Category Archives: MOT

Vinod Zutshi, Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Nagesh Singh, Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, inaugurated the three-day International Conference on Rurality, Ruralism and Rural Tourism – Challenges and Coping Strategies at Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi. Organised by the Department of Tourism & Hospitality Management, Jamia Millia Islamia, the ongoing conference is being attended by delegates from eminent tourism institutes from India and 25 other countries. “Rural tourism is at a nascent stage but there is a lot of scope and potential to promote rural destinations in India. It is an untapped market and we need to identify more and more destinations across the country,” said Zutshi during the conference sponsored by Ministry of Tourism. MP Bezbaruah, Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism; S K Misra, Chairman, Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development and Ex-Secretary, Ministry of Tourism; Sujit Banerjee, Secretary General ,WTTC India attended the event while Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Tourism, Government of Delhi is set to preside over the valedictory function. This conference will help bring various stakeholders on a single platform to discuss future tourism trends, ideas, implications and methodologies, theoretical and practical approaches for rural tourism development. The objective is to discuss the contemporary research in the area of rural tourism. The event will showcase rural life, art, culture, and heritage at rural locations and in villages, which have core competence in art and craft. Handloom, textiles, and also an asset base in the natural environment.

Union Minister of State (I/C) Tourism K J Alphons, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Arunachal Pradesh Tourism Minister Jarkar Gamlin inaugurated two projects under Swadesh Darshan Scheme of Ministry of Tourism at PTSO Lake in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. These projects are ‘Development of Northeast Circuits: Bhalukpong- Bomdila – Tawang Project & Nafra- Seppa- Pappu, Pasa, Pakke Valleys- Sangdupota- New Sagalee- Ziro- Yomcha Project’. Other important dignitaries were also present on the occasion. Speaking at the event, Alphons said, “The efforts of Ministry have shown positive results and the foreign tourist arrivals in the region have shown an upward trend over the years. The region received a total of 1.69 lakh foreign tourist visits during 2017 as against 1.45 lakh in 2016 registering a growth of 16.7% over 2016. The domestic tourist visits reached to 95.47 lakhs in the year 2017 against 77.71 lakhs registering impressive double digit growth of 22.8% over 2016. The increased number of tourists in turn has created better employment opportunity for the local population in the region.” Under the project development of Bhalukpong- Bomdila – Tawang, the Ministry has developed facilities like accommodation, cafeteria, wayside amenities, last mile connectivity, pathways, toilets, multipurpose hall at Jang, Sorang Monastery, Lumpo, Zemithang, Bumla Pass, Gritsang TSO lake, PTSO Lake, Thingbu and Grenkha Hot Spring, Lumla, Sela Lake. The facilities developed under Nafra- Seppa- Pappu, Pasa, Pakke Valleys- Sangdupota- New Sagalee- Ziro- Yomcha include helipad, trekking trails, rafting centre, log huts, craft bazaar, eco park, tourist facilitation centres, parking, festival ground, etc.  

Union Minister for Tourism (I/C) KJ Alphons has inaugurated the Tourist Facilitation and Information Counter at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. The counter is located at the T3 arrival gates of the airport. Opening the first-of-its-kind facilitation centre for visitors, Alphons said that this shall be of great help to the tourists visiting the country. He further added that the counter shall cater to non-English speaking tourists also as the counter will be connected to the 24*7 Helpline – ‘1363’ of the Tourism Ministry where the tourists can speak directly with the foreign language agents and get guidance in French, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Arabic. The Ministry of Tourism has set-up this counter with an objective to provide 24*7 information to both domestic and international visitors arriving into IGI Airport, New Delhi. The Tourist Facilitation Counter will be manned by two staff members and a supervisor to answer the queries of the tourists and also guide them with information. The counter is also stocked with sufficient high-quality tourist literature and brochures to be provided to the tourists. Along with it, the Tourism Ministry is also starting facilitation counters in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Gaya and Varanasi.

The India pavilion at World Travel Market 2018 in London was packed with activities for the trade and consumers alike. Addressing a press conference, Rashmi Verma, Secretary-Tourism, Government of India, enlisted the achievements of the Ministry. Accompanying Verma were Pramod Kumar Singh, Tourism Minister, Bihar; Vellamandi N Natarajan, Tourism Minister, Tamil Nadu; Aashima Mehrotra, Director, Ministry of Tourism and Charanjeet Singh, Deputy High Commissioner of India to the UK. Verma highlighted, “Last year has been a very good year for India tourism with a growth of about 14 per cent in foreign tourist arrivals and about 19 per cent in terms of foreign receipts, much more than the global growth of 6.8 per cent. We also crossed the 10 million mark for the first time. This was possible because of our adoption of the multi-pronged strategy. We focus hugely on creating world-class infrastructure in and around our tourist sites.” She pointed out, “Incredible India 2.0 campaign is more thematic in nature. Looking at the needs and demands of major markets like the US and the UK, we have made some thematic films on niche products like adventure, yoga, Ayurveda, etc. This campaign focuses heavily on social media besides print and electronic media. We are hopeful that through this new Incredible India campaign we will be able to encourage people to revisit india, stay longer and experience the various products we have on offer.” The MOT also recently concluded two new events — India Tourism Mart (ITM) and Paryatan Parv —to create awareness about India both internationally and domestically. “More than 250 foreign buyers participated at the first-ever ITM. Buddhist Conclave was also held to showcase various Buddhist destinations in India.” The key initiative of introduction …

