Category Archives: MOT

In order to acknowledge the efforts undertaken by the State Governments, Union Territory Administrations and various implementation agencies, the Ministry of Tourism has constituted Swadesh Darshan Awards in different categories. The awards will highlight best practices including achievement of planned objectives, innovative approach, adoption of sustainability principals in planning, design and operations, efficient project monitoring, ability to attract private investments in peripheral development and efforts undertaken to ensure optimal operations and maintenance etc. 

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday met with Jyotiraditya Scindia, Civil Aviation Minister, representatives from travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors to discuss various banking-related issues. Travel, tourism and hospitality sectors are among the worst hit due to the COVID pandemic. The industry leaders from these sectors have been pitching for financial support from the government.

Rupinder Brar, ADG, MOT, revealed the plan to unveil an e-marketplace that is a follow up to the IITFC programme. “This e-marketplace for booking guiding services and providing data services will be launched on 8th Mar, creating a great platform for travellers to contact a guide directly.” We’ll also promote it for women, offering them employment as well as flextime,” she said.

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO and Secretray General, FAITH, has said that ever since visa issuance has been initiated, 1,25,000 e-visas & 50,000 paper visas have been issued. Speaking about the 5 lakh free e-visas limit till 31st March “We are after the government for extending the time limit and it is being looked into. When Ministry of Home Affairs announces the restoration of all visas, I think this will also be addressed to some extent,” he added.

G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and DoNER, has inaugurated the two day ‘Reimagining Museums In India – A Global Summit’ at Hyderabad. In his address, he said, “The summit will promote cultural exchange and international cooperation.” He also announced that Government of India will open 10 tribal freedom fighter museums across India, one of which will be in Telangana and one more in Andhra Pradesh.

Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO, has thanked the MOT and MoCA for reinstating the Commercial Airport Entry Airport Pass (AEP) for recognized tour operators and hotels. “We have been trying for a long time and now the orders have finally come. Now, at least when the borders open, our members can apply for airports passes in the same manner as they used to earlier, except there has been some capping on the number of passes available, for which we were given indication two years back, when the airport passes were being suspended,” he said.

India and Australia have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Tourism cooperation in the field of Tourism on 11th February 2022 in New Delhi. The MoU on behalf of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, was signed by Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles and on behalf of Government of Australia it was signed by The Hon Dan Tehan MP, Minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment. The MoU will facilitate Exchange of information and data related to tourism, Cooperation between tourism stakeholders, particularly hotels and tour operators, Cooperation and exchanges between training and education providers in tourism and hospitality, Investment in the tourism and hospitality sectors, Visits of tour operators and wholesalers, media and opinion makers, High quality, safe, ethical and sustainable tourism development, Interest in major cultural, artistic and sporting events, Opportunities for traveler education on applicable laws, rules and instructions in each other’s country and Enhanced tourism engagement in multilateral fora

Anirban Chakraborty, MD & CEO, Tourism Finance Corp India (TFCI) has praised the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Policy, saying that instead of tinkering with Reverse Repo Rate, RBI has continued its accommodative stance. “The decision of status-quo shall provide relief to the economy, especially affected sectors like hospitality, retail, real estate, auto, etc., for some more time. Further, allocation of Rs. 2,400 crore to the Ministry of Tourism in the Union Budget this year (18.42% higher than the previous year), coupled with low interest rate regime, shall greatly benefit the hospitality sector. 

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare have released a new set of protocols and SOPs for international travellers, airlines and all points of entry (airports, seaports and land border), under which, effective February 14, there will be a uniform health protocol applicable to all international travellers. Travellers entering India would have to upload self-declaration form on Air Suvidha along with a copy of RT-PCR report within 72hrs OR Certificate of full vaccination. Two per cent of pax on flight will be randomly selected for screening. However, the government has removed the requirement for quarantine unless tested positive during random screening. A reciprocal agreement for recognition of vaccination certificates between India and 82 named countries has been released and the ‘at risk’ doesn’t exist anymore for any country, with rules being uniform for all countries.

The matter regarding extending the validity of the approval/ recognition of the existing stakeholders (tour operators/ travel agents/tourist transport operators) given by the Ministry of Tourism and grant of provisional recognition for the new agencies in view of crisis caused due to the Covid-19 pandemic has been considered in the Ministry. It has been decided to give extension to the existing validity of the tour operators, travel agents and tourist transport operators upto 30.06.2022.