Category Archives: States

Vishal Kumar Dev, Commissioner – cum – Secretary, Tourism, Sports and Youth Services, Government of Odisha, has said that the state will be coming up with a new tourism policy in 2020. Congratulating Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha for conducting the 4th Odisha Tourism Conclave, he shared, “An important agenda for the department of tourism is the drastic simplification of the process of allotment of land for new construction of hotels. There is a lack of enough star hotels in Odisha, especially in Bhubaneswar, which is a necessity for tourism.” They will be starting the Konark Sun City Festival to attract more tourists to the destination soon. Impetus remains on developing infrastructure, the department has also identified nine circuits touching 13 destinations, where developing infrastructure is the priority. While they have held six roadshows to promote Odisha, six more roadshows will take place this year. Next year, they hope to have international roadshows to promote tourism in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia

Business transactions worth Rs 3,000 crore are expected to take place during the second edition of the Tamil Nadu Travel Mart, scheduled from September 19-22 in Chennai. Sharing the details, Ligi George, Convenor, CII Tamil Nadu Tourism panel said the value of trade transacted in the last edition, which took place in 2007 was Rs 1,800 crore. “The total value of business in this edition is expected to b be Rs 3,000 crore, which would be through business to business meetings at the travel mart,” he added. More than 300 exhibitors and around 1,000 international and domestic buyers are expected to attend the three-day travel mart. Along with TTM, the Medical Value Travel Mart is also being organised by CII in association with the Tamil Nadu Travel Mart Society. (Source: Times of India)

In a bid to boost tourism, Madhya Pradesh Forest Department has proposed to develop 12 new wildlife sanctuaries in the state. The state government is reportedly looking for new ways to generate revenue and hence there is a focus on tourism sector. The Forest Department is working with the tourism corporation to provide more tourism activities in forest areas. In addition, district forest officers have been given the mandate to identify areas in their districts where parks and wildlife sanctuaries can be developed. Currently, Forest Department has directed to allocate 200 ha land for each sanctuary. At present, the state has 25 sanctuaries and 10 national parks, which generates around INR 27 crore every year to the government. With the new developments, the Govt. aims to increase the revenue by INR 200 crores from tourism activities. Also, in order to boost revenue from tourism, new wildlife sanctuaries and wildlife environmental zones have been proposed. As per the proposal, wildlife sanctuaries are being planned in districts like Balaghat, Sheopur, Mandla, Chhindwara, Shahdol, Dindori, Sagar, Khandwa, Jabalpur, Indore, Seoni and Hoshangabad. There are also plans to develop Ratapani and Mandhata (Shivpuri) as national parks. Source: Times of India

The Himachal Pradesh government has approved the draft of the new tourism policy in the state aimed at holistic development of tourism. The state cabinet has approved ‘Capital Investment Subsidy’ for tourism projects in underdeveloped areas of the state and grant for access of roads and water supply to tourism units. There will be five per cent capital subsidy for the new projects under this category maximum up to Rs 3 crores. To provide accessibility to new tourism projects, which lacked road connectivity and drinking water supply, the government proposed a 15 per cent subsidy. Srikant Baldi, Chief Secretary, Himachal Pradesh government said after the meeting, “There is also going to be subsidy component for the adventure tourism project of all kinds, and those setting-up tents will be encouraged with additional 10 per cent incentives on investments.” The policy will have special focus on ecotourism, agro organic tourism, snow tourism, lake tourism, adventure tourism, pilgrimage tourism, cultural and heritage tourism, health and wellness tourism, film tourism and  MiCE tourism. The main objectives of this policy is to promote tourism diversification through theme based development, to safeguard state’s tourism destinations through sustainable interventions, to ensure that sustainable tourism primarily benefits host communities, to build capacity and develop quality human resource for the tourism industry, to provide safe, secure and unique ‘tourism for all’ and to create enabling environment for investments for sustainable tourism.

The Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha (HRAO) is organising the 4th edition of Odisha Tourism Conclave on 18 September under the theme ‘Tourism to be the driving force of state economy’. Governor of Odisha, Ganeshi Lal, will inaugurate the Conclave with other dignitaries. The conclave would be an immense congregation to give a 360 degree boost to the growth of tourism sector in Odisha, attract investments in the tourism sector, the holistic approach to rediscover the potential issues relating to Tourism & Hospitality sector and to prepare a roadmap with specific recommendations from the stakeholders.  Although Odisha has vast tourism potential, it is yet to come at par with its neighbouring and other states like Kerala, Goa, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi etc.

