Category Archives: States

For celebrating its first ‘State Tourism Day’ on February 14, Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department will organise a travel meet in Bareilly. More than 200 Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) travel agents, hoteliers and resort-owners will be in attendance at the meet. According to reports, the participants will be educated on how they can use the opportunity for developing tourism in Bareilly and Moradabad, which serve as the gateway of Uttaranchal. The travel-meet will also be open for general public who can avail lucrative discounts. The event will be held on Sunday at Hotel Rohila and will open for public post lunch.

Delhi Tourism will organise the 29th Garden Tourism Festival from 19-21 February, 2016, at The Garden of Five Senses, New Delhi. The three day extravaganza will showcase variety of flora and fauna to charm garden enthusiasts. The major participants during the festival are the horticulture departments of NDMC, DDA, DJB, SDMC, EDMC, HUDA, Noida Authority, Northern Railways and others. With the theme “Garden for Environment and Health,” the main objective of this year’s festival is to encourage visitors to contribute in the cause for protection of environment as it is directly related to their own health. Soumya Gupta, Managing Director and CEO of DTTDC, says, “Special transport will be arranged from the nearest metro station to provide seamless experience to the visitors. A number of elements have been included to increase the number of visitors to the festival.” The festival will showcase terrariums, 3 day non-stop musical extravaganza, workshops, lectures, plays on environment and horticulture, cultural programmes in association with Sahitya Kala Parishad, Hindi Academy etc. A food festival to savor the taste of Delhi’s delicacies, activities like magic show, adventure activities will also be organised.

The Department of Tourism (DoT), Government of Odisha, in its bid to attract domestic tourists from an important source state Uttar Pradesh, organised a roadshow in Varanasi to promote the state and its variety of tourism products. The roadshow provided information on Odisha Tourism to tour operators, travel agents, travel writers, etc. “Odisha is famous for its golden beaches, sprawling lakes, luxuriant forests, teeming wildlife, majestic temples & monuments, Buddhist sites, exotic handloom & handicrafts, primitive tribes, colourful fairs and festivals and the scintillating music, dances & cuisine which attract large number of tourists,” said Ashok Chandra Panda, Hon. Minister of Tourism and Culture, Government of Odisha. “Travel to Odisha is truly an amazing experience that attracts people from all parts of the world for its sculptural and artistic heritage. The Sun Temple at Konark, a UNESCO Heritage site, the Temple of Lord Jagannath at Puri, one of the four cardinal centres for Hindus (Char Dhams) of India and temple city of Bhubaneswar are important and popular tourist destinations. The Buddhist heritage of Odisha comprising of Ratnagiri-Lalitgiri-Udayagiri-Langudi and Dhauli attracts tourists from overseas and domestic front,” he said. To attract domestic tourists from various parts of the country, Odisha Tourism is holding roadshows in different cities. It has already organised various roadshows last year and has planned to organise few more roadshows this year. It is a happy coincidence that one of such roadshow is being organised in this great city of Varanasi.

Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) website will be made into an online booking portal to allow tour operators and tourists to sell and book packages to Goa at discounted rates. Private tour operators will be provided a login ID which will allow them to load their packages into the system and sell them based on commission rates, built into the portal. “We will be the first tourism board to launch such a service. A tourist can combine various activities with the packages like hot air balloon ride, paragliding, bungee jumping amongst other new products on the website, making Goa a 365-day destination. Even though we own the new product offerings, the services will be offered by the private sector where we will only be the facilitator and hand hold them for proper delivery,” said Nikhil Desai, Managing Director, GTDC. Goa Tourism is expecting at least 400,000 tourists to visit the state over three days during Goa Carnaval from February 6-9, 2016, Desai said during a press conference in New Delhi. Dilip Parulekar, Goa Tourism Minister, was also present. Parulekar said, “Goa Carnaval is one-of-a-kind event and people come from all over the globe. While the spirit of this celebration is contagious, we have taken into account aspects of safety, security and cleanliness which will ensure that the celebration is a truly memorable one.”

