Category Archives: MOT

The Ministry of Tourism has invited entries for the National Tourism Awards 2018-19. The last date for receipt of entries in the respective divisions in August 10, 2021, 16:00 Hrs. Entries are requested in hard copy, with accompanying material to send in a digital format. This year, MOT has included the Hall of Fame award as well.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism and Culture, Government of India, recently chaired a review meeting on eSamikSha platform with Ministry of Tourism officials. Also present were Arvind Singh, Secretary – Tourism and Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General – Tourism. eSamikSha is a digital governance platform for easy, instant and secure exchange of information. The portal has a flexi dashboard which provides officials the facility of customisation based on priority or requirements. It has a single-window communication channel linked with three layered robust tracking through Dashboard, Notification, email/SMS alerts.

Recognising the significance of social media in transforming the country, The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) on the 6th anniversary of Digital India said that a total of 33,898 accommodation units have been registered under the National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry (NIDHI) portal as on 30th June 2021. The number of self-certified units under the SAATHI initiative are 10,646.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Union Minister of State for Culture & Tourism and Manohar Lal Khattar, CM, Haryana held a meeting for the development of tourism related projects in the state and to speed up the ongoing projects in the state. The way forward was discussed with special focus on Development of Rakhigarhi and Kurukshetra and science museums apart from other cultural and tourism hubs development.   Secretary, GoI, Tourism Shri Arvind Singh , joint secretaries of Union Ministries of Tourism and Culture and  other senior officers of Central and State government were also present during the meeting. During the meeting, the state government gave details of the proposed Krishna Circuit Project-II. Development of tourist infrastructure at important tourist/pilgrim places related to SrimadBhagwad Geeta & Mahabharata at Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Karnal, Panipat and Mewat under the Krishna circuit phase-II of Swadesh Darshan Scheme is planned under this project. Apart from this, the two sides discussed Heritage Circuit Rewari, virtual museum at Jyotisar near Kurukshetra and development of Pinjore Gardens, MorniHills , science city among others.The progress of ongoing PRASHAD projects at Nada Sahib Gurudwara and Mata Mansa Devi were also reviewed by ShPrahald Singh Patel and the state government was asked to speed up the completion.

In order to widen its scope to promote India, IndiaTourism has taken the first step to reach out to outbound agents. Venkatesan Dhattareyan, Regional Director, Indiatourism Mumbai, says, “Indiatourism has conducted a session with the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) which is quite historic. They traditionally promote destinations outside of India but they have now come forward to learn about India. This is another avenue that we are trying to explore and gives them a chance to learn something new.”

Thanking the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Tourism Minister for announcement of relief measures for the tourism sector and taking up issues concerning the industry, Rupinder Brar, ADG, Tourism, said, “We welcome the financial help for tourist guides and tour operators. It is also good that the recognised entities are being supported. The support that has come in terms of visa being announced free for the first 500,000 e-Tourist visas that will be applied for, will be a gamechanger. It sends a positive signal to the whole word that India is getting ready to open, the vaccination drive has picked up, number of cases are going down. Through this, we also want to send a message to the industry that please get recognised, so that you can be benefitted by any of the schemes of the government.”

MP Bezbaruah, Secretary-General, Hotel Association of India (HAI), has said that the FM’s announcement on free visas has a very strong symbolic message that we have the confidence to welcome visitors and that tourism and hospitality is a strong pillar of post-Covid economic recovery strategy. “We sincerely hope that such measures will be logically followed by measures to make the industry recover and be ready to welcome tourists. Measures like liquidity support and exemption from statutory taxes. HAI would like to compliment the FM on this initiative and look forward to some more pragmatic initiatives to create jobs and livelihoods through a rejuvenated Tourism and Hospitality industry. As always HAI will be there for a committed role to be played by the Tourism and Hospitality industry in the national economic development programme,” he added.

Madhavan Menon, Managing Director, Thomas Cook India Group, welcomes the announcement by the honourable Finance Minister, Sitharaman, saying, “This is a much needed step towards the revival of tourism – a sector  that is a significant contributor to the GDP, foreign exchange receipts and employment generation – with a cascading force multiplier effect on allied sectors. The three-pronged approach for the sector covers 100% guarantee for loans up to Rs 10 lakhs per government recognised Travel & Tourism stakeholder (TTS), up to Rs 1 Lakh financial support to over 11000 licensed guides at a state/regional level, and 5 lakh gratis visas that will serve to catalyse much needed inbound inflows.  The stimulus announcements reflect the government’s focus on the travel and tourism sector and augurs well for the industry, while simultaneously building consumer confidence in travel.”

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, has welcomed the relief measures and free-visa announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. “We have been in discussion with the Finance Ministry on relief measures for the tourism and hospitality sectors. We welcome the announcement, as it will help in the revival of the sector and promote inbound travel to India. Tourism is one of the sectors that has been badly hit by the pandemic, and hence these measures are welcome.” Since the relief measures are for recognised tour operators, he urged more stakeholders in the industry to get registered.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that once international travel resumes, first 5 lakh tourists who come to India will get visa for free. The scheme is applicable till March 31, 2022 or till 5,00,000 visas are issued whichever is earlier, she said. The announcement was made as part of the 8 relief measures in the wake of coronavirus pandemic declared by Sitharaman.