Tag Archives: Ministry of Tourism

Amusement Parks in India attract over 30 million (3 crore) visitors annually. Children & Youth visit the park either in school groups or with families and constitutes 50% of park visitors. Adults constitute the remaining 50% as they either visit with their families or in corporate groups. India has over 160 plus amusement parks and the future growth of the sector are going to be away from the city limits along with resorts and hotels at a tourism destination. The figures were revealed at the 20th IAAPI Amusement Expo 2020, the biggest B2B exhibition on sourcing for amusement, leisure and recreation industry supported, by Ministry of Tourism (Incredible India). It was inaugurated by Amanda Thompson, Chairperson – International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) with Sohansinh Jadeja – President – Indian Association of Amusement Parks and Industries (IAAPI), along with key office bearers.

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.

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has released a statement saying that there will be no funding of travel expenses for tourists visiting 15 destinations under ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ campaign, launched recently. MOT, has instead proposed to recognise the selected domestic travellers. The statement read, “It is to clarify that the Ministry of Tourism has no scheme for funding the travel expenses of tourists for visiting destinations in the country under the Dekho Apna Desh Campaign. However, the Ministry of Tourism proposes to give recognition to select domestic travellers who undertake a visit to various tourist destinations in the country through random selection for which details are being finalised.”

During the month of December 2019, a total of 3,77,092 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 3,08,430 during the month of December 2018 registering a growth of 22.3%, revealed statistics by Ministry of Tourism (MOT). During January- December 2019, a total of 29,28,303 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 23,69,941 during January- December 2018, registering a growth of 23.6%.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) during the period January- December 2019 were 1,08,95,305 as compared to 1,05,57,976 in January- December 2018 registering a growth of 3.2%, reveals recently released statistics by Ministry of Tourism. FTAs in December 2019 were 12,25,672 as compared to 11,91,948 in December 2018 registering a growth of 2.9%.

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.”

Kutni Island Resort near Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, has been inaugurated by Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism, on January 18, 2020, reveals Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General (ADG), Tourism. Sharing details of the project, she said, “One of the most exciting projects that have been launched recently is the Kutni Island Resort, which is around 12 km from Khajuraho, using the fully-funded Swadesh darshan scheme of MOT. This project has been completed in 2.5 years and it’s on a reservoir made on the river that passes through Khajuraho. There are 10 double rooms. It’s a beautiful facility that has been created, and only takes about 25 odd minutes to get there. We want to encourage everybody to go there.”

A total of 1854.93 million domestic tourist visits were recorded to various states and UTs across India in 2018, revealed Ministry of Tourism’s report titled ‘India Tourism Statistics at a Glance 2019’. It recorded an increase of 11.9 per cent increase over that recorded in 2017 (1657.55 million).

The percentage shares of top 15 source countries availing e-Tourist Visa facilities during November, 2019 were highest from UK (12.22%), followed by USA (10.75%), China (8.06%), Russian Fed (7.85%), Malaysia (5.71%), France (4.61%),Germany (4.60%), Australia (4.16%), Canada (3.85%), Thailand (3.25%), Italy (2.32%), Singapore (1.87%), Spain (1.64%), Vietnam (1.50%) and Israel (1.40%), reveals Ministry of Tourism.

During January- November 2019, a total of 25,51,211 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 20,61,511 during January- November 2018, registering a growth of 23.8%, revealed recently released statistics by Ministry of Tourism (MOT). During the month of November, 2019 total of 3,75,484 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 2,61,959 during the month of November, 2018 registering a growth of 43.3%.