Tag Archives: Ministry of Tourism

Rakesh Verma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, shares that there is a need to market India as a M!CE destination. “We have to aggressively market India as a MICE destination. The Government has to back the industry in bringing more events and conventions. Our missions abroad can be of great help. It impacts tourism, hospitality, event management and host of other people in the supply chain. India has great potential for MICE industry. The challenge is how to build a string brand India for conventions and events, while backing it up by delivering on the premises. The Government and the industry must jointly build India as a MICE destination.”

Ministry of Tourism has sought inputs from IATO on the promotion and marketing of Incredible India. The Ministry desires to plan in advance for these promotions and marketing so that as soon as e-Visa, tourist visa and international flights are announced or resume, it can begin with the promotions and marketing effort in a bid to revive tourism from international market.

Meenakshi Sharma, DG, Tourism, has said that a lot of people in the tourism sector suffer from very low margins. “This raises the question whether we are selling ourselves too cheap or the services are not as promised. This makes it difficult to survive because there is not much scope left amidst too much competition. How do we assure travellers that India is not a destination of extremes — that we have the best luxury products but at the same time have something that can be sold much cheaper.”

Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Tourism, has said that apart from coming out with the incentive schemes for tour operators in the form of MDA for promotions nationally or internationally, they are also relaxing the rules for approval of tour operators, so that the benefits can go to those who haven’t been involved with us and also for the start-ups. “This is because the promotion and marketing budget for the smaller formations are not burdened to them and the Government can pick up some of that tab,” she added, while addressing a CII Webinar recently.

IATO has shortlisted 14 short-distance itineraries for tours of 2-3 days and submitted the list to Ministry of Tourism on the latter’s request. The ministry had also asked IATO to give suggestions for promoting seaplane travel, golf and Buddhist tourism. The Association has submitted the same after receiving inputs from its chapter chairmen.

Subhash Goyal, Secretary General, FAITH, has revealed that the Association is in discussion with Ministry of Tourism to host a hybrid ITM by the end of this year. He said, “One interaction with the government has happened; and we are still in the progress of deciding how we are going to conduct it, whether it will be entirely virtual or hybrid. However, we will have ITM by the end of this year and we hope to announce the exact dates very soon.”

Devendra Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary & Development Commissioner, Ministry of MSME, chaired a webinar by Ministry of Tourism, where he updated tourism stakeholders regarding the various policies that they can use to develop their businesses, and educated them about registration process under udyam, how to use public procurement policy for their benefit, come up with projects under the scheme of cluster development, and apply for loans under the priority sector to as an MSME.

Rupinder Brar, ADG, Ministry of Tourism, has said that it has emerged from her discussions with industry stakeholders that the most significant enabler in the times to come is the safety factor and that there is need for harmonisation of quarantine rules across states. “People have to feel safe to travel, which means safety protocols need to be in place, but equally important is to create the perception of safety, for which, the Government, associations, industry and citizens should work together. In order to create ease of travel, we also need to create harmonisation around the rules within different states, owing to local conditions,” she said.

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, has said that the tourism minister will be starting series of next round of discussions to further discuss the preparedness to deal with COVID-199 from 10th August. There will be layers of discussions with a common goal for the ministry and the stakeholders to work together, she said.

Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, has said that there is a great opportunity to boost domestic tourism or regional tourism by creating synergy between neighbouring states, since most of the people today feel safer while opting for self-drive holidays instead of travelling by air or train. She also said that safety and hygiene will be priorities for tourists because they will travel to destinations only if they are assured that the place they are visiting, eating at and staying in is safe.