Category Archives: MOT

In a key initiative to showcase the Kurukshetra region’s historical and cultural richness, the Ministry of Tourism’s Northern Regional Office is hosting the second Mahabharata Circuit Conference and Familiarization Tour. The event, scheduled from 4-6 November, will gather around 130 participants, including tourism professionals, media representatives, and officials from various tourism departments.

Praising FHRAI’s new Centre of Excellence, Pradeep Shetty, President of FHRAI, says, “This has been a long-standing desire of our federation, as we have often faced challenges when approaching the government regarding policy issues, regulatory bottlenecks, compliance burden, and the overall ease of doing business One of the major gaps we identified was the lack of comprehensive data to support our claims and recommendations. With the Centre of Excellence, we aim to address this gap head-on.”

Underlining the importance of wedding segment for India, DG Tourism, Mugdha Sinha says “Wedding as a market is worth US$ 130 billion with 8 to 10 million annual weddings in India, second only to China. Delhi had the most weddings about 30,000 in one month of November 2023 that energised the whole paraphernalia around the weddings from invites, to wedding planners to apparel, jewellery, gifting, accommodations, logistics, photography, which adds up to the employment generation and contribution to both GDP of economy and creative economy. As a policy maker we also look at issues like permissions, taxes, incentives, that need resolution to make India an attractive destination for Wed in India, for celebrating wedding anniversaries and for honeymooning in India.”  

Speaking about the significance of research and data in the tourism industry, Suman Billa, IAS, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tourism said, “Being in the sector which is vast and multifaceted, it is essential to have accurate and comprehensive data to inform our decisions. While government data provides a solid foundation, it often captures only one facet of the entire landscape. To truly understand the dynamics of the tourism and hospitality sectors, we must triangulate this data with insights from industry bodies, international organisations like the WTO, and other reliable sources.”

Suggesting that India has to create an enabling environment for the market forces to unleash with aggression in terms of investments in the sector to realise the sector’s true potential, Suman Billa, Additional Secretary, MOT, said, “Tourism currently contributes 5.6% to the country’s GDP which is quite low. The task is to double it in the next 10 years by encouraging market forces to invest aggressively in the sector.”

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and held discussions on promoting the state’s religious sites, adventure tourism, eco-tourism, and cultural heritage at the national and international levels. He also requested the Union Minister for cooperation to develop infrastructure in view of the state’s increasing population.

Suman Billa, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, inaugurated FHRAI’s Centre of Excellence in New Delhi. Billa, said, “It will create a comprehensive data ecosystem and play a vital role in generating analytical insights that can guide government policy and help us better support the industry.”

The union tourism ministry has instructed online travel agents and industry bodies to create transparent refund policies and standard operating procedures to handle air ticket cancellation refunds, following numerous complaints from travellers. The ministry has written to companies such as MakeMyTrip, Yatra, EaseMyTrip, Thomas Cook and Cleartrip and industry bodies including Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) and Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), stating there is an “urgent need” to bring in transparency in the cancellation refund process.

Aimed at supporting various states in their tourism development efforts, the Ministry of Tourism ties up with the World Bank to establish a long-term financing for tourism development. Minister of MOT, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat termed the move crucial for enhancing tourism across the country.

Government is exploring visa-on-arrival for countries that send the biggest numbers of tourists to India, said Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister of Tourism. “We are also working with the MEA to explore ways to engage with top markets to promote India as a global destination,” he added.