Category Archives: 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.

Prahlad Singh Patel, State Minister Tourism (I/C) and Culture, has said that the National Tourism Policy needs to be worked on further, and it would take the MOT at least one year to finalise everything and release it officially. The draft of National Tourism Policy is already out and available on the MOT website, but the official release has been pending for the same. MOT has already executed many projects mentioned in the policy, like Incredible India 2.0 campaign, Incredible India website, etc.

Prahlad Singh Patel, State Tourism and Culture Minister, has announced that the Tourism Ministry will make wildlife its theme for the Incredible India campaign for the next two months. Patel revealed that they have taken this decision in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi being featured on a television show. “We have decided to make wildlife the theme for Incredible India for the next two months,” he said. He has earlier shared that the demand of wildlife tourism is there in India, and because of that they are focusing on developing dedicated areas centered around wildlife. “We have pinpointed 2-3 areas where we will develop infrastructure for wildlife tourism. I believe that the choice of travellers has changed and that should be the criteria for offerings,” he shared.

Prahlad Singh Patel, State Tourism and Culture Minister (I/C), said that they will work towards ensuring that there is a no-crime zone around 500 m–1 km radius area of major tourist attractions by tightening security arrangements. They will also work towards training drivers, guides and tour operators, affiliated with MOT, on dealing with foreign tourists, especially women. He said, “The personnel that interact with the tourists at every touch-point need to be sensitised on how to deal with them, and make sure that they do not carry any negative perception about the country. Even in case of any problem, the tourist shall be able to seek help from his phone, no matter where he/she is. Even in case they enter one state from another, we are trying to work on the technology that the helpline numbers in their phones change automatically, depending on their location.”

Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, MOT, revealed that the third edition of Paryatan Parv will be celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and will be held from Oct 2- 13 across the country. “The dates for the nationwide activities under Paryatan Parv by the states will take place from October 2-13, 2019, while the activities under Government of India will be held from October 2-6 at Rajpath in New Delhi. This year Paryatna Parv will be special because it is the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, and the theme will be ‘150 years of celebrating the Mahatma’, wherein, we will have activities centered around the life of Mahatma Gandhi,” he said.