Category Archives: MOT

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, has said that as they gear up for increased tourist footfalls, both domestic and international, they need to focus on the fact that the tourists that we will see in 2022-23 are bound to be different from the ones that visited in 2019. “Covid-19 has re-shaped our thought processes, and many people have started looking at alternate options to where they would have travelled in 2019. They are choosing more open green areas to travel in 2022. Also, the new age tourists are much more tech-savvy, owing to the pandemic, fuelled digitization and are very conscious about their health and safety. Hence, we need to work to make sure that the needs of the travelers and tourists post-pandemic are adequately met,” she added.

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, has said that the role of the state or national authority would be to incentivise the sustainable practices by local stakeholders and also to popularize responsibility and talk about responsible travel amongst tourists. Singh was speaking at the ‘World Majlis: Off the Beaten Path – Travel in the 21st Century’ session during the India Tourism Fortnight at Expo 2020.

At the India Pavilion in Expo2020 Dubai, Rakesh Verma, Additional Secretary, MoT said that India is a highly attractive market for exhibitions due to its rapid economic growth and rising demand from consumers and businesses. “India possesses excellent convention and hospitality infrastructure, unparalleled cultural, natural attractions and a rapidly growing economy all of which act as catalysts to India emerging as a hub of business and social events,” he explained. 

At the session, ‘Adventure & Wildlife: The untapped potential of Incredible India’, G Kamala Vardhan Rao, DG, MOT, said, “For adventure tourism, India will emerge as a major destination. Gulmarg is identified as an alternative skiing destination by international ski lovers as Alps are already saturated with traffic. While we have infrastructure but the international standard infrastructure needs to be created, to attract more skiers.”

Speaking at a session on the ‘Investment Opportunities in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality’ during the ‘Tourism Fortnight’ at the India Pavilion, EXPO2020 Dubai, Rupinder Brar, ADG, MOT, GOI said, “India has opportunity and potential to become a hub for spiritual and religious tourism, as the govt. is focused in showcasing the strength of the Indian religions and philosophies to the world.”

Rakesh Verma, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, launched ‘Heal in India’ initiative to boost medical tourism growth at India Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. “India has become a favourite destination for yoga and wellness, the government of India recognizes medical value travel and wellness tourism as important sectors having the potential of accelerating the country’s development and attaining the objective of Aatmanirbhar Bharat” he stated.

Sarbananda Sonowal, Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Minister of AYUSH, recently tweeted on social media platform requesting individuals, especially the younger generation, to “protect our traditional systems of medicine and knowledge, study them scientifically and prove to the world that AYUSH can serve humanity. Today, AYUSH has a market size of $ 18.1 billion and growing!”

Ministry of Tourism is celebrating National Tourism Day under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. For the celebration of National Tourism Day 2022, the Ministry of Tourism has been designated as the lead Ministry and Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Textiles and Ministry of Railways will be the partnering Ministries. A meeting in this regard was held under the chairmanship of Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism with all the State Governments and Union Territories of India. The agenda of the meeting was to sensitise everyone about the National Tourism Day and Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav in order to facilitate the planning of the activities to be undertaken regarding the upcoming event.

The MOT, in alliance with FICCI, will host a series of events to showcase and promote Incredible India, at Dubai Expo 2020 from January 3 to 14, 2022. The Ministry will highlight and promote India’s tourism potential. Discussions and presentations will be held during these ten days, as per the calendar of events finalised by the Ministry and the industry partner FICCI.

G Krishan Reddy, Union Minister For Culture, Tourism And Development Of North Eastern Region holds interactive meeting with various tourism stakeholders of Goa along with Department of Tourism, Goa, to discusskey issues pertaining to promotion of tourism in the state and various developmental initiatives & welfare programs of the government. Shripad Y. Naik, Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Tourism Govt. Of India was also a part of the meeting.