Rajasthan has launched a multi-year, multi-modal, multi-narrative and multi-crore global campaign to galvanise tourism in the state with a view to raise the annual tourist arrivals past the 50 million mark by 2020. Unveiling the campaign, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, said, “This campaign will herald Rajasthan Tourism 3.0. Rajasthan Tourism 1.0 of the 80s was about our landscape, the harsh terrain, and the adventures immortalized by Satyajit Ray on celluloid. The 90s saw version 2.0, with a forward looking vision which included our heritage properties. With Rajasthan Tourism 3.0 we aim to implement an integrated plan that revolves around experience, infrastructure, cleanliness, security and marketing.” The campaign will play an important role in the Government of Rajasthan’s vision of doubling the annual footfall of international tourists to from 1.5 million to 3.0 million by the year 2020. In the same period, the government also aims to increasing the domestic tourist traffic from the present 33 million to 50 million tourists annually. The evening saw the launch of a new logo and brand identity for the campaign. The campaign also includes a new website and an advertisement Print, TV and Outdoor spots which are aimed at attracting both the seasoned traveler and the youth to explore Rajasthan in a whole new way. Realizing that the tourism sector in Rajasthan has a huge potential to grow, this new campaign aims to increase the number of foreign and domestic tourists visiting the state. Shailendra Agrawal, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Art & Culture, Archeology & Museums, Government of Rajasthan said, “Global trends indicate that Asia Pacific’s share in global tourist traffic will rise from 22% to 30% in the next 10-15 years. Through our campaign, …

In an attempt to tap the opportunities of water tourism in the state, Madhya Pradesh Tourism is organising ‘Jal Mahotsav’ in Hunumantiya, Khandwa district from February 12-21, 2016. “MP Tourism has taken this initiative to raise awareness through ‘Jal Mahotsav’, which is an enthralling mix of cultural performances and adventure activities taking place against the beautiful background of the Indira Sagar Dam,” said Tanvi Sundriyal, Additional Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation. The mega event will be inaugurated by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, she added. The 10-day event will play host to a number of activities like local sightseeing, adventure sports, outdoor activities, air and land adventures along with a display of food and crafts bazaar at the venue. There are 120 tents to be made available to the tourists attending the festival and the state is expecting a huge turnout of domestic as well as international tourists. Dr. Mamta Pandey, Sr. Liason & Marketing Officer, MP Tourism, informed that more than 200 delegates from the industry and ministry attended the roadshow.

The Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) is gearing up to celebrate its annual festival–the Goa Carnaval 2016 from February 6-9, 2016–that draws a huge amount of international and domestic traffic. This year Goa Tourism is working on a European commission project entitled ‘Destination Carnaval’ to improve the standard and quality of the float parade and performances. The main float parade will be held in the capital city – Panjim on February 6, followed by float parades in the other cities of Margao on February 7, Vasco on February 8 and Mapusa on February 9. GTDC will also organise its annual wine festival called ‘Grape Escapade 2016’ from February 4-8, 2016 at the DB Bandodkar Grounds, Campal.

Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC) is all set to organise 15 roadshows across the country starting January 15, 2016. Farooq A. Shah, Secretary Tourism, Jammu & Kashmir and Managing Director, JKTDC, said that Jammu will emerge as an independent tourist destination. “This year Jammu festival will be organised at a large scale to showcase the rich culture tradition and heritage of Jammu and will showcase its immense unexplored tourism potential through these roadshows. Conducted in all metro cities like Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and more, the roadshows will also have 10 food festivals organised in specific towns and cities across the country to attract maximum visitors to the state of Jammu & Kashmir. These roadshow will be professionally organised to reach out to the majority of the relevant market segments, which are important for Jammu & Kashmir tourism.    

The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has signed a MoU with Pawan Hans to start city tours on a helicopter for tourists from January 7, 2016. The helicopter flights will take off from Juhu airport and fly north, keeping to the city’s west so as not to interfere with air traffic to/from Mumbai airport. The base fare of approximate Rs 320 per minute excluding taxes has been arrived at between the state government and Pawan Hans. A 10 minute inaugural launch ride will cost about Rs 3200, per person. Paraag Jaiin Nainuttia, IAS, MD of MTDC, said, “Initially two choppers will be in service for Mumbai Darshan. The idea is to provide an enthralling experience to the tourists and boost potential tourism in state. Gradually, we will shift rides and tours to south Mumbai and then to Matheran, Murud-Janjira, Aurangabad (Ajanta-Ellora), Nashik, Shirdi, Konkan beaches and Tadoba forest near Nagpur.” Bookings can be made at Pawan Hans’s reservation number 022 2626 1700 or at MTDC reservation office. Government issued photo identity will be required to make the booking.