Category Archives: States

PA Muhammad Riyas is the new Tourism Minister of Kerala, who will also be handling portfolios of Public Works Department (PWD) and Youth Welfare. Riyas is a first time MP and is the national president of DYFI. At 45, he is one of the youngest ministers in the new Kerala cabinet, and has taken charge after the swearing-in ceremony held in presence of a limited gathering.

The Jharkhand government has announced that all passengers flying into the state will have to mandatorily home-quarantine for seven days and also register themselves on jharkhandtravel.nic.in. Passengers also need to get an RT-PCR test done on arrival if not already carrying a negative RT-PCR report issued within 72 hours of arrival.

Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor, Jammu and Kashmir, has announced a Rs 3 crore relief package for people employed in the tourism industry, which has seen severe impact by the second wave of Covid-19. “In this package, Rs 2,000 financial assistance will be provided to 4,444 registered ‘shikara’ owners, 1,370 tourist guides, 6,663 ‘ponywalas’ and 2,150 others, including those who rent palanquins for yatris. The money will be paid for two months. The relief will be transferred to only those who are registered with the tourism department,” revealed an official of the tourism department.

Speaking at the International Conference on Agri-Tourism 2021, Aditya Thackeray, Minister for Tourism & Environment, Government of Maharashtra, said, “More than 60% of the country’s population engage in agriculture and it therefore crucial to link agriculture to tourism. Agri-tourism is instrumental for employment generation and economic improvement especially in these pandemic times when people have lost jobs.”

Union culture minister Prahlad Singh Patel shared a notification that stated that the Archaeological Survey of India has decided to keep all its monuments closed till May 31, or until further orders, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On April 15, ASI announced the closure of all the centrally-protected monuments under ASI till May 15.

IRCTC has launched packages for professionals to continue with their work from the comfort of hotel rooms. A statement by the Corporation said, “Professionals can pick their favourite destination in Kerala among the list of hotels offered under ‘work from hotel’ concept.” Destinations presently offering the service are Munnar, Thekkady, Kumarakom, Marari (Alappuzha), Kovalam, Wayanad and Kochi.

Sharing his views on how adventure tourism in India can be developed, Mandeep S Lamba, MRICS, President (South Asia), HVS Anarock, says, “The government’s adventure tourism guidelines should be implemented and executed uniformly across the country to ensure consistency. It is imperative to establish high standards of safety by leveraging the best practices from popular global adventure travel destinations such as New Zealand, Australia, and Brazil.”

Prabhulal Joshi, President, Maharashtra Tour Organisers Association (MTOA), believes the industry is looking at another year of losses due to the second wave of infections. “Post October, things had picked up, bookings had started for the April-May holiday season. But everything now has again come to a standstill. The combined loss to the industry is estimated to be nearly Rs 200 crore,” he says.  

Regional carrier TruJet has secured Andhra Pradesh Government nod for viability gap funding (VGF) to continue its Chennai- Kadapa-Vijayawada and Vijayawada-Kadapa-Chennai routes for one more year starting from May 1, 2021. The State Cabinet approved a move to provide about Rs 20 crore per year as VGF by the state government.

In its latest order, Government of Goa has prohibited inter-state movement for tourists till May 24. Exceptions to the rule are people who are residents of Goa or are entering Goa for work, or who have with them full vaccination certificate or COVID-negative test report for a test done a maximum of 72 hours prior to entering Goa.