Tag Archives: Ministry of Tourism

The highly-anticipated National Tourism Policy has been approved by the Prime Minister’s Office and is waiting for a formal cabinet nod, revealed Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. “The tourism policy has been concurred to by all the ministries. It has been to the Prime Minister’s Office and they’ve approved it too. Now we are just waiting for the process of placing it before the cabinet for formal approval,” Billa informed on the sidelines of the Kerala Travel Mart, being held in Kochi from September 27-30, 2016.

The ninth edition of Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) was inaugurated in the presence of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan; Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Abraham George, President, KTM Society, V. Venu Principal Secretary, Kerala Tourism, among other dignitaries at Le Meridien, Kochi. 57 countries besides 20 Indian states are participating during the three-day biennial event, which is being organised by the KTM Society in association with the Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala on September 27, World Tourism Day. Ten countries will be represented at the Mart for the first time, with Mexico, Georgia, Japan, China, Chile, Greece, Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Botswana. The 560 total international delegates registered for KTM 2016 features the biggest-ever contingents from 10 highly-prized traditional markets, including the US, Canada and Australia. Domestic participation too has seen an uptick, buoyed by aggressive marketing campaigns. Some 1,304 Indian buyers will participate this year.

On occasion of World Tourism Day, the Ministry of Tourism organised a special sightseeing tour of the monuments and heritage places of Delhi where 35 differently abled students from of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya School for Divyang Children participated. The World Tourism Day theme was ‘Tourism for All – Promoting Universal Accessibility’ on which Dr. Mahesh Sharma said, “Accessible Tourism for all is about the creation of environments that can cater for the needs of all of us, whether we are traveling or staying at home. May that be due to a disability, even temporary, families with small children, or the ageing population, at some point in our lives, sooner or later, we all benefit of universal accessibility in tourism.” Vinod Zutshi, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism said, “On this year’s World Tourism Day help us spread the word of both the importance and immense benefits universal accessibility has and can bring to society at large.” The celebrations continued with an awards presentation acknowledging the efforts of the Ministry of Tourism offices and its organisations, where India Tourism, New Delhi held a painting competition. Finally, the minister flagged off the ‘Swacch Paryatan Run’ from Transport Bhawan to India Gate, New Delhi in an effort to promote cleanliness and the Clean India campaign.

India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), a PSU under Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, on completion of its 50 year of inception on October 1, 2016, launched a logo marking the golden jubilee of ITDC. The logo was unveiled by Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism and Culture in presence of Vinod Zutshi, Tourism Secretary, and other senior officers of Ministry of Tourism and ITDC. In order to commemorate the Golden Jubilee celebrations, various activities have been introduced during the fortnight starting September 24, 2016 till October 8, 2016. Special offers on room tariff and food & beverage outlets in all ITDC hotels, issue of Elite Card to every 50th guest during this period, plantation of 50 saplings each in some hotels of ITDC, painting and slogan competition, lighting of all Delhi based hotels, presenting souvenirs to guests visiting ITDC hotels on 1st October 2016 are certain activities planned during the celebrations.

Ministry of Tourism’s maiden Incredible India Tourism Investors’ Summit 2016 kicked off in New Delhi. Arun Jaitley, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs inaugurated the three-day summit. Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism & Culture delivered the key address. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu also addressed the audience on the occasion. It is an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, in association with Tourism Finance Corporation of India (TFCI) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). IITIS is a platform for domestic and international investors to meet project owners from across Indian states and the private sector. Highlights of this summit will be state presentations encompassing all investible properties, session on “Why invest in India?,” MSME in tourism sector, panel discussions on core infrastructure for tourism, session on start-ups, digital India, investing into Swadesh Darshan, PRASAD, MICE and niche tourism products, B2B meetings and signing of MoUs. Four Knowledge Partners i.e. Ernst & Young, KPMG, Yes Bank and Invest India will assist States and UTs for identifying projects, suggesting tourism policy updates and presenting these to the potential investors during the summit. Around 250 domestic and overseas investors are set to participate in the summit. More than 2000 delegates have registered for the event.

The 32nd IATO Convention was inaugurated in Chennai today in the presence of Vinod Zutshi, Secretary-Tourism, Government of India, T.K. Ramachandran, Principal Secretary-Tourism, Culture, & Religious Endowments Department, Ministry of Tourism, Government of Tamil Nadu, Thiru. Pandiarajan K, Ministry of School Education and Sports and Youth Welfare (responsible for archaeology), Government of Tamil Nadu, Thiru. Vellamandi N. Natarajan, Tourism Minister, Government of Tamil Nadu, Ashok Chandra Panda, Tourism and Culture Minister, Government of Odisha, and senior IATO officials. Pronab Sarkar, President, IATO, thanked the VIPs and the Chief Minister for having the convention in Tamil Nadu. Sarkar said, “Tamil Nadu has all the ingredients to attract tourism. Tourism is one of the major engines of economic growth in the world and has exceeded the automotive and oil industry. We organise IATO Convention to allow members to get a first-hand experience of the States and educate them about the services and offerings. I hope after this convention, Tamil Nadu will experience the growth in tourism as well.”

