Category Archives: MOT

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) is observing a Swachhta Pakhwada (cleanliness fortnight) from September 16-30, 2016, to create awareness of the need for cleanliness in all walks of life. The officers and staff of MOT will undertake cleaning of 10 pre-selected tourist sites in the afternoon during this period. In addition to the cleaning, the officers and staff will carry out cleaning in and around Transport Bhawan and C-1 Hutments and weeding out of old documents and files to achieve ‘Swachh’ office environment. An essay competition on the topic of cleanliness will be organised on September 24 in English and on September 25 in Hindi. Considering the importance of September 27 being the World Tourism Day, MOT will organise a ‘Run for Swachh Paryatan from Transport Bhawan to India Gate with the participation of the public, students and faculty of the Institutes of Ministry of Tourism as well as the officers and staff of the Ministry. Awards and Appreciation Certificates would be distributed on World Tourism Day to the best maintained or cleanest offices at head quarter, regional and domestic offices of MOT to acknowledge and encourage the efforts made towards cleanliness.  

The government has approved projects to the tune of Rs. 500 crore for tourist infrastructural development in Jammu and Kashmir. The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) chaired by Union Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi for the ‘Swadesh Darshan Scheme’ approved projects to the tune of Rs. 500 crore as part of Development Package of Prime Minister Reconstruction Plan (PMRP) for integrated development of tourism in Jammu and Kashmir. New projects include Integrated Development of Tourist facilities at Mantalai–Sudhmahadev–Patnitop Circuit for Rs.99.99 crore, Baramulla-Kupwara-Leh circuit for Rs.99.98 crore,  Rajouri-Bafliyaz-Shopian-Pulwama Circuit for Rs.99.99 crore and Anantnag-Kishtwar-Pahalgam–Daksum-Ranjit Sagar Dam Circuit for Rs.99.75 crore. In addition, Rs. 99.99 crore has been approved for integrated development of tourist facilities in lieu of damaged assets in the floods. Highlights of the project involve developing a Convention Centre in Gulmarg and Patnitop, development of Ethnic Villages, Development of Water Sports Centre at Baghliyar Dam – Pool Doda. Other major intervention proposed in the circuits include last mile connectivity, tourist facilitation/interpretation centre, base camps for trekking, facilitation centre for pilgrims for Amarnath Yatra, Sound and Light Show at Shalimar Bag, illumination of heritage structures, provision of eco friendly vehicles, Enhancement of tourist facilities at golf courses across the state.

A total of 66,097 tourists arrived in August 2016 on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 22, 286 during the month of August 2016 registering a growth of 196.6 percent, revealed the Ministry of Tourism. During Jan-Aug this year, a total of 6,06,493 tourist arrived on eTV as compared to 1,69,976 during Jan-Aug last year, registering a growth of 256.8 per cent. UK continued to be the highest source market with 19.4 per cent share, followed by USA (13.2 per cent) and China (6.7 per cent). The other top major source markets included France (6.4 per cent), Spain (6.1 per cent), UAE (5.5 per cent), Germany (4.6 per cent), Australia (3.7 per cent), Canada (3.5 per cent) and Korea Republic (2.4 per cent). New Delhi Airport contributed the highest percentage share of top 10 ports in tourist arrivals on eTV during August with 45.30 per cent, followed by Mumbai Airport (21.53 per cent), Chennai Airport (8.82 per cent), Bengaluru Airport (7.58 per cent), Kochi Airport (4.60 per cent), Hyderabad Airport (3.52 per cent), Kolkata Airport (2.07 per cent), Amritsar Airport (2.01 per cent), Ahmadabad Airport (1.44 per cent) and Trivandrum Airport (1.36 per cent). This high growth may be attributed to introduction of eTV for 150 countries as against the earlier coverage of 113 countries.

