Category Archives: MOT

Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Tourism, has said that apart from coming out with the incentive schemes for tour operators in the form of MDA for promotions nationally or internationally, they are also relaxing the rules for approval of tour operators, so that the benefits can go to those who haven’t been involved with us and also for the start-ups. “This is because the promotion and marketing budget for the smaller formations are not burdened to them and the Government can pick up some of that tab,” she added, while addressing a CII Webinar recently.

Jitendra Jadhav, Asst. Director (Niche Tourism Division), Government of India, Ministry of Tourism, has said that the Ministry has been directed by Sectoral Group of Secretaries to form guidelines on wedding tourism. “For this, inputs of industry stakeholders such as ICPB and wedding planners including Rashi Entertainment have been sought. Rajeev Jain, MD, Raashi Entertainment has been instrumental in quickly providing us detailed inputs as sought from the industry. The proposed guidelines on wedding tourism/destination weddings are under process and is expected to be finalised soon by the Ministry after getting approval from competent authority,” he said.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture, has said that 2021 should be the year of Dekho Apna Desh and the focus should be on domestic tourism. “The Prime Minister asked us to concentrate on ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ one year ago and that every citizen should visit 15 domestic destinations till 2022. However, now the time is such that in 2021 people will only travel within India, and this campaign would be really helpful for us. Year 2021 should be the year of Dekho Apna Desh and all of us should promote it with full force,” he said.

In his address on World Tourism Day, Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary – Tourism, said that this year’s global theme of rural tourism laid out by the UNWTO is in the right context and has come at the right time. “In a country as diverse as India where a significant number of people are deeply rooted to the villages, it is both an opportunity as well as a necessity that tourism develops itself and in turn develops rural communities. Rural tourism in India has significant potential, considering rich cultural and historical heritage, variety in ecology and terrains, as well as places of natural beauty spread across the country,” he said.

The World Tourism Day celebration by MOT this year will be different as the event would take place virtually. Sharing details of the same, Rupinder Brar, ADG, Tourism, said, “World Tourism Day 2020 celebration will happen differently this year. The new initiative- which endeavours to organise a PAN-India— SAATHI-System for Assessment, Awareness and Training for Hospitality Industry, will be launched. MOT will be showcasing a small audio-video clip on IITFC initiative by MOT. IITFC aims at employment generation at the PAN-India grass-root level. An AV will also be shown on the MICE potential of India. Since the focus this year is on domestic tourism, small snippets of the Dekho Apna Desh webinars will be showcased, MOT will be giving an e-certificate of participation for these webinars for the first participant.”

In a webinar organised by ITDC on the revival of the hotel industry, Rakesh Kumar Verma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism said that the first challenge for hotels and ministry after reopening of hotels to rebuild consumer confidence. “We have to jointly convince people that they have to trust the industry, otherwise the demand will not pick up,” he said.  

The tourism ministry has sanctioned two projects in Bihar and Kerala at a cost of Rs 125 crore under the Rural Circuit as part of its endeavour to take tourism to villages of the country. The ministry has identified Rural Circuit as one of the 15 thematic circuits for development under ‘Swadesh Darshan’ Scheme.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State, Tourism & Culture (I/C), has told the parliament that there has been a massive loss of revenue, foreign exchange and jobs in tourism owing to the pandemic. “Several rounds of discussions and brainstorming sessions with industry stakeholders indicate massive loss of revenue and jobs. In view of the highly unorganised nature of the tourism sector, the impact in numerical terms can only be ascertained in due course,” he told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State, Tourism & Culture (I/C), has announced that they will be launching NIDHI- National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry on September 27, 2020, i.e. World Tourism Day. MOT is also working on another platform, SAATHI – System for Assessment, Awareness and Training for Hospitality Industry. Both these platforms come in line with the brainstorming sessions that MOT had with industry stakeholders. In his Tweet, Patel said, “NIDHI will be a source of information for the country and the world. MOT had 1600 hotels registered with it; after the discussion with stakeholders, this figure has reached 21,000.”

Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel along with MOT officials met legendary cricketer and Padma Bhushan awardee Kapil Dev to discuss the promotion of tourism, especially golf tourism in India.   .