Tag Archives: MoU

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry of Tourism, Govt. Of India and the Ecotourism Society of India (ESOI) to propagate the cause of responsible and sustainable tourism to the next level. Vinod Zutshi, Secretary – Tourism, said, “ESOI works towards promoting sustainable and responsible tourism practices so we have joined hands with them since our agendas are the same. ESOI will partner with us and assist in sensitising the travel trade first, and then the general public.” It was also announced that a 10-year road map for advocacy and certification under the Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India will be charted. Steve Borgia, Honorary President, ESOI, said, “This MoU is also going to set a plan-of-action for the next 10 years for sustainable and responsible tourism.  The planning needs to be aggressive. Regional workshops will also be organised at various cities all over India with different guidelines for each destination.” ESOI, through stakeholder consultations will formulate criteria and classification guidelines for certification for the accommodation and tour/travel operators within the STCI guidelines and later develop standards for destinations which will also be in sync with the internationally accepted Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria. The two bodies previously formulated and published the Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India (STCI) and plan to put these practices to the forefront through the MoU.

After signing an MoU with Rwanda recently to promote bilateral tourism from and into India, the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) might also be looking at it as the venue for its upcoming annual convention that will be held in August or September of this year. As part of the protocol, it is in talks with a couple of destinations for this and one of them is Rwanda, hints Zakkir Ahmed, President of TAFI. “We will be able to announce the destination only by March end or early April. Our MoU with Rwanda includes not just outbound but inbound as well. It is not very well-known to tourists in India. So we will help them do some promotions through our members and familiarization tours. If possible, we will also do our convention there,” he says.

The Oberoi Group and Subramanya Construction & Development Company Limited (SCDCL) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Maldives to build a luxury resort on the island. The MoU was signed in the presence of Moosa Zameer, the Honourable Minister of Tourism, Government of Maldives. The investment for acquisition and development of the resort will be undertaken by SCDCL, a Bangalore based Real Estate Development Company. P.R.S. Oberoi, Executive Chairman, The Oberoi Group, said, “We are extremely pleased to partner and assist SCDCL in the design and management of the proposed luxury resort. We look forward to bringing the Oberoi hospitality to Maldives. The resort will reflect the legendary Oberoi service delivered by an attentive and caring team, making it the preferred choice for luxury travellers.” K.N. Balasubramanyam, Chairman and MD, SCDCL said, “A luxury resort in Maldives requires expertise in design and operations of world class standards. The Oberoi Group, which is rated as the best luxury hotel brand in the world, is well suited for this development. We look forward to working with The Oberoi Group to create more of such luxurious offerings globally and would like to say that this extraordinary project will make a major contribution to our long term partnership”.

Rajasthan Government has signed 20 Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) for projects worth over Rs 963.65 crores to develop tourism and hospitality industry in the state. Apart from these 31 MoUs were also signed and these projects are expected to generate 26,678 jobs in the sectors of Industry, Agriculture, Urban Development & Housing (UDH), Mining and Tourism. The proposal received for the projects are spread all over the state like Jaipur, Bikaner, Alwar, Neemrana, Kota, Baran, Sawai Madhopur,  Udaipur, Kishangarn, Jodhpur, Pushkar, Masuda (Ajmer district), Chittorgarh, Mordi (Banswara district), among others. The MoU signing ceremony was presided over by Vasundhara Raje, Chief Minister, Government of Rajasthan. Raje said that during the Resurgent Rajasthan Partnership Summit, they signed 295 MoUs amounting to Rs 3.21 lakh crores cutting across sectors. She added that the aim of the state is to keep the momentum going and continue to facilitate investment in the state. The state government has already cleared investment proposals worth Rs. 12,493 crores in the past two years. It has also cleared investment proposals worth Rs. 4,452.81 crores since the Resurgent Rajasthan Partnership Summit in November 2015.

The Union Cabinet has approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Singapore in order to improve cooperation in the field of civil aviation. A recent statement released by the cabinet, said, “The Union Cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has given its ex-post facto approval for signing a (MoU), which was signed in November 2015 between Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise in Civil Aviation during Modi’s visit to Singapore. The objective of this MoU is to establish mutual cooperation in the field of civil aviation, which will cover, to begin with, the airports of Jaipur and Ahmedabad. This cooperation will be extended to other airports with mutual consent.” The salient features of the MoU include collaboration in Civil Aviation Sector in the areas of Master-planning and design, traffic development, commercial development, service quality improvement, training and development, cargo handling and management, maintenance, repair and overhaul, operation and management and any other areas with mutual consent. To ensure high standards of service at Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports, AAI may enter into operation and maintenance (O&M) contracts, either with or without the responsibility of maximisation of non-aeronautical revenue in the terminal building (excluding land on city side and air side). The city side and airside will continue to be managed directly by AAI. Globally, limited O&M contract models are prevalent for the entire airport operations. AAI has no previous experience in awarding O&M contract model of terminal buildings to other entities. In order to implement the decision, it was necessary to ensure that a suitable entity be engaged for undertaking the O&M contract at Ahmedabad and Jaipur airports.