In a bid to promote Incredible India destinations on the social network, the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has launched its account on five major social media websites, namely, Instagram, Pintrest, LinkedIn, Periscope, and Vimeo. Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi, along with Joint Secretary-Tourism Suman Billa and other MOT officials made the five accounts live in the presence of travel and tourism professionals, state governments and private players. Zutshi observed that the clientele involved in tourism is much more tech-savvy than any other industry. MOT wants to take a 360-degree approach to interact with consumers for which it has decided to actively leverage social media platforms, he added. He also said that it is for the first time that MOT has appointed an agency for marketing and promotion, and is developing a content sharing network with Incredible India offices and state governments. “The ministry has also kept aside a sizeable amount of budget for promotion through e-media platforms,” Zutshi said. MOT’s Twitter presence has increased by 94,000 between May-August, 2016, Billa revealed. He also called upon state governments, Incredible India offices across the country and the world, private players and tourism associations to actively participate in social media campaigns and share their high resolution images, videos and other tourism related information which can be shared on social media platforms for promoting a destination. Billa revealed that the upcoming Incredible India Tourism Investors Summit will be played out on LinkedIn in a big way to get in touch with the precise target HNI and travel trade. He also called up on tourism associations to share their new packages and workshops and live images and videos from their annual conventions with MOT so as …

The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) for the Swadesh Darshan Scheme in Ministry of Tourism has approved projects to the tune of Rs. 450 crore for development of Heritage circuit in Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Ramayana Circuit in Uttar Pradesh, North East Circuit in Sikkim and Coastal Circuit of Tamil Nadu. The Heritage Circuit in state of Madhya Pradesh, covers Gwalior- Orchha- Khajuraho-Chanderi-Bhimbetka-Mandu with total project cost of approximately Rs. 100.00 crore. The project envisages world class infrastructural development of the sites which includes developing a Theme Park and Convention centre in Khajuraho, Sound and Light Show in Mandu. Site Illumination, Construction of Tourist Facilitation Centres and parking area are other intervention proposed in the circuit. The Heritage Circuit in Uttarakhand is on developing Tourism Infrastructure in Jageshwar-Devidhura-Katarmal-Baijnath sites with total project cost of approximately Rs. 83 crore. The highlights of project in Uttarakhand are development of Eco Log Huts, Sound and Light Show and Upgradation of Temple Pathways. Coastal circuit in State of Tamil Nadu envisages development Chennai- Mamamallapuram-Rameshwaram-Manpadu–Kanyakumari with total project cost of approximately Rs.100 crore has been approved. Sound and Light Show, development of Beach amenities, Construction of Pedestrian Bridge connecting Vivekanand memorial with Tiruvalluvar Statue are major highlights of project. Ramayana Circuit in State of Uttar Pradesh envisages development of two destinations viz. Chitrakoot and Shringverpur. The Project cost for this circuit is approximately Rs.70 crore for development of Parikrama marg, food Plaza, Laser Show, Foot Over Bridge connecting MP and UP part of Chitrakoot. Development of Ghats, Tourist Facilitation Centre and Parking area. Ramayana Circuit in Uttar Pradesh also includes Ayodhya for which the State Tourism Department of Uttar Pradesh is preparing Detailed Project …

The Incredible India Tourism Investors’ Summit (IITIS) scheduled for September 21-23, at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, will witness participation from more than 27 Indian states, informs Vinod Zutshi, Secretary-Tourism, Govt. of India, at a press conference. He informed, “Till date, 140 investors from around 70 companies have confirmed their participation but we are hoping to see a turnout of about 250 investors. Around 600 investible projects will be showcased to the investors through presentations, B2B and B2G meetings.” Suman Billa, Joint Secretary-Tourism, said that the summit is expected to accumulate Rs 57,000 crore where they anticipate signing several MoUs over the two days. Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism and Culture opined that IITIS will showcase the investment opportunities in tourism sector. “It’s main objective is to position the Indian Tourism sector for attracting large investments and presenting to the Investors tangible investment-ready projects in the different States/Union Territories of India. The summit will provide a global platform for interaction with investors, policy makers and Indian industry leaders, and other stakeholders.” A total of 21 seminars will be held across the two days, with various plenary sessions on topics like Why Invest in Incredible India?, Core Infrastructure for Tourism, Digital India & Start Up India: Investing in Tourism Technology, Success Stories of Investment in India and on MICE & Medical Tourism, to name a few. Prior to the event, officials from the Ministry of Tourism embarked on roadshows in the USA, UAE, Thailand, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Gujarat, Mumbai, Bhopal to draw in investors to India.

