Category Archives: MOT

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.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (IC), Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, has announced that they will soon install information boards at major monuments across the country.  These would have information in three foreign languages, the choice of languages would be determined based on the countries from where that particular monument gets the maximum number of tourists. This might also be followed by a digital code on the board, where tourists can point their phones and get information of the monument in detail.

The government announced that Jammu and Kashmir would be a UT with a Legislature while the Ladakh region will be a separate UT without a legislature. Talking about its impact on tourism, Parvez Dewan, Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, says, “I don’t think tourism will get affected post this decision. The unrest or security issue is very temporary, and in the long run tourism will not be affected because these UTs will remain next to each other. Since 1994-95, a certain number of Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims have always gone to Kashmir after the Darshan. Around 34 per cent of foreign tourists visiting Ladakh do it in combination with Kashmir and around 66 per cent might only go to Ladakh. Similarly, a certain percentage always do Jammu and Kashmir together, and that will continue.”

The government announced that Jammu and Kashmir would be a UT with a Legislature while the Ladakh region will be a separate UT without a legislature. Talking about its impact on tourism, Parvez Dewan, Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, says, “I don’t think tourism will get affected post this decision. The unrest or security issue is very temporary, and in the long run tourism will not be affected because these UTs will remain next to each other. Since 1994-95, a certain number of Mata Vaishno Devi pilgrims have always gone to Kashmir after the Darshan. Around 34 per cent of foreign tourists visiting Ladakh do it in combination with Kashmir and around 66 per cent might only go to Ladakh. Similarly, a certain percentage always do Jammu and Kashmir together, and that will continue.

Ministry of Tourism (MOT) is working with other ministries to ease the visa regime, as well as address the industry demand to reduce the visa fee and making visa free in lean period. Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, MOT, shared that they have been working with tourism stakeholders and working towards addressing their problems. “As MOT, after understanding the pain points of the industry and various stakeholders, we are in discussion and negotiations with various ministries to see the areas which need further facilitation, which stakeholders need for better promotion of tourism. The issues are related with the visa facilitation process, taxation or financing of the bigger projects We hope certain positive results would come out and when that happens, the respective ministries would announce their decisions,” he said.