Category Archives: MOT

The Minister of State for Culture & Tourism (Independent charge), Prahlad Singh Patel held a meeting with all local stakeholders related to tourism sector in Ladakh. The Minster announced that the Ministry of Tourism will provide full support to the local administration in preparing a new Tourism Policy for  Ladakh. He also assured them that if needed, the Ministry people will visit every month to Ladakh to provide their support and help regarding this matter. The Minister also said that right now Ladakh region has only 14 monuments under ASI protection and the Ministry is willing to increase it to double or triple fold.. He further added that there are several many unknown yet important monuments available in Leh and Kargil regions which can be protected by ASI. In the meeting, the local stakeholders appreciated Minister’s initiative to visit Ladakh and hold fruitful meetings. They demanded support of Government of India in various matters like better connectivity, better infrastructure, rebate in taxation to boost tourism industry, to promote village tourism and adventure tourism among others. The Union Minister assured them that the Ministry and Government of India have taken their demands positively and full support will be provided to Ladakh to enable quality tourism in order to make it one of the best tourist destinations in the world . The Meeting started with a presentation given by ShriVikas Rustagi, Joint Director General, Ministryof Tourism regarding roadmap to boost tourism in Ladakh region. In the presentation it was showcased that Ladakh has great potential to attract tourists from across the globe and we need to capitalize the opportunity with better planning. He said that, a special place has been given to …

Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) started his 3-day tour to Leh for exploring the opportunities of increasing tourism in the region. Union Tourism Minister is leading a delegation of senior officials of the Ministry of tourism to meet local administration and tourism stakeholders to discuss and draw plans for development of tourism sector in Ladakh region. After reaching Leh, the Minister started series of meetings with various stakeholders  and discussed proposals of promoting tourism and cultural activities in Ladakh. MP from Ladakh Shri Jamyang Tsering Namgyal was also present during the meeting. The minister also held meeting with members of Cultural Society of Leh. The Minister also held a meeting with Travel Trade Alliance of Ladakh region to understand the problems of stakeholders in tourism sector. In the meeting different stakeholders from the alliance raised their problems before the Minister. They also gave suggestions to Minister for expanding opportunities in  tourism sector in the region. Promoting adventure tourism, winter tourism and cheap and better connectivity from different part of countries to Leh, Kargil and Nubra Valley in all seasons remained the highlight of the discussions. They also requested the Minister to facilitate opening of Hotel Management Institute and Mountaineering Institute in the area to promote local talent in the region. The Alliance members also gave a memorandum regarding their concerns to Union Minister. In response to Alliance concerns and suggestions, the Minister assured them that the Government  is very positive regarding their concerns and full support will be given to Ladakh regarding development of tourism in the newly announced UT. He said that central government has arrived at the doorstep of Ladakh to fulfil the …

Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge), Prahlad Singh Patel has said that the next meeting of state tourism ministers will take place in Jammu and Kashmir. The last meeting took place in Delhi recently. “Our next meeting of all state tourism ministers, as per their wish, has been planned in Jammu and Kashmir. When all these ministers met me in Delhi recently, all of them expressed their desire for the next meeting in Jammu and Kashmir. It could be in Srinagar as well. However, we haven’t decided the location as of now,” said the Minister. While every ministry is planning schemes for Ladakh region, he said he would be visiting Kashmir to take stock of ‘feasibility’ of implementation of schemes in the newly-carved Union Territory. “While we have sent our tourism officials to Leh and Ladakh to train the manpower for the betterment of the tourism sector for a few days, we would be focusing our energies on various schemes under our ministries. We would go to Jammu and Kashmir soon after,” the minister said. Ladakh will get dedicated projects that can make the region stand out as an international tourist destination, said Patel. (Source: ANI)

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State, Tourism (I/C) and Culture, said that the MOT is developing an all-encompassing ‘One Stop Solution’ including information on tourism related services through a web based application and a grievance redressal mechanism through Twitter and tourist-helpline. The minister sought support from all the states for the same at recently held National Conference of Tourism Ministers from all the states in New Delhi. Tourism Ministers from 19 states and Union Territories with senior officials from their tourism departments, attended the conference and agreed to work on the application and the technology together with MOT. They shared what steps they are already taking regarding safety and security of tourists in their states, and also gave suggestions for developing this technology alongside MOT.

