Tag Archives: Uttarakhand Tourism

Uttarakhand is set to revolutionize tourism with the launch of India’s first-ever Himalayan AirSafari using gyrocopters. This pioneering venture promises to offer an unparalleled experience, blending adventure with breathtaking panoramas of the Himalayas. Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, in collaboration with Rajas Aerosports and Adventures Pvt Ltd is introducing gyrocopters – compact, agile aircraft- as a novel way to explore its stunning landscapes. The state marks a new chapter in tourism with the successful completion of the first gyrocopter trial flight from Bairagi Camp, Haridwar, on December 16, 2023. Under the innovative Himalayan AirSafari scheme, part of the visionary Breakfast Tourism initiative, tourists will embark on a journey unlike any other. They will soar across the skies, enjoying aerial views of the majestic Himalayan ranges and serene rivers, transitioning smoothly from one exotic location to another. Additional Chief Executive Officer of Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board, Col. Ashwini Pundir who was part of this trial flight, said that the Himalayan Air Safari scheme of various tourist places of the state will soon be launched through Gyrocopter. In this scheme tourists will fly from one place in a Gyrocopter, enjoy the natural beauty of the Himalayan peaks and rivers, reach another destination and after some time at the destination, return back to their place of origin. This venture is more than just a scenic tour; it’s a bridge connecting tourists to the lesser-known, remote jewels of Uttarakhand. It offers a unique opportunity to explore hidden destinations, all within a short, exhilarating gyrocopter ride. Get ready to experience the Himalayas like never before – from the skies! Join us as we unveil a new era of travel and exploration in India.  

Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board has allocated 1.5 cr for land based activities and 1cr for training with an aim to promote Tehri as paragliding capital of the world and not just India, says, Ashwin Pundir, Additional CEO (adventure), Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board”

After the recent Unlock 4 guidelines coming into play and movement starting to normalize, the Uttarakhand tourism sector has started to revive at a slow but steady pace. In order to breathe life into tourism industry during the ongoing COVID-19 scenario, the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) has been coming up with several guidelines which are being issued in accordance with the pandemic. Sharing his views on the revival of tourism industry, Secretary, Uttarakhand Tourism, Dilip Jawalkar, says, “UTDB has been coming up with several schemes during the revival period to support various sectors in the tourism industry. To ease the travel of visitors coming to Uttarakhand, we have removed all kinds of movement restrictions for tourists having the mandatory COVID-19 negative test report. Such people are allowed to enter the state and stay in a hotel for any number of days they want. We are also planning to deploy tourist facilitation counters at all important state borders and provide on-the-spot COVID-19 testing facility to visitors not carrying the COVID-19 negative test reports.” He adds, “Simultaneously, it is our collective efforts at UTDB to constantly be in touch with all the stakeholders and to thoughtfully and mutually come up with apt guidelines, in order to support the industries at every step during these difficult times. For instance, recently we held an online meeting with the stakeholders and effective steps during the revival period of adventure tourism were discussed.” Adventure Tourism contributes to a majority part in the state’s overall tourism industry. Uttarakhand is a heavenly destination when it comes to offering various adventure activities to tourists. White Water River Rafting Rishikesh is the name that pops-up when someone talks about …

Uttarakhand Tourism has approved the Tourist Incentive Coupon Scheme, under which tourists opting for e-bookings for their stay in hotels and homestays, will get a rebate of Rs 1000 for a 3-day stay, revealed Satpal Maharaj, Minister of Tourism, Uttarakhand. “The tourists will be given the discount coupon while registering themselves on the government portal under tourist category. They will then be able to use the coupon during their stay in a hotel or homestay in the tourist spots of the state. The tourist will have to provide his Aadhaar card details while registering to avail the coupon and have to stay for minimum three days in the hotel or homestay. The scheme will also apply for the Char-Dham pilgrims,” said Maharaj. He also revealed that under the scheme the tourists will be given a discount of ₹1000 or 25% of the hotel charge per day, whichever is less. Source: Hindustan Times

Admist the Covid-19 pandemic, the Uttarakhand government is focusing on generating more employment opportunities for the youth of the state. During the pandemic, the tourism department of the state has also started the online registration facility for the Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Tourism Self-Employment Scheme and Homestay Scheme to make the benefits of government schemes available to more and more people. Secretary Tourism Dilip Jawalkar said that with the implementation of online application system, transparency will be increased and time will be saved as well as monitoring of the scheme can be done effectively. Applicants desirous of availing benefits under both these schemes will no longer be required to visit the department’s office. The registrations of both the above-mentioned schemes can be done online. Any Uttarakhand resident who wants to take advantage of this scheme can make their registration online by visiting the given link (http://vcsgscheme.uk.gov.in). This system will also allow real-time monitoring of the applications for both the schemes. Under the Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Tourism Self-Employment Scheme for the youths of Uttarakhand, can start their employment by purchasing buses / electric buses to operate on the routes of the state and can avail 50 percent subsidy or up to 15 lakh for the purchase of bus the scheme. This self-employment scheme has been provided to the people of the entire Uttarakhand state. Buses will be operated only for the designated routes of the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation and for the inner city places. Along with this, it will also be mandatory that out of the places where buses will be run, the station to start or go to travel should be in Uttarakhand. To promote tourism in the state of …

Providing relief to the tourism, hospitality and transport sectors, Uttarakhand Govt. has announced many exemptions and relief measures worth Rs 75 crore for the industry. The government has decided to transfer Rs 1,000 each in the bank accounts of about 2.43 lakh workers directly associated with 1,09,818 units. The State Govt would bear the financial burden of Rs 25 crore for the measure. It also decided to reimburse the interest incurred on the principal amount for the first trimester (April to June) on the loans taken under Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali tourism self-employment scheme and Deen Dayal homestay schemes. Similarly, the annual increase in the bill of water for the hotels, restaurants and other roadside Dhabbas has been pegged at 9 per cent instead of the usual 15 per cent this year. The State Cabinet decided to provide an exemption of one year for renewal of permits for all types of commercial vehicles. Owners of these vehicles would not have to pay road tax for three months.

