Category Archives: MOT

The Ministry of Tourism is increasingly focusing on promoting Buddhist tourism, for which not only are they working on promotion, but also infrastructure development. MOT recently concluded a roadshow to a few ASEAN countries, and is all set to organise the International Buddhist Conclave in August. Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, said, “Buddhist Tourism is our priority area and in line with the same, we just concluded a roadshow in four countries–Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. We saw a lot of interest in people from these countries for coming to India and visiting these sites. We are also organising the International Budddhist Conclave from August 26-28, in which we will have business meetings and will also be inviting prominent monks from these countries. The inauguration will be held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, and then by charter flights we will take all the delegates to Ajanta and Ellora caves. This  is the first time we will be showcasing other sites related to Buddhism. From there, we will be take them to Bodhgaya and Sarnath. With this, we are hopeful that after this, the delegates would be able to see the improved infrastructure at these sites, which will encourage them to make visits to our country.”

Ministry of tourism is set to organise its Global Travel Mart from September 18-20, 2018 in association with Federation of Associations of Indian Travel and Hospitality (FAITH). Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, said, “We are taking a number of new initiatives. For a long time, it was the demand of the industry that we should also have a Global Travel Mart in our country on the lines of WTM and ITB, and this year we have finalised the mart in partnership with the industry. MOT will be organising this Global Travel Mart from September 18-20 in Delhi and we will be getting participants from all over the world and about 200-250 foreign delegates and media will be participating in it. The entire travel trade industry will be partners in this and their apex organisation FAITH will be doing it with us in partnership. This new initiative would give opportunity to the entire travel trade and will give a lot of fillip to the tourist traffic to India.

The Government of India has set a target of 20 million foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) by 2020 and double the foreign exchange earnings as well, according to a latest report by Ministry of Tourism. The number of FTAs in March 2018 were 1.03 million as compared to FTAs of 905,000 in March 2017, showing an year-on-year growth of 13.4 per cent. In CY 2017, foreign tourist arrival in India stood at 10.177 million and reached 3.13 million in January-March 2018. Growth in tourist arrivals has been due to flexible government policies, developed rail and road infrastructure, ease in availability of e-visas to foreign tourists. The Government of India is working to achieve 1 per cent share in world’s international tourist arrivals by 2020 and 2 per cent share by 2025.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) this April were 7,49,477 as compared to 7,17,899 in April 2017, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Tourism. The growth rate in FTAs in April 2018 over April 2017 was 4.4 per cent. FTAs during the period January-April 2018 were 38,76,021 as compared to 34,98,969 in January-April 2017 registering a growth of 10.8%. The percentage share of Foreign Tourist Arrivals in India during April 2018 among the top 15 source countries was highest from Bangladesh (24.32%) followed by USA (11.21%), UK (9.14%), Sri Lanka (3.48%), Australia (3.33%), Malaysia (3.06%), China (2.62%), Canada (2.53%), Germany (2.48%), France (2.33%), Japan (2.22%), Russian Federation (2.07%), Thailand (1.70%), Afghanistan (1.65%) and  Nepal (1.64%).

The foreign tourist visit to all States and UTs has been increasing over the years and in the year 2016,the visits by foreign tourists registered a growth of 5.92 per cent over 2015, according to a statistics report by Ministry of Tourism. The report says that number of foreign tourist visits to States/Uts during last 13 years has been registering an increasing trend overall, except for marginal decline in foreign visits in the years 2009 and 2012. The top five states in foreign tourist visits in 2016 were Tamil Nadu (4.72 million), Maharashtra(4.67million), Uttar Pradesh (31.53 million). Meanwhile, the report says that, there has been continuous increase in domestic tourist visits to States/ UTs with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.03 per cent from 1991 to 2016. The top five states in domestic tourist visits in 2016 were Tamil Nadu (343.8 million), Uttar Pradesh (211.7 million), Andhra Pradesh (153.2 million, Madhya Pradesh (150.5 million) and Karnataka (129.8 million).

According to data from Bureau of Immigration, Government of India, Bangladesh, USA and UK were the top three countries in terms of FTAs in India during February 2018. The top 10 source countries accounted for 61 per cent of the total inbound tourist flows in the year 2017. The introduction of e-Visa has led to a strong surge in Foreign Tourist Arrival resulting in a Y-o-Y growth of 62% in February 2018 compared to February 2017. UK, USA and France were the top three source countries availing e-Tourist Visa facilities during February 2018.

Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) during 2017 were USD 27,742 mn with a growth of 17.0 per cent over 2016, according to a latest FICCI-Yes Bank Report. This growth trend is dependent on many external factors including exchange rate and socio–political scenario, however, despite global undulations, FEEs have consistently contributed a significant share to the Tourism GDP of India. The rising flow of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) is clearly a function of the stellar growth performance of emerging tourism trends like MiCE along with spiritual travel and medical tourism. Furthermore, it goes without saying that FTAs have been able to garner considerable resources for the country and started contributing significantly to the economy. Foreign tourists tend to spend more in India than almost any other country worldwide due to its size as well as diversity of culture and geography. These are positive signs for the industry, and indicate significant potential going forward.

The Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with Google India has launched a 360° Virtual Reality (VR) experience video for the global “Incredible India” tourism campaign. Incredible India in 360 degrees takes through a journey across Hampi, Goa, Delhi and Amritsar, and will explore the places and people that make each of these iconic Indian sites incredible. Describing India as a destination of diverse experiences, KJ Alphons, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism said, “India is an iconic destination that offers unique experiences of climate, geography, culture, art, literature, and food”. The minister also said that government wants to give people in India and across the world an opportunity to immerse in our country’s rich heritage. And, through the partnership with Google, it wants to engage new and global audiences and offer them immersive content in a never-before-seen manner. The minister added that taking virtual reality to the common man at a low-free cost will further enable an increase in the tourist footfall in Iconic monuments and other tourist destinations with a focus on Museums.

India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) has recently signed a MoU with Hyderabad-based firm, Suraas Impex for developing a mega tourism destination project at Bhairav Lanka in Kakinada, East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh at an estimated cost of Rs 550 crores. This is the first-of-its-kind project for the state-owned ITDC, which got preferred against several private contenders. ITDC will be the Consulting Agency as well as Implementing Agency for the DPR and the execution which shall be taken up in three stages, i.e., preparing the DPR, implementation of project costing around Rs 550 crores and implementation of second phase of the project. ITDC has been the prime mover in the progressive development, promotion and expansion of tourism in the country. The Division has completed 67 infrastructure projects for Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and various state governments. The division has also prepared more than 85 DPRs for various tourism projects in the country. The corporation provides Engineering Consultancy Services through its full-fledged Ashok Consultancy & Engineering Services Division. It undertakes development of tourism infrastructure projects from concept to commissioning.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) this March were 10.26 lakh as compared to FTAs of 9.05 lakh in March 2017, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Tourism. FTAs during the period January-March 2018 were 31.27 lakh with a growth of 9.9 per cent over the same period of previous year. The percentage share of FTAs in India during March 2018 among the top 15 source countries was highest from Bangladesh (19.59 per cent) followed by UK (11.56 per cent), USA (10.79 per cent), Russian Federation (3.89 per cent), Sri Lanka (3.72 per cent), Malaysia (3.36 per cent), Canada (3.35 per cent), Germany (3.19 per cent), China (2.67 per cent), Australia (2.62 per cent), France (2.58 per cent), Japan (2.11 per cent), Thailand (2.00 per cent), Singapore (1.64 per cent) and Afghanistan (1.60 per cent).