Category Archives: States

After the recent news of Regional Transport Office (RTO) warning travel agents in Uttar Pradesh to obtain registration licenses within 10 days, Siddharth Yadav from the Assistant RTO (ARTO) Enforcement Office in Lucknow has clarified that this license is required only by those travel agents who are into car and bus rentals. Air ticketing agents do not fall under their purview. Interestingly, registration of travel agents and tour operators is part of the tourism policy passed by Uttar Pradesh but which is yet to see the light of day.

The Gujarat government has decided to map Statue of Unity Tent City 1 as a wedding venue. Bookings for weddings are now open available Rs 2.5 lakh per package of 50 people. According to reports, the wedding venue has two Presidential Cottages and 60 tents. The single-night offer includes all vegetarian meals, from lunch to breakfast the next morning, welcome drinks, mocktails and starters at the wedding ceremony. There will also be 17 rooms with triple occupancy, and a Royal Cottage for the newlyweds. Apart from providing a seating arrangement for 50 people, a wedding cake and jaimala will be among other things that will be included in the wedding package. Authorities have stated that the picturesque location, with an open-to-sky setting and the Narmada Dam in its backdrop, makes for an amazing location for a destination wedding.

After only a week of reopening Darjeeling for tourists, the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) has decided to temporarily suspend tourist activities in the hill station till July 31. The autonomous hill council also urged residents of Darjeeling and Kalimpong not to travel to Siliguri, as the rising numbers are a risk to the hills. Anit Thapa, Chairman, GTA, said, “I am very concerned over the rising number of COVID-19 cases in our nation, the state government has already announced a rigorous lockdown to be enforced in all containment zones from July 9. As you all know, the number of cases is much less in the hills, as compared to Siliguri but that doesn’t mean that we are safe from the virus.”

In a bid to attract tourists back to the state after lifting all travel restrictions, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board (MPTB) has introduced ‘Intezar Aapka’ campaign with includes a series of communication on MP Tourism’s social media pages. The campaign highlights the prime factors of all historic destinations in the state. The campaign further highlights all the key attractions of various destinations. MPTB is promoting places of tourist interest such as Ujjain, Panchmari, Amarkantak, Bandhavgarh, Kanha and Mandu, among others.

The temple town of Ayodhya has been gearing up for religious and spiritual tourism. It is conducting tourism courses for guides in association with RML Avadh University, Faizabad. These courses will be conducted and managed by the university. The training went on for three days in the last week of June 2020. In the first batch, 150 candidates have been selected for further grooming as guides for religious and spiritual tourism in Ayodhya. These are in line with the anticipated boom in tourism in this sector as more and more tourists are expected from around the world for darshan of Sri Ram Leela. This move is all the more important as the Ram temple is coming up in full swing.

Uttarakhand tourism department has started online registration facility for its Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Tourism Self-Employment Scheme and Homestay Scheme. The step has been taken to make the process more transparent, provide more convenience to people and to ensure that more and more youths benefit from the government’s scheme. Under the Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Tourism Self-Employment Scheme, the beneficiary can start their employment by purchasing buses / electric buses to operate on the routes of the state and can avail 50 percent subsidy or up to Rs. 15 lakh for the purchase of bus under the scheme.

Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha (HRAO), has appealed Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture, to think of a long-term benefit for the tourism industry of Odisha. In a letter addressed to the Minister, JK Mohanty, Chairman, HRAO & IATO Eastern Region, has written, “On behalf of HRAO, we regret to inform that hotel industry of Odisha has not yet received any relief either from the Centre or from the State Government in spite of our continuous appeals explaining the miserable situation faced by the tourism industry. The hotel industry is bleeding profusely and reasons are very well known to your honour through our various correspondences and memorandums presented through our national chapters of HAI, FAITH, FHRAI, FICCI, CII, ICC, ASSOCHAM, PHD Chamber of Commerce, etc. In view of this, we appeal before you to think of a long term benefit that the tourism industry can contribute to the country in terms of employment, both Indian and foreign exchange earnings, image building of the country, and providing service to guests both Indian and foreigners. The Hotel industry as per Swami Vivekananda’s wording ‘Provide Service to mankind is service to God’. Both Union Govt. and the State Govt. must realize the benefit which the Govt. get than the relief which the industry is seeking for its survival.”

To promote tourism in the state, the Maharashtra cabinet has announced that 7 MTDC properties will be developed by the private sector. The properties will be let out for lease or JVs for 90 years. As part of the move, the cabinet has also allowed setting up of eco-friendly shacks at eight state beaches.

Admist the Covid-19 pandemic, the Uttarakhand government is focusing on generating more employment opportunities for the youth of the state. During the pandemic, the tourism department of the state has also started the online registration facility for the Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Tourism Self-Employment Scheme and Homestay Scheme to make the benefits of government schemes available to more and more people. Secretary Tourism Dilip Jawalkar said that with the implementation of online application system, transparency will be increased and time will be saved as well as monitoring of the scheme can be done effectively. Applicants desirous of availing benefits under both these schemes will no longer be required to visit the department’s office. The registrations of both the above-mentioned schemes can be done online. Any Uttarakhand resident who wants to take advantage of this scheme can make their registration online by visiting the given link (http://vcsgscheme.uk.gov.in). This system will also allow real-time monitoring of the applications for both the schemes. Under the Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Tourism Self-Employment Scheme for the youths of Uttarakhand, can start their employment by purchasing buses / electric buses to operate on the routes of the state and can avail 50 percent subsidy or up to 15 lakh for the purchase of bus the scheme. This self-employment scheme has been provided to the people of the entire Uttarakhand state. Buses will be operated only for the designated routes of the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation and for the inner city places. Along with this, it will also be mandatory that out of the places where buses will be run, the station to start or go to travel should be in Uttarakhand. To promote tourism in the state of …

Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma recently inaugurated ‘isolated cottages’ called Orchid Log Houses in New Shillong Township funded under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme.  He said, “The idea is to adapt to the changing situation. It is important that we have cottages that are isolated but have good infrastructure.” However, Meghalaya is currently closed for all tourists.