More than 300 foreign delegates are expected to participate in the PATA adventure travel conference, to be held in Rishikesh from February 13-15, 2019, a senior official said. PATA Adventure Travel and Responsible Tourism Conference and Mart 2019 (ATRTCM) would be hosted by the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board. “Uttarakhand won bid this time. The travel mart is a better way of showcasing the state to international clients,” said Dilip Jawalkar, Secretary, Uttarakhand Tourism. The event, that brings together public and private sector players involved in the adventure tourism, would be held from Responding to a query on whether there was any financial bidding for hosting the event, he replied in the negative. “One has to commit tourist facilities for visiting travel agents like accommodation, transportation, site seeing, etc.” he added. This year, the conference was held in Abu Dhabi.

Yatra.com has signed an MoU with Uttarakhand Government to promote homestays in the state as well as highlight the state’s unique tourist attractions. Yatra will promote all the state tourism approved homestays, wherein guests (travellers) can rent a room in the home of a local family (host) or the entire house. Enhancing the segment further, Yatra and Uttarakhand Tourism together will organise an orientation session for homestays where the villagers will be trained in guiding, cooking, hospitality and the cultural and natural heritage of the state. This partnership will give the tourists a chance to experience the hospitality of various families throughout Uttarakhand and enjoy wonderful home cooked food. Speaking on the partnership, Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C), Yatra.com said, “We are delighted about this strategic alliance with the Government of Uttarakhand to boost the state’s tourism. With the peak season rolling in, we see this an opportunity to promote the rapidly growing Homestays segment in sync with the needs of travellers. Yatra is also seeking more such partnerships with other State Governments to promote local tourism and offer a taste of Indian hospitality and a very unique traveller experience.” As a part of this partnership, Yatra will list over 500 homestay properties on its website and encourage the growth of homestays in Uttarakhand, giving tourists a very homely experience.

OYO Rooms has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) for standardising and promoting hospitality in the state. Under the MoU, OYO will help in transforming and standardising hospitality real-estate units and make local homestays better equipped to suit the need of visitors and tourists. In the first phase, OYO has already standardised 15 home stays registered with UTDB. This will be followed by listing and marketing these properties on OYO’s channels. “We are very proud to partner the efforts of the Uttarakhand Government in building a tourism-friendly infrastructure while sustaining local communities. The pace of our efforts is aligned towards ensuring that while infrastructure is upgraded and standardized, the local ecosystem is not disrupted. OYO has built deep expertise in standardizing amenities and guest-experience in the unbranded hotels segment. This tie-up gives us the opportunity to transfer these skills and learning to the state of Uttarakhand.” said Abhinav Sinha, Chief Operating Officer, OYO. Commenting on the development Shailesh Bagauli, CEO, Uttarakhand Tourist Development Board said, “UTDB is happy to partner with OYO, the leading brand of hotel-networks in the country. We are confident that OYO’s expertise in standardizing and marketing large inventories to customers in different parts of India will drive immense value to this partnership. We look forward to our joint efforts contributing to increased tourist influx and a better stay experience for visitors to Uttarakhand.”

After recently signing a MoU with Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation, Stayzilla.com, the largest aggregator for verified homestays in India and Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) has signed an MOU to jointly promote and market homestays in Uttarakhand. The MoU was signed in the presence of Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat, Shailesh Bagauli, Secretary Tourism & CEO, Uttarakhand Tourism and Ankit Rastogi, Vice-President, Marketplace, Stayzilla.com. The company is closely working with various state tourism departments for joint promotion of homestays. Stayzilla recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation for joint promotion of homestays. Bagauli, CEO, UTDB said, “These are interesting times for Uttarakhand tourism with growing influx of tourists from across the country and we are working towards strengthening our homestay eco-system. We believe that our partnership with largest aggregator of homestays, Stayzilla will be extremely beneficial for offering best-in-class stay experience for our tourists. We are cognizant of Stayzilla team’s strength as they are already closely working with various state governments such as Madhya Pradesh, North East and more for joint promotion of homestays” he added. Under this agreement, Stayzilla will support verification procedures and jointly boost homestays across Uttarakhand. All homestays registered with UTDB will receive technological and operational support to run the homestays. Also, Stayzilla & UTDB will jointly conduct education and training sessions for UTDB registered homestays on best practices such as online usage, content management, operations and expense management. Stayzilla has been constantly conducting sensitization workshops for promoting the concept of homestays and bed & breakfast outfits across Uttarakhand region in cities such as Dehradun, Haridwar, Almorah, Nainital, Gopeshwar, Munsiyari, Rudraprayag, Chamba, Uttarkashi, Tehri, Rampur, Rudrapur, …