Tag Archives: Dr. Mahesh Sharma

The much awaited National Tourism Policy is in anticipation of Cabinet approval, says Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (IC) for Tourism and Culture, and Minister of State for Civil Aviation. “Draft is ready and it has got approval of all concerned ministries. It will go to the Cabinet now for its approval. After Cabinet approval it will be effective. We are expecting it will be done very soon,” Sharma was quoted as saying by PTI.  The new policy aims to cash in on the tourist wanderlust to increase India’s share in international tourist arrivals from the current measly 0.68 per cent to 1 per cent by 2020. (Source: PTI)

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) launched a “Swachh Parayantan Mobile App” to flag issues related to cleanliness in and around tourist sites. To start with, 25 Adarsh Smarak Monuments protected by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have been identified for inclusion in the App. The application would be scaled up to include more monuments as the campaign expands.  Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism & Culture and Minister of State for Civil Aviation, inaugurated the App in the presence of Vinod Zutshi, Sectretary-Tourism, MOT, Sanjeev Ranjan, Additional Secretary-Tourism, MOT, Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, MOT, Dr. R K Bhatnagar, ADG, MoR, Umang Narula, CMD, ITDC, among others. Addressing on the occasion, Dr. Sharma said that since the general public and the tourists are the largest stakeholders in keeping the monuments clean, the Ministry of Tourism has decided to facilitate the general public to communicate their complaints about any unclean area/garbage piles in and around tourist destinations. Hence as a part thereof, the Ministry of Tourism is launching this Mobile App. He opined that till all stakeholders don’t contribute, such project will not succeed. This mobile App enables a citizen to take photograph of garbage at the monument and upload the same along with his/her remarks. The application then sends an SMS to the ASI Nodal Officer concerned with the monument upon receipt of which the Nodal Officer gets the garbage cleared/removed. The Nodal Officer thereafter sends confirmation about the redressal of the complaint through an SMS to the complainant.

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has decided to create a government liaison committee to facilitate detailed interaction with the government and suggest reforms for the industry. The team led by National President, Sunil Kumar, met Dr Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) and Civil Aviation in New Delhi on January 29. Kumar said, “The government’s role in India on aviation practices, particularly, between airlines and agencies has been extremely limited. We discussed a lot of issues and have requested him to ensure that the government plays an important role to establish healthy industry practices including remuneration that must be provided to the agencies. We also talked about forming a round-table of agency representatives and airlines led by the government to resolve decisions on the marketing practices.”

AirAsia X has announced the commencement of its new direct flight connecting New Delhi to Kuala Lumpur. The inaugural flight will land at the New Delhi international airport on February 3. “As part of our efforts to expand our flight network and to provide enhanced connectivity for our guests in the region, we are pleased to announce that we have started operating direct flights connecting New Delhi & Kuala Lumpur,” a statement from the airline said. The airline will be celebrating the inaugural flight on February 4 in New Delhi. Benyamin Ismail, Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia X Berhad will be making this special announcement at the celebration of the launch of this sector along with H.E. Datuk Naimun Ashakli Mohammad, High Commissioner of Malaysia to India, in the presence of Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of state for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge) and Civil Aviation and Dato Fam Lee Ee, Board of Director, AirAsia X. To celebrate the recommencement of New Delhi from Kuala Lumpur, AirAsia X offered an all-in-fares from as low as INR 7990 one way for the booking period Nov 23-29, 2015, with a travel period from February 3, 2016 until February 5, 2017.

At the first meeting of the National Medical and Wellness Tourism Promotion Board, Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Culture (Independent Charge), Tourism (Independent Charge) and Civil Aviation, said that the board’s role is to act as a facilitator to tap the potential of medical and wellness tourism in an efficient way. Held on January 13, 2016 at Hotel Samrat New Delhi, Sharma said that their agenda is to provide a dedicated institutional framework to take forward the cause of promotion of medical, wellness, yoga and ayurveda tourism and any other format of the Indian system of medicine. The meeting was held in the presence of various officials from MOT, hospitals, associations, hospitality industry, wellness sector, to name a few, to identify strengths and issues, and to draw up short and long term strategies for marketing and promotion of medical and wellness tourism. The Board plans to build up a Data Bank of available resources in the field of Medical and Wellness services in the country and to develop mechanism to disseminate such information to the source markets.