Tag Archives: tourism

Tourism Fiji has appointed actor Ileana D’Cruz as its brand ambassador for the India market. Following a successful collaboration with the Bollywood celebrity in 2017, Tourism Fiji now aims to showcase more of its offerings to travellers from India through more engagements with her. As part of this engagement, D’Cruz will be travelling to Fiji in April this year to experience more activities. For year ending December 2017, Fiji saw 30 per cent increase in arrivals from India as compared to 2016. Faiyaz Siddiq Koya, Fijian Minister for Industry, Trade, Tourism, Lands and Mineral Resources, said, “India is a key emerging market for Fiji and we have been receiving steady positive growth in visitor arrival numbers from India over the past five years. Fiji and India share an age old connection with over 40 per cent of Fiji’s population being of Indian origin. With D’Cruz as our brand ambassador, we hope to get more Indians to come and experience the diverse culture of our island country.”

The Cyprus Convention Bureau facilitated the meeting of its local partners with tour operators and event planners from India at Limassol during an educational trip to Cyprus. About 14 suppliers from Cyprus were led by Michalis Metaxes, Director, Tourism, Cyprus Tourism Organisation. Indian agents from Mumbai and New Delhi toured around the key cities of Cyprus to inspect hotels and venues for clients. The five-day tour also included an exposure to the Cypriot culture.

Haveli Dharampura, Delhi, the property restored by Union Minister Vijay Goel, has been recognised by UNESCO 2017 for Cultural Heritage Conservation in Asia-Pacific region in 2017. He shared the news at the property situated in the heart of Chandni Chowk in Delhi in the presence of Rashmi Verma, Secretary Tourism, Government of India; Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Tourism, Government of India; Usha Sharma, DG, ASI. He said, “This has been possible due to sheer hardwork spanning six years in which took us to restore the haveli. We built it from scratch without distorting its original beauty and old-world charm, which continues to entice the visitors.”

Delhi was declared the consolidated winner in the area of travel and tourism, according to a state survey conducted by World Travel and Tourism Council India Initiative (WTTCII) and Hotelivate. The Capital bagged the Destination Leader Award after an evaluation of 11 key parameters including state expenditure on tourism, tourist visits, presence of branded hotel rooms, GSDP per capita, effectiveness of marketing campaign, urbanisation, road and railway infrastructure, aircraft movement, ease of doing business, and intangible aspects. While it did lag behind in some areas, Delhi aced in most of the categories. Since the Northeastern states did not fare well as compared to other states owing to limited road and air connectivity, Sikkim was declared the winner in terms of overall performance.

According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, destinations worldwide welcomed 901 million international tourist arrivals between January and August 2017, recording 56 million more than in the same period of 2016. This corresponds to a robust 7 per cent increase, well above the growth of previous years. With upbeat prospects for the remaining months of the year, 2017 is set to be the eighth consecutive year of continued solid growth for international tourism. South Asia (+10 per cent) led growth in Asia and the Pacific (+6 per cent), followed by South-East Asia (+8 per cent) and Oceania (+7 per cent). By UNWTO regions, growth was strongest in Africa (+9 per cent) and Europe (+8 per cent), followed by Asia and the Pacific (+6 per cent), according to a survey by experts for the UNWTO Confidence Index, who evaluated the May-August period very positively. “Tourism is a major economic engine and employment generator, contributing to the improvement of livelihoods of millions of people around the world,” stated UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. Among the top 10 markets, international tourism expenditure grew fastest in China (+19 per cent), the Republic of Korea (+12 per cent), the United States (+8 per cent) and Canada (+7 per cent).

Post WTM London, Ministry of Tourism is all set to participate in FITUR, which will be held in Madrid from January 17-21, 2018. Rashmi Verma, Secretary, Tourism, revealed that India will be the partner country for FITUR, and is preparing for the same. “We will be participating in a very big way and the campaign has also been planned for the event in and around FITUR exhibition. We have many plans for it. Since the clientele in Spain is different, we will look at the countries which are participating at FITUR and offer our niche products as per their specific markets,” she informed.

Kerala Tourism has announced the dates of the second edition of International Homestay and Rural Tourism Meet which will be organised by the Kerala Homestay and Tourism Society (HATS). The three-day event will kick start on September 15 in Kochi at Bolghatty Palace. 1500 participants are expected to attend the travel meet as the main objective of the event is to enhance the business opportunities in the state for homestay providers, serviced villas and Grihastelly providing a platform to network with industry players. International Homestay and Rural Tourism Travel Meet is one of the largest B2B events for homestays and rural tourism in the country which will also be attended by national and international tour operators, entrepreneurs and destination management companies. “Homestays are inevitable part of Kerala Tourism and helps the industry to connect with the travel enthusiasts. The B2B meet is expected to discuss recommendations to boost the rural tourism sector.” said P. Bala Kiran, IAS, Director, Kerala Tourism. During the B2B meet, potentials and challenges of the sector will also be discussed via seminars and discussions. This travel meet will also address the changing tourism industry trends and evolving needs of the travel enthusiasts, primarily younger generation, who want to experience the village life and hence prefer to visit rural parts of the country.

In a bid to prepare its members for the new Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime, Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India(ADTOI) organised a workshop for its members on July 1, 2017. The workshop was conducted at India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. G. D. Lohani, Commissioner, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC); Shikhar Pant, Assistant commissioner, CBEC; Ashish Gupta, Consulting CEO, FAITH; Gyan Bhushan, Economic Advisor, Government of India and other officials from Ministry of Tourism were present during  the meeting to interact with the members and  answer their queries on GST.

Israel received nearly 350,000 tourists–the maximum number of tourists in a month ever–in April 2017, almost 40 per cent increase from April 2015. The country received 15,000 visitors from India between January–April 2017, which is an increase of 26 per cent over the same period in 2016. Tourism Minister Yariv Levin said, “When there is clear policy, we see results. Every month, we are witnessing exceptional statistics that illustrate the progress we are spearheading in the tourism industry and its tremendous contribution to the Israeli economy and workforce. This important and exciting milestone is part of a positive trend that has been taking place over the last half year or more. I hope and believe that, with hard work, we will continue to reap the benefits of this investment.” In January–April 2017, 1.09 million tourist entries were recorded, an increase of 26% on the same period in 2016 (850,000).  964,000 tourists arrived by air, 24% more than the same period in 2016

Travel Agents Association of India – Northern Region (TAAI-NR) welcomed Cristina Ionela Tarteata, Deputy Minister, Tourism, Government of Romania and H.E. Radu Octavian Dobre, Charge d’affaires, Romanian Embassy in New Delhi, to present the destination to its members. The minister made a small presentation at the event, and said that they want Indians to consider Romania as a destination of choice for leisure as well as business travels. She also answered questions by the TAAI-NR members and urged them to promote Romania in their itineraries. Before the presentation, TAAI-NR team, presided by Chairman Rajan Sehgal also held its members’ meet and updated members about what the association is doing.