Egypt aims to achieve the 2010 figure of 1,14,000 Indian tourist visits (per year) soon. H.E. Abdel Fattah Al Sisi President of Egypt is visiting India from September 1 to 3 to meet Indian business leaders. Ismail Amer, the Egyptian Tourism Counsellor in Mumbai, said, “The visit by focusing on the deep friendship and cooperation and the great deal of common civilization components between the two countries and by highlighting the long history of fraternity of the two peoples will reflect positively in a growing intra tourist flow between the two great countries. Tourist traffic from India to Egypt has increase by 27.2 per cent in 2015 compared to 2014. We are quite sure that the tourist traffic to Egypt from India is going soon to fully recover to the figures recorded in 2010 which touch based then the figure of 1,14,000 tourists per year. The visit is another great factor to boost Egypt’s efforts in that regard.” The program of the visit will tackle different political and economic issues of mutual interest for the two countries and will witness the signatory of agreements and MoUs for new huge joint projects in various domains.

The two-day long BRICS Convention on Tourism was inaugurated in Khajuraho Madhya Pradesh in the presence of South African Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom. The BRICS nations were represented by the South African Tourism Minister, Mr. D.A. Hanekom and delegations from Russia and China. The inaugural function was also graced by Tourism Minister and Chairman-Tourism, Government of Madhya Pradesh Surendra Patwa. Secretary (Tourism), Government of India, Vinod Zutshi welcomed all the delegates, senior dignitaries, officials and members of the travel trade. He stressed on the importance of the tourism sector as a major catalyst for economic growth and a source of job creation, thus contributing to the economy. He welcomed the cooperation extended by all the BRIGS nations for mutual growth of tourism between the member countries. The Minister of Tourism, South Africa expressed his great pleasure for holding the BRICS Convention on Tourism in the historic temple town of Khajuraho and highlighted that India with a long tradition, history, ancient civilisation and culture with a large number of World Heritage Sites like Khajuraho is destination to be visited again and again. He also proposed constituting a permanent BRICS Working Stream on Tourism comprising of the stakeholders of the Government and private sector. Heads of the delegation of China and Russia also emphasized greater cooperation among the member countries for the mutual benefit for the growth of tourism and looked at the convention as a platform to interact with the travel industry partners.

Ministry of Tourism, Government of India (International Cooperation Division) is organising the BRICS Convention on Tourism from September 01-02, 2016, in  Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh. Delegation from the BRICS nations including Tourism Minister of South Africa is expected to participate in the Convention, which is being held as a precursor to the BRICS Summit to be held in Goa on October 15-16, 2016. The two day event will comprise of inter-governmental exchange of views and ideas, panel discussions on technology, innovation in tourism, and cooperation between the BRICS countries for promoting intra-regional tourism. B2B meetings between the India Travel Trade and their counterparts from the BRICS countries will also be organised. Elements of culture, handicrafts and cuisine from different regions of India will be showcased during the convention. The inaugural ceremony and proceedings on September 1, 2016, is being organised at the Convention Centre of Ramada Hotel, Khajuraho. Madhya Pradesh Tourism is sponsoring a gala cultural evening and dinner at Clark’s Hotel Khajuraho on September 01, 2016, for the delegates attending the BRICS convention. On September 02, 2016, panel discussions on the topics, “Cooperation among the BRICS countries for promotion of Tourism” and “Technology, Innovation in Tourism: Adapting to change” has been organised. Post-convention familiarisation tours are also organised for the BRICS delegates from September 03-06, 2016. The itineraries for the familiarisation tour would cover important tourist destinations in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which include Varanasi-Bodhgaya, Orchha/Agra, and Bhopal-Sanchi-Bhimbetka. The familiarisation tours will be hosted by the respective state governments.

Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, recently visited Shanghai in a bid to attract Chinese investment in India’s tourism sector. Close to 20 prominent investors participated in the event which was a part of roadshows being conducted in different parts of the world to promote participation of investors’ at the forthcoming Incredible India Tourism Investors Summit scheduled  to be held at New Delhi from September 21-23, 2016 being organised by MOT, in partnership with Tourism Finance Corporation of India and the CII. The Summit will bring together more than 20 Indian states unveiling a large bouquet of projects close to around 1000 in number, both of core infrastructure and those specific to various themes of tourism be it hospitality, medical, MICE, Buddhist, entertainment and cruise tourism etc, the Secretary informed the Chinese investors. He also said that what makes this Summit unique is that it would see a large no of B2G meetings and states would offer single window for foreign and domestic investors interested in picking up their tourism sector projects in the true spirit of ease of doing business. Zutshi also pointed out that never was there a more favourable time to invest in India than now with strong macro-economic indicators and the current government’s commitment to investment facilitation like never before. Several members who were present from the Chinese side expressed their interest in attending the Summit in now Delhi next month and appreciated the preparation of the Indian Government in attracting Tourism specific foreign investment.