Category Archives: MOT

Ministry of Tourism has released 11 itineraries, that will trace the life of Mahatma Gandhi, under the ‘Gandhi Gramin Circuit’, announced Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, Tourism. Tour operators are going to promote the circuit throughout the year to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th Birth Anniversary celebrations. All these locations are directly connected with Mahatma Gandhi. Not only his birthplace, Porbandar, Gujarat, but all the locations he worked, lived and connected with people throughout his life. These locations include Mani Bhavan in Mumbai, Aga Khan Palace in Pune, Champaran in Bihar, National Gandhi Museum in New Delhi, Birla House (Where Gandhi was assassinated), Rajghat (Memorial dedicated to Gandhi) and certain places in Kolkata as well, where he led his movements during the freedom struggle of the country. Crafting some diverse tours and packages to sensitise the people about Gandhi, the itineraries include Shimla as well, where Gandhi spent a significant amount of time in his life.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism and Culture, has announced that single-use plastic will not be allowed within ASI protected monuments and within 100 m of these monuments. He made the announcement at the launch of Paryatan Parv 2019, which was inaugurated on October 2, 2019 at Rajpath lawns, by Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change and Information & Broadcasting and Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Minister of Steel. Expressing his happiness that the inauguration of the Paryatan Parv is coinciding with the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Patel said, “In line with Mahatma Gandhi’s thoughts regarding sustainable and clean tourism, efforts are being made to phase out single use plastics in various organisations of ASI and MOT. Single Use Plastics will no longer be permitted within ASI protected Monuments and within 100 m of these Monuments.” Paryatan Parv is being held in Delhi till October 6 and across the country till October 13, 2019.

Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu presented the National Tourism Awards 2017-18 on World Tourism Day in New Delhi. A total of 76 Awards under various categories were presented. The Union Minister of State for Tourism & Culture (IC) Prahlad Singh Patel;Secretary-General of United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Zurab Pololikashvili; Tourism Minister of Paraguay, Sofia Montiel De Afara; Tourism Secretary Yogendra Tripathi; DG Tourism, Meenakshi Sharma, senior officers of Ministry of tourism and 82 international delegates were  among those present on the occasion.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals in August 2019 were 7,98,587 as compared to 7,86,003 in August 2018, registering a growth of 1.6%, revealed latest statistics released by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. FTAs during the period January-August 2019 were 68,82,940 as compared to 67,43,819 in January- August 2018 registering a growth of 2.1%.

At the occasion of the second edition of the Tamil Nadu Travel Mart and Medical Value Travel Mart 2019, Apurva Varma, Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Dept , Government of Tamil Nadu, says, “295 sites have been identified for the development under Tamil Nadu Integrated Tourism Promotion Programme.” He also shares that the Tamil Nadu Government has kept Rs 100 crore aside for the development of tourism in the state.”

In a grand opening ceremony, the second edition of the Tamil Nadu Travel Mart and Medical Value Travel Mart 2019 was inaugurated at the Chennai Trade Centre in Chennai. The three-day exhibition, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with Tamil Nadu Travel Mart Society will showcase the potential of Tamil Nadu’s tourism on a global platform. The inauguration was followed by an array of cultural programs and networking dinners organised for all the delegates. TTM 2019 will witness more than 300 exhibitors showcasing tourism business opportunities in the state along with 1000 domestic and international buyers from 54 countries. Apart from TTM, the Medical Value Travel Mart this year will reiterate the importance of Tamil Nadu in the medical value travel sector. Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, Union Tourism Ministry, said the government had recognised the potential of tourism and approved 77 projects under Swadesh Darshan and 24 under Prasad in Tamil Nadu.

Speaking at the 4th Odisha Tourism Conclave, Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General , Ministry of Tourism, Govt of India, says, “Goods and Services Tax is the top most priority for us and we are hoping for a positive result. We are encouraging all stakeholders to send across their suggestions and feedback so the GST council has all the right data to take a positive decision. We are also hoping to identify an iconic site for Odisha. MOT has come out with schemes to promote tourism. With ‘Adopt a heritage’, we not only want to encourage PPP but also get the community to participate. A global marketing campaign will be started soon by MOT and Odisha will be an important part of it.”

