Tag Archives: MoT

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.  

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) held a virtual conference with the tourism and hospitality sector associations of the industry recently, which was led by Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary Tourism, MOT, along with senior officials of the Ministry. The Associations represented through remote conferencing were FAITH, CII, FICCI, PHDCCI and IMAI. The industry put forth a number of ideas and suggestions for tiding over the crisis created by COVID-19 in the sector of tourism and hospitality. The Ministry on its part shared the concerns and assured the associations that the government is very much with them in this grim hour and that they would work towards the suggestions put forth. There would be a lot of thrust on promoting domestic tourism was a common takeaway. MOT is using its social handles to create awareness of the need to stay at home safe in the period of lockdown and prepare to travel once the world opens up. In the meantime, the course modules of the Institutes of Hotel Management are being held online and faculty and students are using technology to remain abreast with their course curriculum.

Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Ministry of Tourism in a letter to all the travel trade associations on taking measures on COVID-19 has said that as an industry, we should start formalizing plans for revival, once the situation stabilizes and is under control. “Tourism stakeholders have made several suggestions on measures that could be taken to keep the confidence of the industry, consumers and stakeholders, which will be considered for taking up with the concerned authorities. We look forward to everyone’s support and assure you of ours in overcoming the situation,” said Sharma. She was talking in reference to a meeting with stakeholders chaired by the Tourism Minister on March 16.

Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) has been sharing a regular updates with the Ministry of Tourism(MOT) and Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on the impact of COVID-19 on the industry and apprise the Government on the effect of the outbreak has been till now. The update letter reads, “This is one of the worst crisis ever to hit the Indian tourism industry  impacting all its geographical segments – inbound, outbound & domestic, almost all tourism verticals— leisure, adventure, heritage, mice, cruise, corporate & niche segments. The whole tourism value chain across hotels, travel agents, tour operations, destinations, restaurant, family entertainment venues & air, land & sea transportation.” – Inbound foreign tourism of $ 28 bn + in value terms accounts for on an average basis almost 60-65%  between October to March. As the news of the virus started picking up from November, the percentage  of cancellations started going up in this segment exponentially and is reaching a peak of almost 80% now in March in many Indian locations. The value at risk from this segment will be in multiples of tens of thousands of crores. – The forward bookings for the inbound season of October 2020 – March 2021, which should have started picking are all muted.  These are showing highly discouraging signs with cancellations of important global travel marts which are marketplaces for contracting for the next season. – The value of NRI segment from developed markets whose major season for visit to their families and relatives is around 60% + during April to September. There are reports of large-scale forward cancellations from these and unless the progression of the virus stops the almost entire value …

Rakesh Kumar Verma, Joint Secretary, MOT, will be travelling for ITB Berlin 2020 with a delegation of around 49 exhibitors, which will be led by Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism and Culture. The format has been changed this time for ITB Berlin, as there will not be a presentation and press conference, but a panel discussion instead. “We will be having a breakfast meeting with the German FTOs in Berlin. We have a panel discussion on the first day, which will focus on global trends in tourism focusing on Incredible India and will be moderated by a CNN journalist. It will have around 5 panelists including German tour operators who will be talking about India and their experience. While there will not be a specific campaign for ITB Berlin, we will project the efforts we are taking and the whole range of offerings we have been developing at MOT. Apart from that we have small group engagements and one-to-one engagements at the VIP lounge at India Pavilion of ITB. We are trying to project India as an experiential and transformational destination for the travellers, which is one of the key messages that we are putting across,” he shares. “The Ministerial delegation would consist of 49 co-exhibitors, including state governments, tour operators, hotels, wellness centres, as well as Ayurveda society. We’ve taken a huge space of 705 sq. m. CMD, ITDC, will also be there. It will be a combined marketing effort by the Government and the stakeholders,” reveals Verma.

Under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has identified 180 tourist sites for organizing Swachhta Action Plan (SAP) activities during the year 2019-20 to create Swachhta Awareness amongst the tourists, students of schools/colleges and stakeholders across the country. Besides, Swachhta Pakhwada and Swachhta-Hi-Seva activities have also been undertaken by MOT at several locations across the country. Facilities like drinking water, toilet, interpretation centre, wi-fi, illumination, ramps, pathways, publication sale counter etc. are provided at the World Heritage and Ticketed monuments. Further, existing facilities are upgraded as per requirement and its up-gradation is a continuous process.

In order to provide an impetus to tourism, the Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned seven projects worth Rs 594 crore in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh under the Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD scheme for development of tourism infrastructure. The schemes provide financial assistance to state governments / UT administrations. With a total sanction of Rs 594 crore, six projects are for Swadesh Darshan scheme for the development of the Himalayan circuit while one project worth Rs 42.02 crore for development of Hazratbal is for the PRASAD scheme. The allocation under Swadesh scheme is for the integrated development of Jammu, Kashmir, Pahalgam, Kargil, Leh under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 82.07 crore, integrated development of Tourist Facilities at Jammu-Rajouri-Shopian-Pulwama under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 96 .38 crore, integrated development of  Tourist Facilities under the Construction of Assets in lieu of those Destroyed in Floods in 2014 under PM Development Package for J&K under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 90.96 crore, integrated Development of Tourist facilities at Mantalai- Sudhmahadev- Patnitop under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 97.82 crore, integrated Development of Tourist Facilities at Anantnag- Kishtwar- Pahalgam – Daksum – Ranjit Sagar Dam under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 87.44 crore and integrated Development of Tourist Facilities at Gulmarg-Baramulla-Kupwara-Leh under Himalayan Circuit worth Rs 96.93 crore.

In a bid to encourage more footfall at domestic tourism destinations, the Ministry of Tourism has started a unique “Dekho Apna Desh” campaign asking travellers to take a pledge to visit at least 15 different tourism locations in India by the year 2022. The Ministry also said that it will reward tourists, who visit 15 destinations in a year, by funding their expenses. The ministry has planned to back this motivational campaign with some incentives including lucky draws and gifts which may include tickets and travel packages. However, Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel has said that the move should not be construed as a monetary benefit, but as an incentive. “The tourism ministry will fund the travel expenses of tourists who visit 15 destinations in the country in a year and submit the photos on our website. Tourists, however, must travel outside their home states to be eligible for contention. We should honour these people as brand ambassadors of Indian Tourism,” he said. To take the pledge, an individual will have to sign up on https://pledge.mygov.in/my-country/. The language for the pledge can be selected between Hindi and English and once the individual recites the pledge, he or she will be given a certificate for the same through email or through mobile text. One can get its printout from the same webpage also.

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) will be organising Bharat Parv from January 26-31, 2020. Now, an annual affair, the ‘Parv’ will showcase the cuisine and culture of different states of India. Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General (ADG), Tourism, said, “We are extremely excited about the upcoming Bharat Parv. The event gets a lot of footfall and attraction from people across the country. We are looking forward to an exuberant response this year, just like the previous ones and we are prepared to showcase the food, arts, culture and also the tableaus that will come from the Republic Day parade.”  

The Incredible India Tourist Facilitator Certification (IITFC), which was rolled out on January 1, 2020, already has 3200 enrolments, reveals Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General (ADG), Ministry of Tourism (MOT), Government of India. She said, “The programme started off really well and there has already been a growing interest of people in joining the programme. Currently, there are about 3200 people who have enrolled for the programme.”