The Tourism Minister, Prahlad Singh Patel, has launched the Hindi version of the new Incredible India portal recently. He also announced that the Arabic, Chinese and Spanish versions of the new Incredible India website will be launched next month. The new Incredible India website was launched on 14th June last year. Since its launch, the website has attracted 85,84,928 total visitors including 65,31,722 Unique Visitors as on 31st July, 2019.

During the national conference of tourism ministers in Delhi, InterGlobe Foundation has received new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) from the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India to develop and upgrade the basic and advanced tourist amenities at Tomb of Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khana in New Delhi. They would also look after the operation and maintenance of the approved tourist amenities. For developing tourist amenities at heritage/tourist sites and making them tourist friendly , in a planned and phased manner, these MoUs and Letters of Intent (LOI) are being issued by the ministry under the ‘Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan’ project, in collaboration with Ministry of Culture, Archaeological Survey of India and state/UT government. With this, Interglobe Foundation has also become ‘Monument Mitra’ through the innovative concept of vision building, where the agency with beset vision for the heritage/tourist site will be given an opportunity to associate pride with their CSR activities. The Foundation will also get limited visibility in the premises and the Incredible India website. The ministry handed over a total of 3 MoUs and 5 LOIs to prospective Monument Mitras during the conference. So far, 11 MoUs have been signed under the project and 38 LOIs have been issued for 102 tourist/heritage site.

To boost inbound tourism during lean period (April-June), MOT has announced the reduction of visa fee from USD 25 to USD 10. A short duration of e-Visa for tourists with one-month validity and visa fee of USD 25 has been introduced for peak season (July-March). The Ministry has introduced 5-year e-Tourist Visa with USD 80 fee, besides the existing one year e-Tourist visa with a fee of USD 40.   For Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, lean period visa fees is USD 10 and for e-visa of 30 days, 1 year and 5 years, the fee is USD $25. For rest of the countries, where e-Visa facility is available, lean period visa fee is USD 10 and peak season visa for 30 days is USD 25. For e-Visa for 1 year and 5 year, the fee is USD 40 and USD 80 respectively.

The Ministry of Tourism released the Hindi version of The Incredible India website with updated content on 20 August. The primary objective of this launch is to engage with visitors across web and social media platforms, make it more interactive by providing a deeper engagement to the travellers visiting the website and to deliver real-time personalised experiences for each visitor, based on the interest and travel persona. The Ministry of Tourism’s Incredible India website project incredibleindia.org aims towards showcasing the tourism products of India at a global arena and provisioning design, development, implementation and maintenance of digital platform which provides the visitors with relevant, personalised and contextual digital experience escalating tourism awareness, attraction and opportunities. This is a key marketing tool for the Incredible India campaign. MOT revamped the Incredible India website with the aim to provide more information about India as a tourist destination. It is also fully responsive with mobile devices, making it easy to navigate on a wide range of web browsers and portal devices. The Ministry of Tourism launched the new Incredible India website on 14 June 2018. The website showcases India as a holistic destination revolving around major experiences such as spirituality, heritage, adventure, culture, yoga, wellness and more. Since its launch the website has attracted 85,849,28 total visitors, including 65,317,22 unique visitors as on 31st July 2019.

On the sidelines of the ADTOI convention, Aashima Mehrotra, Director, Ministry of Tourism (MOT), Govt. of India, stated “Gujarat remains a great destination for tourism as it offers everything including textiles, architecture, industry and entrepreneurship of people. We have chosen Somnath and Dhaulavera as the iconic sites from Gujarat for holistic development and under ‘Adopt A Heritage: Apni Dharohar Apni Pehchan’ project where different sites of Gujarat have been chosen for development of tourism amenities.” 

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, has postponed some of the Incredible India roadshows in Europe, South and Central America. However, a few roadshows will take place as scheduled earlier. This includes roadshows in Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, South Korea, The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Portugal. In an information sent to overseas offices of India Tourism, state governments and all the travel and hospitality associations,  the Overseas marketing department of MOT said that roadshows in France, Italy & Austria scheduled from September 16-19, in South America & Central America scheduled from October 14-18, in Eastern Europe & Greece scheduled from October 21-24 have been postponed to a later date. The statement said that fresh dates for these roadshows will be finalised in consultation with the stakeholders and conveyed to all concerned.