The Minister of State for Culture & Tourism (Independent charge), Prahlad Singh Patel held a meeting with all local stakeholders related to tourism sector in Ladakh. The Minster announced that the Ministry of Tourism will provide full support to the local administration in preparing a new Tourism Policy for  Ladakh. He also assured them that if needed, the Ministry people will visit every month to Ladakh to provide their support and help regarding this matter. The Minister also said that right now Ladakh region has only 14 monuments under ASI protection and the Ministry is willing to increase it to double or triple fold.. He further added that there are several many unknown yet important monuments available in Leh and Kargil regions which can be protected by ASI. In the meeting, the local stakeholders appreciated Minister’s initiative to visit Ladakh and hold fruitful meetings. They demanded support of Government of India in various matters like better connectivity, better infrastructure, rebate in taxation to boost tourism industry, to promote village tourism and adventure tourism among others. The Union Minister assured them that the Ministry and Government of India have taken their demands positively and full support will be provided to Ladakh to enable quality tourism in order to make it one of the best tourist destinations in the world . The Meeting started with a presentation given by ShriVikas Rustagi, Joint Director General, Ministryof Tourism regarding roadmap to boost tourism in Ladakh region. In the presentation it was showcased that Ladakh has great potential to attract tourists from across the globe and we need to capitalize the opportunity with better planning. He said that, a special place has been given to …

Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) started his 3-day tour to Leh for exploring the opportunities of increasing tourism in the region. Union Tourism Minister is leading a delegation of senior officials of the Ministry of tourism to meet local administration and tourism stakeholders to discuss and draw plans for development of tourism sector in Ladakh region. After reaching Leh, the Minister started series of meetings with various stakeholders  and discussed proposals of promoting tourism and cultural activities in Ladakh. MP from Ladakh Shri Jamyang Tsering Namgyal was also present during the meeting. The minister also held meeting with members of Cultural Society of Leh. The Minister also held a meeting with Travel Trade Alliance of Ladakh region to understand the problems of stakeholders in tourism sector. In the meeting different stakeholders from the alliance raised their problems before the Minister. They also gave suggestions to Minister for expanding opportunities in  tourism sector in the region. Promoting adventure tourism, winter tourism and cheap and better connectivity from different part of countries to Leh, Kargil and Nubra Valley in all seasons remained the highlight of the discussions. They also requested the Minister to facilitate opening of Hotel Management Institute and Mountaineering Institute in the area to promote local talent in the region. The Alliance members also gave a memorandum regarding their concerns to Union Minister. In response to Alliance concerns and suggestions, the Minister assured them that the Government  is very positive regarding their concerns and full support will be given to Ladakh regarding development of tourism in the newly announced UT. He said that central government has arrived at the doorstep of Ladakh to fulfil the …

Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge), Prahlad Singh Patel has said that the next meeting of state tourism ministers will take place in Jammu and Kashmir. The last meeting took place in Delhi recently. “Our next meeting of all state tourism ministers, as per their wish, has been planned in Jammu and Kashmir. When all these ministers met me in Delhi recently, all of them expressed their desire for the next meeting in Jammu and Kashmir. It could be in Srinagar as well. However, we haven’t decided the location as of now,” said the Minister. While every ministry is planning schemes for Ladakh region, he said he would be visiting Kashmir to take stock of ‘feasibility’ of implementation of schemes in the newly-carved Union Territory. “While we have sent our tourism officials to Leh and Ladakh to train the manpower for the betterment of the tourism sector for a few days, we would be focusing our energies on various schemes under our ministries. We would go to Jammu and Kashmir soon after,” the minister said. Ladakh will get dedicated projects that can make the region stand out as an international tourist destination, said Patel. (Source: ANI)