa Airport (5.58%). FTAs during the period January- February 2017 were 19.40 lakh with a growth of 14.7 per cent, as compared to the FTAs of 16.91 lakh in January- February 2016.