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) is observing a Swachhta Pakhwada (cleanliness fortnight) from September 16-30, 2016, to create awareness of the need for cleanliness in all walks of life. The officers and staff of MOT will undertake cleaning of 10 pre-selected tourist sites in the afternoon during this period. In addition to the cleaning, the officers and staff will carry out cleaning in and around Transport Bhawan and C-1 Hutments and weeding out of old documents and files to achieve ‘Swachh’ office environment. An essay competition on the topic of cleanliness will be organised on September 24 in English and on September 25 in Hindi. Considering the importance of September 27 being the World Tourism Day, MOT will organise a ‘Run for Swachh Paryatan from Transport Bhawan to India Gate with the participation of the public, students and faculty of the Institutes of Ministry of Tourism as well as the officers and staff of the Ministry. Awards and Appreciation Certificates would be distributed on World Tourism Day to the best maintained or cleanest offices at head quarter, regional and domestic offices of MOT to acknowledge and encourage the efforts made towards cleanliness.  

A total of 66,097 tourists arrived in August 2016 on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 22, 286 during the month of August 2016 registering a growth of 196.6 percent, revealed the Ministry of Tourism. During Jan-Aug this year, a total of 6,06,493 tourist arrived on eTV as compared to 1,69,976 during Jan-Aug last year, registering a growth of 256.8 per cent. UK continued to be the highest source market with 19.4 per cent share, followed by USA (13.2 per cent) and China (6.7 per cent). The other top major source markets included France (6.4 per cent), Spain (6.1 per cent), UAE (5.5 per cent), Germany (4.6 per cent), Australia (3.7 per cent), Canada (3.5 per cent) and Korea Republic (2.4 per cent). New Delhi Airport contributed the highest percentage share of top 10 ports in tourist arrivals on eTV during August with 45.30 per cent, followed by Mumbai Airport (21.53 per cent), Chennai Airport (8.82 per cent), Bengaluru Airport (7.58 per cent), Kochi Airport (4.60 per cent), Hyderabad Airport (3.52 per cent), Kolkata Airport (2.07 per cent), Amritsar Airport (2.01 per cent), Ahmadabad Airport (1.44 per cent) and Trivandrum Airport (1.36 per cent). This high growth may be attributed to introduction of eTV for 150 countries as against the earlier coverage of 113 countries.

In a bid to promote Incredible India destinations on the social network, the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has launched its account on five major social media websites, namely, Instagram, Pintrest, LinkedIn, Periscope, and Vimeo. Tourism Secretary Vinod Zutshi, along with Joint Secretary-Tourism Suman Billa and other MOT officials made the five accounts live in the presence of travel and tourism professionals, state governments and private players. Zutshi observed that the clientele involved in tourism is much more tech-savvy than any other industry. MOT wants to take a 360-degree approach to interact with consumers for which it has decided to actively leverage social media platforms, he added. He also said that it is for the first time that MOT has appointed an agency for marketing and promotion, and is developing a content sharing network with Incredible India offices and state governments. “The ministry has also kept aside a sizeable amount of budget for promotion through e-media platforms,” Zutshi said. MOT’s Twitter presence has increased by 94,000 between May-August, 2016, Billa revealed. He also called upon state governments, Incredible India offices across the country and the world, private players and tourism associations to actively participate in social media campaigns and share their high resolution images, videos and other tourism related information which can be shared on social media platforms for promoting a destination. Billa revealed that the upcoming Incredible India Tourism Investors Summit will be played out on LinkedIn in a big way to get in touch with the precise target HNI and travel trade. He also called up on tourism associations to share their new packages and workshops and live images and videos from their annual conventions with MOT so as …

The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) for the Swadesh Darshan Scheme in Ministry of Tourism has approved projects to the tune of Rs. 450 crore for development of Heritage circuit in Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Ramayana Circuit in Uttar Pradesh, North East Circuit in Sikkim and Coastal Circuit of Tamil Nadu. The Heritage Circuit in state of Madhya Pradesh, covers Gwalior- Orchha- Khajuraho-Chanderi-Bhimbetka-Mandu with total project cost of approximately Rs. 100.00 crore. The project envisages world class infrastructural development of the sites which includes developing a Theme Park and Convention centre in Khajuraho, Sound and Light Show in Mandu. Site Illumination, Construction of Tourist Facilitation Centres and parking area are other intervention proposed in the circuit. The Heritage Circuit in Uttarakhand is on developing Tourism Infrastructure in Jageshwar-Devidhura-Katarmal-Baijnath sites with total project cost of approximately Rs. 83 crore. The highlights of project in Uttarakhand are development of Eco Log Huts, Sound and Light Show and Upgradation of Temple Pathways. Coastal circuit in State of Tamil Nadu envisages development Chennai- Mamamallapuram-Rameshwaram-Manpadu–Kanyakumari with total project cost of approximately Rs.100 crore has been approved. Sound and Light Show, development of Beach amenities, Construction of Pedestrian Bridge connecting Vivekanand memorial with Tiruvalluvar Statue are major highlights of project. Ramayana Circuit in State of Uttar Pradesh envisages development of two destinations viz. Chitrakoot and Shringverpur. The Project cost for this circuit is approximately Rs.70 crore for development of Parikrama marg, food Plaza, Laser Show, Foot Over Bridge connecting MP and UP part of Chitrakoot. Development of Ghats, Tourist Facilitation Centre and Parking area. Ramayana Circuit in Uttar Pradesh also includes Ayodhya for which the State Tourism Department of Uttar Pradesh is preparing Detailed Project …