Trulyy India Hotels & Resorts based in Ahmedabad has opened its twelfth hotel – a 50-key hotel in Bhimtal, Uttarakhand – and is in talks to open a few more in Goa and Diu. With a focus firmly on the mid-market segment in India as well as the growing inbound traffic, Trulyy India Hotels & Resorts is looking to expand its portfolio and offer tourists a wider variety of hotels to choose from. It currently has 11 hotels spread across Gujarat and Rajasthan, and its twelfth hotel is coming up in Bhimtal, Uttarakhand. Sharing more detail, Naresh Arora, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Trulyy India Hotels & Resorts, says, “This new hotel will be operations by October 1, 2019 and will have 50 rooms. It will be a complete resort with a beautiful location and world-class facilities for MICE.” Arora is also adding rooms to their existing hotels. With huge demand from inbound and domestic, their Rajasthan hotels are seeing huge footfalls. “So we are adding 50 more rooms in Jaisalmer, which currently has 57 rooms and it will be ready by October end. We are a hotel chain predominantly having hotels in Rajasthan with nine properties there. We are now looking to open a wellness resort in Rishikesh and are in discussions,” he says.

Tamil Nadu Travel Mart Society, supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and Department of Tourism, Government of Tamil Nadu is organising the 2nd edition of Tamil Nadu Travel Mart to showcase the potential of Tamil Nadu’s tourism on a global platform from 19-22 September in Chennai.  TTM will also have a parallel event- Tamil Nadu Medical Travel Mart, in association with Health Department Government of Tamil Nadu

The 35th annual convention of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) was inaugurated at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in Kolkata. The association is organising the convention in Kolkata after 17 years with the theme, ‘Is Tourism Thriving? Challenges and Opportunities’. The Day 2 of the convention will mark the opening of India Tourism Fair 2019. The convention was graced by Goutam Deb, Tourism Minister, West Bengal, Indranil Sen, Minister of State, Dept. of Information & Culture Affairs and Tourism, Government of West Bengal, Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Minister for Tourism, Odia Language, Literature and Culture and Atri Bhattacharya, Principal Secretary Tourism, Government of West Bengal apart from many stalwart of the travel trade were present during the glittering opening ceremony. Apart from highlighting the host state, West Bengal, who was seen promoting Durga Puja, as the part of theme, IATO Convention will play host to 13 other states and Union Territories, who will showcase their tourism products and offerings. On the theme of Durga Puja, there will also be a live demonstration of idol-making. The IATO Hall of Fame Award for 2019 was given to Patu Keswani, CMD, Lemon Tree Hotels. IATO Run for responsible Tourism will be organised on the last day of the convention on September 14.

The Madhya Pradesh Tourism Department Corporation (MPTDC) has issued global tenders to sell seven hotels, which the corporation handles in the state, including the well-known Ashoka Lake View hotel in Bhopal apart from Ujjain’s Hotel Avantika, Pili Kothi in Umariya and a tourist motel in Mandla. The department has also planned to rent heritage sites in the state for marriage celebrations during the upcoming season. This is not the first time that private players have been roped in by the MP Tourism Department. In 2016, the then-government gave many state-owned hotels and motels like those in Datia, Neemuch, Khajuraho, Katni and Pipariya to private operators. It had then made a provision in the state tourism policy to give hotels to private operators under the condition that the company taking the hotel will operate it and pay the lease money annually to the government. Any violation of the agreement lead to the hotel being taken back by the tourism development corporation.

The 4th Odisha Tourism Conclave is going to be held on 18 September at Bhubaneswar.  Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India Prahlad Singh Patel will be attending the inaugural ceremony along with the Minister of Petroleum, Natural Gas & Steel- Dharmendra Pradhan, State Tourism Minister- Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Secretary Tourism, Govt. of Odisha- Vishal Dev, IAS and Governor of Odisha Ganeshi Lal. The day long function will conclude with Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha Sri Naveen Patnaik doing the Valedictory Ceremony along with State Tourism Minister Sri Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi, Hon’ble Minister, Industries, Govt. of Odisha, Sri Dibya Shankar Mishra, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Odisha Sri Asit Tripathy, IAS and Secretary Tourism, Govt. of Odisha Sri Vishal Dev, IAS.