Category Archives: MOT

Ministry of Tourism in its recent statistics revealed that the percentage share of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India during January-May 2022 among the top 15 ports was highest at Delhi Airport (35.50%) followed by Mumbai Airport (14.58%), Haridaspur Land Check Post (12.27%), Chennai Airport (10.30%) ,Bengaluru Airport (7.55%), Hyderabad Airport (6.09%), Cochin Airport (4.96%), Kolkata Airport (4.22%), Ahmedabad Airport (2.43%), Agartala Airport (1.92%), Trivandrum Airport (1.61%), Ghojadanga Airport (1.46%), Tiruchirappalli Airport (1.16%), Changrabandha LandCheckpost (1.15%) and Amritsar Airport (0.92%).

The development of rural clusters was taken up under Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM), revealed G Kishan Reddy, Minister of Tourism & Culture. A total of 103 clusters covering 32 states/UTs including Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have been approved for an investment of Rs. 492.31 crore – both under the CGF and Convergence under Tourism Promotion.

Eight craft villages have been taken under the ‘Linking Textile with Tourism’ programme, benefitting around 1,000 artisans to promote craft and tourism at a single location, said Ministry of Textiles. Under the programme, major tourist places are being linked with handicraft clusters and infrastructure supports combined with soft interventions.

Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned financial assistance of around Rs. 631 Crore to States/UTs for infrastructure development under Coastal Circuit theme of Swadesh Darshan Scheme, announced G Kishan Reddy, Minister of Tourism, Culture & DoNER, in a written reply in Lok Sabha

Rupinder Brar, former ADG, Tourism, has said that MOT and other line ministries should work towards making sure that UNESCO Heritage sites in India, at least, should become truly global in terms of every offering that they have, whether it is in terms of just reaching there, or in very basic needs.

Directorate of Tourism (DoT) along with MOT, organised a training workshop to officially kick-off the Annual Tourism Survey in Maharashtra. This exhaustive Annual Tourism survey will be carried out for 13 months and will help the tourism department understand the travel behaviour, the triggers and barriers when it comes to visiting Maharashtra.

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, has recommended that MoCA may look into initiating direct flights between India and countries that are witnessing a rise in the number of outbound international tourists. “Thus, connectivity between India and its South Asian neighbours is of utmost importance for Indian tourism sector,” it said in a report.

Parliamentary Committee suggests that cooperation with other South Asian countries on joint tourism and advertising campaigns and steps to facilitate seamless travel of tourists between India and its neighbourhood would promote Inbound Tourism in India. It was one of the recommendations by the committee in a recent report.

Minister of Tourism G. Kishan Reddy has said that adventure tourism can be a gamechanger for the Indian tourism industry. “He added, “The government has framed a roadmap to develop it as a niche tourist product. Besides increasing tourist footfalls, adventure tourism will also foster local entrepreneurship.” A national board for adventure tourism has been constituted with the aim of implementation of the strategy to promote and develop adventure tourism in the country.

Highlighting the importance of Indian diaspora, G Kamala Vardhana Rao, Director General (Tourism), MoT, said it is important for them to talk about diverse tourism offerings of India in their daily places of work and interaction. He was speaking at the Italy edition of the Incredible India Reconnect 2022 virtual roadshow. Rao also mentioned how India as a destination offered the most economical and the most luxurious of tourist offerings at each of the 165-170 declared destinations. While also highlighting Italian tourist preferences towards India’s traditional culture, heritage, wildlife, and nature, he mentioned how India’s success story in vaccination has allowed for tourism recovery at a faster pace than was predicted by global thought leaders like UNWTO and WTTC. He reiterated on the importance of medical and wellness tourism and its popularity in Italy. Dilating on the fact, he mentioned how India was among the only countries in the world having a dedicated Ministry and action plan towards traditional knowledge systems.