Tag Archives: MoT

Jatinder Taneja, Vice Chairman, PATA India Chapter, has revealed that they will start holding their EC meeting, webinars and an Update & Outlook Meeting with Ministry of Tourism (MOT) from this month. “PATA India Chapter has already planned and is starting with the EC meeting. We will also hold webinars and an Update & Outlook Meeting with the Ministry of Tourism from this month,” he shared.

Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Ministry of Tourism (MOT), claimed that she is against regulation and prefers collaboration with the industry. Speaking at 4th TravTalk Digital Conclave, she said, “I believe in partnering and working together. However, I would like a database to be created where we can connect with each other. I am against regulation, but all for collaboration. I would be very happy if the industry takes that initiative and bring everyone together, so that we can talk.”

Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Tourism, has said that after releasing the operational advisories in line with the SOPs by MHA and MHoFW, they are now working towards a certification for service providers to create confidence in tourists about their safety and health. Speaking at the 4th TravTalk Digital Conclave, she revealed, “We are working on some kind of certification, where we are going to say that a particular destination/ service provider/ facility is safe and hygienic, in order to create confidence amongst tourists.”

A combined united delegation of four travel trade associations (IATO, ADTOI, ATOAI and OTOAI) led by IATO President Pronab Sarkar met the Tourism Minister, Prahlad Singh Patel in Delhi to discuss various grievances faced by tour operators amid ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The minister heard out the delegation at length and also addressed issues individually faced by the associations. The Minister has assured all possible support and said the ministry has already reached out to the Finance Minister for industry-specific relief. Associations representatives felt content after the meeting and expressed gratitude to the Minister for giving them a patient hearing. The Minister has called out for a united stand of the industry to fight the pandemic and overcome all the challenges. Apart from the President, Rajiv Mehra, Vice President represented IATO while, heads of other associations, Captain Swadesh Kumar, PP Khanna and Riaz Munshi represented ATOAI, ADTOI and OTOAI. From the ministry, Rakesh Sharma, Joint Secretary, MOT and Meenakshi Sharma, DG, Tourism were present during the meeting.

Considering the current situation, The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has decided that validity of approval or certifications of hotels and other accommodation units whose project approvals/reapprovals and classification/reclassification have expired/are likely to expire during the period (24th March-29th June) are deemed to be extended till 30th June. Similarly, MOT has decided to allow six months’ relaxation or extension to all categories of Tour Operators (Inbound, Domestic, Adventure) Travel Agents and Tourist Transport Operators for their approval with the ministry subject to the following conditions: The previous approval expired or the current approval expires during the period of 20th March 2020 (i.e. the date of issuance of an order by the Ministry for discontinuation of inspection work by India Tourism offices) till continuation of lockdown. They applied for renewal before expiry of their current/previous approval. The Ministry has a scheme of approving Travel Agents, Tour Operators, Adventure Tour Operators, Domestic Tour Operators and Tourist Transport Operators etc. the idea being to encourage quality, standard and service in these categories so as to promote Tourism in India. Similarly, MOT classifies hotels under the star rating system to conform to the expected standards for different classes of tourists. Under this system, hotels are given a rating, from One Star to Three Star, Four and Five Star with or without alcohol, Five Star Deluxe, Heritage (Basic), Heritage (Classic), Heritage (Grand), Legacy Vintage (Basic), Legacy Vintage (Classic), Legacy Vintage (Grand) and Apartment Hotels, Homestays, Guest house etc. The classification/ certification is valid for a period of five years.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture, Govt. of India, has said that they will be releasing new post-lockdown protocols for accommodation units, so that the clients can feel confident about travelling as well as overall safety. “Our objective is to revive demand as soon as possible. One way we can do this is to help overcome the fear of health while travelling. The ministry will soon be releasing new post-lockdown protocols for accommodation units to give confidence to clients to travel and stay safely. We are also coming out with a set of recommendations for different segments—travel agents, tour operators, transport operators, and facilitators/guides,” he shared in an interview to Hindustan Times.

In a webinar organised by MOT and IATO to address queries related to filling Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) by tourism industry stakeholders, Suman Sharma, ADG, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), said that she and her team are trying to devise an industry-wise standard list of documents, which can help firms while filing SEIS claims. “The work on the document is almost complete from my end. I will submit the same to DGFT for their approval. It will probably help all the industries including tourism and will help them know what additional documents DGFT needs while they file SEIS and reduce the time of processing their application. Currently, DGFT doesn’t have FAQs specific to SEIS filing and claim procedure. Hence, a lot of travel industry professionals are facing issues with the same.” During the webinar, Rupinder Brar, ADG, MOT inquired about the FAQs looking at the number of queries from the trade and Suman Sharma agreed to do the same to help travel trade. Sharma is also the nodal officer to deal with SEIS claims and issues on tour and travel cases.

In order to give a boost to M!CE Tourism and attract more M!CE events to the country, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has decided to extend the benefits to M!CE organisers in the form of certain incentives under the Champion Sector in Services Scheme (CSSS). For this purpose, a M!CE fund has been set up under CSSS. Under this initiative to encourage M!CE operators to bring more conferences/meetings/seminars to India, they will be entitled to avail certain financial incentives in the form of GST reimbursement. The incentive would be made available for a period of three years. A prior approval from MOT will be required to avail incentives under the scheme along with a NOC from the concerned travel trade association. MOT has made India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB) as the nodal agency for steering and promoting the scheme who in turn would motivate Indian Travel Planners / Societies / Associations towards publicising the scheme.

Rupinder Brar, ADG, Tourism, has said that MOTs marketing and promotional campaigns have to be re-aligned according to the markets that could come out of the impact of COVID-19 earlier and have the disposable incomes to travel again. While speaking at the first TravTalk Digital Conclave, she said. “We would need to re-align our promotions and marketing campaigns in the light of the situation worldwide and we are still in the middle of this crisis. Quarter 2 would require us to now sit down on the drawing board and really work and re-align some of our marketing plans. Even regarding the Global Media Plan that we worked out in November-December this year, we need to be expanding our footprint. We have started our campaigns in Latam and we have identified some countries from Africa where the campaign will be followed. We need to work on the metrics of the impact of COVID in different countries to identify markets, and also see in those countries what kind of disposable income and what is the age bracket will be open to travel. Accordingly we need to picture the marketing plans for those countries.”

The StrandedinIndia portal of the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) continues to provide support to the tourists. Until 9th April, the number of tourists who have been assisted are 1194. In addition, the regular toll-free helpline 1363 which the MOT runs has had 779 calls from 22nd March to 9th April. Besides this, the Ministry officials are working round the clock with the tourism and hospitality industry to understand the immediate and long term issues that are coming up as an impact of COVID-19.