Category Archives: MOT

Venkatesan Dhattareyan, Regional Director, India Tourism (Western and Central Region), has been promoting MoT’s scheme that the trade associations can avail for their own MICE requirements. “We want the national trade associations to have their major flagship events within India rather than take it outside the country. In fact, the MoT has a scheme which supports the activities of national trade associations of both travel and hospitality industries – where the government provides financial support for organising their annual conventions, etc. the quantum of support depends on the size of the membership, etc. these details are available on the MoT website and various associations are benefited from this scheme,” he says.

Speaking at the 94th Edition of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighted the importance of various festivals, celebrations and sports like Chhath, National Unity Day, Janjatiya Gaurav Divas , Gurupurab, Navratri and National Games in uniting people and bringing out the spirit of Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat. He said, “The way art, sports and culture came together during the National Games in Ahmedabad, it filled all with joy. They also shared a lot of pictures of Gujarati food and Navratri on social media. After all, through games like these, one comes to know about the diverse cultures of India.”    

Gyan Bhushan, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Tourism, said that about Rs 2600 crore is the total value of output of homestays in India. “One can imagine the kind of jobs that are created in homestays, which is one of our objectives to promote homestays.   

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, has said that India’s global tourism indices will go up by improving the safety and security aspects of tourism and would go a long way in making India one of the favourable destinations. He urged all the tourism stakeholders to work closely and strengthen the security aspect of the tourist destinations.

The Ministry of Tourism, in coordination with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), organised a national conference of DGs/inspector generals of the police departments of all states and UTs to discuss implementation of Uniform Tourist Police Scheme. Objective of the national conference was to bring the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Home Affairs, BPR&D and state governments and UT administration on the same platform, so that they may work together in close coordination with the state and UT police departments and sensitise them about specific requirements of foreign and domestic tourists.

Ministry is employing locally trained professionals at tourist sites, providing employment to locals there near their homes. “Employment generation in the tourism sector is one of the key agendas of our ministry.” said Secretary Tourism Arvind Singh. 

Vice President Jagdeep Dankhar described India as a ” heaven for tourism ” and urged Indians to explore domestic tourist destinations first before embarking on international travel. Referring to the long history of civilisation and rich cultural heritage of Bharat, he emphasized that most of the tourist attractions of the country have a deep connect with our history, folk arts and ancient texts. 

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, has said that we should use G20 Presidency to project the strong cases of our nation and showcase the country to the global leaders. “If we are successful in doing that, I am sure it would take our tourism sector to the next level.”

Amitabh Kant, G20 Sherpa, has said that Tourism is not about government. Every single player is from private sector, including tour operators, taxi drivers and resorts. “Government must assist, facilitate, and act as a catalyst to ensure that the private sector is able to put up good facilities at destinations,” he said.

Rakesh Verma, Additional Secretary, Tourism, has said that the Nidhi 2.0 platform is now maturing. “We have now tested it with almost all state governments and about 20 state governments have now been brought on that platform.”