India has witnessed a total of 51,63,343 Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in 2018, a growth of 7.9% compared to 2017, reveals a latest report ‘India Tourism Statistics at a glance 2018’ by the Ministry of Tourism (MoT). Last year, from January to June, the country saw 47,84,847 FTAs. However, in 2016, there were 41,68,864 FTAs during the same months. When compared, an increase of 14.8% was found in FTAs from 2016 to 2017. The report also mentions that in FY2016-17, the months of April and June saw 21.3% increase in the number of FTAs – the maximum in the year. In April 2016, there were 5,92,004 FTAs in the country, whereas 7,17,899 in 2017. The report also highlights that in the current year, March 2018 records the highest percentage (18%), with 10,25,830 FTAs in India.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Korea for strengthening cooperation in the field of tourism. The main objectives of the MoU are to expand bilateral cooperation in tourism sector, increase exchange of information and data related to tourism, encourage cooperation between tourism stakeholders including hotels and tour operators, establish exchange programmes for cooperation in Human Resources Development, encourage investment in the tourism and hospitality sectors, exchange visits of tour operators/media/opinion makers for promotion of two-way tourism, exchange experience in the areas of promotion, marketing destination development and management, encourage participation in travel fairs/exhibitions in each other’s country and promote safe, honourable and sustainable tourism. India and Korea have enjoyed a strong diplomatic and long economic relationship. The two parties now desiring to strengthen and further develop the established relationship for strengthening cooperation in the field of tourism. Korea is one of the leading tourist generating markets for India from East Asia. Signing of the MoU with Korea will be instrumental in increasing arrival from this source market.

CzechTourism has witnessed a significant rise in Indian arrivals over the years having seen a growth of 128 per cent from 2015-2017. In 2017, Czech Republic welcomed 85,680 Indians, a growth of 27 per cent in Indian arrivals over 2016, according to the Czech Republic Authority. The Czech Tourist Authority – CzechTourism – along with the Embassy of the Czech Republic, successfully conducted three-city roadshow in New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai on October 8, 9 and 11, respectively, to promote the Czech Republic’s unique attractions. On the occasion, HE Milan Hovorka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to India, stated, “With the Indian economy growing at a pace no one has seen before, the number of people visiting other countries is skyrocketing. And, it’s no surprise that the Czech Republic is very high on the list of countries to visit. We’re happy to see this kind of growth and we believe that with events like this roadshow, we’ll be able to connect the right people to ensure that every holiday in the Czech Republic will be as smooth and well-organised as possible.” Veronika Janečková, Head of International Markets Management, Czech Tourist Authority – CzechTourism added, “We see India as a promising market; Czech Republic has a lot to offer to the Indian travellers in terms of unexplored destinations and unique experiences. The country hosts a diverse array of natural landscapes that appeal to visitors of every kind – be it architectural lovers or adventure seekers. Through this roadshow, we are able to reach out to new markets and further strengthen our relationship with Indian travel trade partners.”

India has been ranked at the third place in WTTC’s new Power and Performance report, which looks at the performance of 185 countries over the last seven-year period (2011-2017) – after the financial crisis ended and when most countries commenced their journeys to recovery. At the first position in this list of Top 30 is China followed by USA. The countries have been ranked using WTTC’s annual economic impact data across four main indicators— total contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), visitor exports (international tourism spend), domestic spending and capital investment. Countries were ranked in terms of absolute size of growth and speed of growth to create two separate types of rankings – power and performance rankings. China took the first place, driven by the strongest absolute growth out of all countries in three indicators – GDP growth, domestic spending and investment growth. The USA (with the largest total Travel & Tourism GDP) and India comfortably took the second and third place. Mexico, a well-established Travel & Tourism economy, came fourth, driven by a strong performance across all four indicators.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved agreements between India and Uzbekistan for cooperation in tourism. An MoU was approved by the Cabinet for strengthening cooperation in the field of tourism, signed during the Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s visit to India on October 1. The signing of the MoU in the field of tourism will help the two countries in creating an institutional mechanism for enhancing cooperation in the tourism sector. It will also help in increasing foreign tourist arrivals from Uzbekistan to the country. This, in turn, will result in economic development and employment generation. The agreement shall create favourable conditions for long-term tourism cooperation for mutual benefits of all stakeholders within the broader framework and areas of cooperation. In addition, the MoU shall explore to incorporate the best practices to implement the measures that will realise the objectives set out in it. Source: ANI

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated two Swadesh Darshan Scheme projects of the Ministry of Tourism – ‘Development of Kakinada – Hope Island – Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary – Passarlapudi – Aduru – S Yanam – Kotipally and, Development of Nellore- Pulikat Lake – Ubblamadugu Water Falls – Nelapattu -Kothakoduru- Mypadu – Ramateertham – Iskapalli’ in the presence of Union Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism K J Alphons, Andhra Pradesh Tourism Minister Bhuma Akhila Priya and Union Tourism Secretary Rashmi Verma in Tirupati. The projects are the first projects under the Swadesh Drashan Scheme to be inaugurated in the Southern region. Naidu also inaugurated the state-of-the-art Indian Culinary Institute (ICI) campus, Tirupati. Alphons said that the tourism ministry is one among the major contributors to employment generation in the country and this culinary institute will help in imparting skills to more youth, thereby further generating employment. The project Development of Kakinada – Hope Island – Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary – Passarlapudi – Aduru – S Yanam – Kotipally was sanctioned by the Ministry of Tourism in March 2015 for Rs 69.83 crore. The second project was sanctioned in December 2015 for Rs 59.70 Crores. Nellore has huge potential to be developed as a leading tourist destination in the region because of its proximity to Chennai, Bangalore and Tirupati and also due to its abundant natural resources.