Category Archives: States

Launching the first ‘Mizoram Tourism Start Up Competition’ in the state capital, Robert Romawia Royte, Minister of State (IC) for Sports & Youth Services, I&CT, and Tourism, Mizoram, says, “Pitching your ideas can be a great way to open the door to investment and make connections that can bring your business endeavours far into the future. I believe that enabling young entrepreneurs to freely create their own business concepts will be a great fit. Do take part and turn your ideas into reality.”

Foreign tourists visiting the Himalayan state of Sikkim can now apply for Restricted Area Permit (RAP) and Protected Area Permit (PAP) online from October this year. They can do this via a dedicated website for both the permits. Work for developing the website is on. This was announced by Sikkim CM Prem Singh Tamang. This was an age-old demand of The Travel Agents Association of Sikkim (TAAS).

Addressing the seventh meeting of the Governing Council (GC) of NITI Aayog, Prime Minister Narendra Modi aid that each state should focus on promoting its 3Ts, Trade, Tourism, Technology, through every Indian Mission around the world. This was the first physical meeting of the Governing Council since the onset of the pandemic.

The Directorate of Tourism (DoT), Maharashtra Tourism, Govt. of Maharashtra is finally kick-starting the inspection of hotels for awarding industry status to them. The Tourism Directorate of Pune is the first one to commence the inspection on the 3rd and 4th August 2022. A total number of 181 non-classified hotels have registered and applied since June 2021 in Pune region that the inspection committee and the appointed agency will be visiting. The Government of Maharashtra had awarded Industry status to the Hospitality sector in April 1999 but that remained only on paper and wasn’t implemented. In 2020, there was a development in the decision when the State government issued the GR, announcing the criteria for levying taxes and charges at the industrial rate for the non-classified hotels. Since then, non-classified hotels were appealed to register and apply to avail the benefits. And now, as the regional offices have received a considerable number of registrations, the inspection committee will begin their site visits. The Committee will be chaired by the Deputy Directors of the respective regions, a representative of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) department, regional representative of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), local representative of Hotel and Restaurant Association (HRA) and a representative of Tour Operator Association (TOA). The agency Qualstar has prepared a road map for inspecting sites which will be followed by the committee. Dr. Dhananjay Sawalkar, Joint Director, Directorate of Tourism (DoT) informed, “So far 446 applications across Maharashtra have been received by DoT. After inspection, if these hotels fulfill all the said criteria, they will be eligible to receive industrial status. This will make electricity charges, water bill, property tax and,non-agricultural tax available to the registered …

Goa tourism department has reduced the number of clearances or permissions that trades are required to attach at the time of registration. For a new hotel, an entity can get registration done by submitting three documents such as ownership document, CST registration, if applicable, and an identity proof; while no document needs to be submitted for renewal.

Rohan Khaunte, Tourism Minister, Goa, has said that Goa’s tourism depends largely on UK and Russia, along with some parts of Europe. It is believed that British and Russian tourists pay more than other foreign tourists when they arrive in the state. Khaunte added that the government is taking all measures to get a “good footfall with good spending”.

The second edition of Rajasthan Domestic Travel Mart (RDTM) 2022 was held from 22-24 July, where the Rajasthan Film Tourism Promotion Policy 2022 was also unveiled. Speaking at the inauguration, Usha Sharma, Chief Secretary, Rajasthan, said, “Rajasthan has maximum number of UNESCO sites, but we’re not doing justice to this. Hence, we need to ensure people get to explore these sites and make Rajasthan a world heritage state.” Gaj Singh, President Emeritus, Indian Heritage Hotels Association (IHHA) said, “Domestic tourism has a lot of potential. It is a very strong segment that needs to be promoted. If domestic is strong we don’t need to be dependent on international travellers.”

Travel Agents Federation of India’s eastern region chairman Anil Punjabi said with a lot of bookings and enquiries from people from various countries and Indian states, tourist arrivals to Kolkata and other parts of the state will be at an “all-time high” this time during Durga Puja. 

Goa government has come up with a concept of co-working spaces on the beaches. The state is going to promote the “culture of #WorkationGoa” through co-working spaces to be created on the beaches, said Tourism and Information and Technology (IT) Minister Rohan Khaunte.  

All taxis in Goa must come on a single app so that tourists get a better experience, state tourism minister Rohan Khaunte. “We need to protect the business of existing taxi operators and also adopt technology. That is why I support the concept of getting all taxis in Goa on a common app. The state government and the sector must design a common app for the tourist taxi service,” he said.