Tag Archives: Domestic Tourism

Anita Mendiratta, Special Advisor to the Secretary General, UNWTO, has said that had it not been for domestic tourism, a lot of countries wouldn’t have survived. Hence, she advises, “Domestic tourism must remain at the heart of the strategy, with international and regional strategies complimenting it and not becoming replacements to that strategy.”

India’s apex hotel association, FHRAI has appealed to Government of India to aggressively promote domestic tourism this year, and recommended that incentivising domestic tourism by offering tax exemption under Section 80C of up to Rs50,000 to Indian nationals will encourage them to travel, thus helping achieve the goal.

The Tour Operators and Travel Agents Association of Gujarat (TAG) has initiated a campaign to promote domestic tourism. A five-member team from TAG will embark on a historical 36-day road trip across India, starting off from Surat on September 18. The team will cover around 18,000 kms visiting 34 states and UT capitals (except Andaman & NicoBar and Lakshadweep) while showcasing their landmark monuments and Covid-ready hotels. Pankaj Gupta, President, TAG, shared that the team will be led by Rajiv Shah of Surat-based agency Network Tours & Travels. They will essentially cover around 500kms per day. The entire trip is largely self-sponsored.

Opening the second session titled ‘Where is the money? Selling domestic luxury’ in the second series of the Digital Conclave spearheaded by TravTalk, was Arjun Sharma, Chairman, Select Group, who believes that the industry will go through a deep and prominent transformation in these coming months. “It is just a matter of realising the importance of domestic tourism. Our domestic market is the biggest catchment area after the Chinese domestic market. In fact, all our neighbouring countries have survived on this – be it Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, or Dubai. They have all existed because of the Indian outbound market. I think this is the first time that the Indian travel industry can reposition itself dynamically to create the paradigm that is necessary for that domestic traveller to look at India as their next luxury holiday destination,” he says

Ashwani Lohani, Chairman, APTDC, has said that this is the time to commission a good study on domestic tourism, which details the action plan for the way forward to boost domestic tourism. Speaking at the second Digital Conclave by TravTalk, Lohani said, “Now is the time to commission a good study on domestic tourism, which is not too long but only 25-30 pages of action points. Then make all the states and stakeholders start following that. A lot of small things must be done. Collectively, they become very big and they impact the state. For energising domestic tourism, we need to have a very aggressive campaign, which can create that desire in the hearts of people to explore their own country.”

Riding on the success of the maiden TravTalk Digital Conclave, the second edition of the e-event is set to commence today from 10am-1:30pm and will see industry stalwarts discussing the way forward for domestic and aviation industry till. There will be three sessions of one hour each. To attend, contact Jaspreet Kaur on 9650196532 and jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com. The eminent speakers from state tourism boards, Indian tour operators’ associations, airlines, hotels, as well as visa and technology service providers among others, who will deliberate on the next steps in domestic tourism and India as a global source market. The list of speakers include Ashwani Lohani (APTDC), PP Khanna (ADTOI), Kerrie Hannaford (Accor), Arjun Sharma (Select Group), Ankur Bhatia (Bird Group), Sanjay Kumar (IndiGo), Vinay Malhotra (VFS Global), Sandeep Dwivedi (ITQ) and KD Singh (TravelBullz).

After the resounding success of its maiden Digital Conclave in early April, TravTalk is all geared up to host the conclave’s second edition tomorrow, April 21, from 10 am to 1:30 pm. Divided into three one-hour sessions, the virtual summit will have eminent speakers from state tourism boards, Indian tour operators’ associations, airlines, hotels, as well as visa and technology service providers among others, who will deliberate on the next steps in domestic tourism and India as a global source market. For more details, you can contact Jaspreet Kaur on 9650196532 and jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com. Speakers will include Ashwani Lohani (APTDC), PP Khanna (ADTOI), Kerrie Hannaford (Accor), Arjun Sharma (Select Group), Ankur Bhatia (Bird Group), Sanjay Kumar (IndiGo), Vinay Malhotra (VFS Global), Sandeep Dwivedi (ITQ) and KD Singh (TravelBullz).

A total of 1854.93 million domestic tourist visits were recorded to various states and UTs across India in 2018, revealed Ministry of Tourism’s report titled ‘India Tourism Statistics at a Glance 2019’. It recorded an increase of 11.9 per cent increase over that recorded in 2017 (1657.55 million).

Karnataka Tourism is planning to intensify its 2017 campaign ‘The Year of the Wild’ by installing intelligent displays at 279 railway stations, which will enable it to reach 10 crore people a month. The campaign is running across 7 states including Maharashtra, Telangana, Bihar, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka. This has been made possible as Karnataka Tourism has entered into collaboration with outdoor media company, Vyoma Technologies. From eco-trekking along the scenic Western Ghats, to celebrating the iconic Golden Chariot, tourism in Karnataka is definitely on the uptake, recording a 15.5% growth in tourism in 2016 as recorded by the Ministry of Tourism.