Category Archives: MOT

IATO recently orgainsed a members meet where Hareet Shukla, Secretary Tourism, Govt. of Gujarat said, Gujarat has a progressive tourism policy. They have come up with various policies on heritage, adventure sports, homestays and are going to launch cinematic tourism policy soon. Through these policies the government of Gujarat aims to promote various sectors of the economy. The details of the upcoming 36th IATO Annual Convention from 16th – 19th December 2021 at Gandhinagar was also discussed. 

After the tourism & culture ministers’ conference of southern region and the ITM in Nagaland, Ministry of Tourism is planning a meeting with the tourism ministers of all the states, reveals Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism. “Once the situation normalises, we can plan a meeting of all tourism ministers in the country,” he adds.

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, has said that under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations to commemorate 75 years of Indian independence, each ministry has been given a week, which is known as an iconic week, where they have to launch events. “Our iconic week is in July 2022, and at that time, there will be major events that we will be undertaking,” he revealed in an exclusive interaction.

As India opened its doors to fully vaccinated international tourist from all over the world beginning Monday (November 15), Indiatourism Mumbai accorded warm welcome the first set of International tourists who landed at Mumbai International Airport by Air France flight AF218. The tourists were greeted with stoles and presented hampers with Incredible India merchandise.

Indiatourism Delhi accorded warm welcome to international tourists landed at T3 New Delhi on early hours – Monday (November 15) by handing over rose buds.

Rupinder Brar (IRS), ADG, Tourism, speaking at a recent webinar on border tourism, appreciated the efforts taken by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for improving connectivity in Ladakh region. “Connectivity is the key for tourism anywhere in the world and especially in border areas. The role of Border Tourism in bringing local communities together is crucial in today’s time,” she says. She emphasised that there is a need for capacity building and skill development as it will help to scale up the quality of human resources while creating employment opportunities for the locals.

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, has said that they will soon launch digital and social media campaigns. “We are working on that and we have plans to have wherever possible some physical events also. We want to launch the campaigns this month itself,” he says. Singh further adds, “Apart from our India tourism offices, the government has nominated 20 nodal officers in the missions. With their help also, we intend to launch promotional campaigns.”

The main goal of this event was to boost the Indian hospitality and tourism industry and to give lodging units, self-certified on SAATHI (System for Assessment, Awareness, and Training for the Hospitality Industry) on the OTA platform, a lot of visibility. The MOU also specifies both parties’ obligations to encourage units to register on NIDHI and, consequently on SAATHI, as well as to support the local tourism industry with essential safeguards to prevent COVID-19 spread.

The Ministry of Health & Welfare has just released a new list of 96 countries with which the government of India has an agreement for mutual recognition of the vaccination certification for individuals that are fully vaccinated with either the nationally-recognised or WHO-recognised COVID-19 vaccine. This list was released on November 9, 2021.

Speaking at a symposium on developing film tourism and facilitating film shoots in India, Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, said, “I request all states in India to establish film promotion offices that will help co-ordinate with all necessary departments to give permissions for film shoots on time. And of course develop film tourism policies if you don’t have them.”