Category Archives: States

Goa’s lifeguarding organisation, Drishti Marine, has expanded operations in the state to offer premium ferry services within Goa. From November, 2017, tourists and locals will be able to hop on to a 40-seater luxury catamaran and take in the sights and sounds of coastal Goa while they cruise along the sea to their next destination. In phase 1, Drishti Marine will commence operations between the Airport Ferry Terminal (AFT) Vasco, Panaji and Old Goa. Phase 2, which will include Baga and Fort Aguada will commence later this year. Drishti Ferry has acquired two luxurious 40-seater, high-speed catamarans which will ferry commuters between designated pick-up points. The passenger ferries, named Drishti Two and Drishti Three will enable passengers to ride between Panaji, Baga, Old Goa, Fort Aguada in Sinquerim and Dabolim. The two passenger ferries will travel within the state daily. G Ravi Shankar, CEO, Drishti Marine, said “The luxurious ferries have plush seating, spacious interiors, clean bathrooms, charging points and safety belts. Air-conditioned passenger lounge and waiting areas, on-board baggage assistance with free wifi, packaged snacks and beverages will be available on-board. The crew on-board include trained lifeguards who are trained to carry out rescue operations.” The website for this is now live and tickets for the ferry services can now be booked online. Tickets can also be purchased at the time of boarding at the ticketing counters at the terminals once operations commence. Fares for the ferry service range from Rs. 100 for a ride between Old Goa and Panaji to Rs. 800 for a trip between the Airport Ferry Terminal (AFT) at Baina and Panaji. The Airport Ferry Terminal is located at Baina beach, Vasco da Gama, and is …

In an attempt to boost connectivity between Jammu and Doda, especially during the winter season, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir plans to begin a chopper service between the two destinations from Tuesday, October 24. Pawan Hans helicopters would be used for this service and will operate twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays between the two districts. The one-way fare for a traveller has been fixed at Rs. 2,500. The service is likely to help promote tourism and provide an alternative means to communicate between the two districts during the winter season when parts of the region remain cut off. Source: Financial Express

Giving a new lease of life to the responsible tourism initiatives in the state of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister, Government of Kerala, has launched a mission dedicated to responsible and sustainable tourism. The Responsible Tourism Mission is a first in the world and would lead Kerala Tourism through people-friendly, local community-friendly and environment-friendly initiatives ensuring rural development, employment opportunities and women empowerment. Presiding over the launch function was Kadakampally Surendran, Minister of Tourism, Kerala, while K Suresh Kurup, MLA and Jose K Mani were the Chief Guests. Dr Venu V, Principal Secretary, Kerala Tourism delivered the welcome speech and P Bala Kiran, Director of Tourism presented the Responsible Tourism Mission project. K Rupesh Kumar, Coordinator, State Responsible Tourism Mission announced the new Responsible tourism destinations. Dr. Venu V said that it’s a proud moment for all of them. “Responsible Tourism that started off in Kumarakom is now a world-renowned concept and a point of discussion across the globe. It’s definitely a proud moment for us to be a pioneer in setting up this concept so effectively. Within a span of 9 years, 16 crores are the profit Kumarakom could gain through tourism. Around 1.16 crore revenue is generated by the localities. The reason behind this growth is the involvement as a group by the communities around.” The aim of RT is to create 1.5 lakh jobs in the future, added Dr Venu V. Surendran, said, “To be the pioneer state in practising the concept of Responsible Tourism in the entire country is a proud moment. The government policy is to make tourism more popular. Apart from improving the functioning of the elite class, the government also aims to use …

Odisha tourism department plans to start a special drive to encourage its citizens in Bhubaneswar to provide homestay facilities to the tourists from the first week of November. The tourism department will accord licence to house owners, who register themselves with the former. Under the scheme, the house owners can offer up to 5 rooms or 10 beds with good facilities. The house owner will be required to provide Indian breakfast to the guests and display the room tariff. Tourism officials will regularly visit the houses and take feedback of the tourists. “We will carry out awareness campaigns through advertisements so that people come to know about the homestay facility. From November first week, we will start direct registration of homes at our department. Earlier, people were applying to the Ministry of Tourism. Now the ministry has asked us to receive applications from people and conduct verification before permitting them to start homestay facility,” said Nitin Jawale, Director-Tourism, Government of Odisha. He further stressed that this move would help augment rooms for tourists in the city and other places. The state tourism department will also train the house owner, family members, caretakers and other staff on how to deal with tourists. Preferably those houses will be selected which is not crowded. Location of the houses, hygiene and safety aspects will also be considered during the inspection. Source: Times of India

With the aim to increase the geographical spread of arrivals to the state, Kerala Tourism plans to promote its Malabar region aggressively through a Rs 325 crore project. This includes unexplored destinations such as Kozhikode, Wayanand, Bekal and Kannur. This was revealed by P. Bala Kiran, IAS, Director, Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala. He says, “To promote river cruise, the Government of Kerala has envisioned a Rs 300-crore project for nine rivers in Kannur and Kasaragod. In order to ease travel for international tourists, Cochin International Airport has been entrusted to execute the cruise tourism project by forming a Special Purpose Vehicle. In addition, the state government is planning to develop a few adventure parks as well. The government has allocated Rs. 45 crore for the Prasadam project in Kasaragod and Rs 120 crore for Green Carpet scheme for Alappuzha, Enranjil, Neyyar and Thenmala.” The state government also plans to develop 10 eco-tourism circuits to connect various forests in order to promote green tourism.  

Tourism department of Uttar Pradesh is planning to release its Tourism Policy by November this year. The draft policy will be placed under the Cabinet’s consideration and then will be released thereafter, informed Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Minister of Women Welfare, Family Welfare, Maternity and Child Welfare and Tourism, Government of Uttar Pradesh. According to Joshi, the private players play a major role in tourism development in the state and the policy will offer a host of incentives and concessions to them. “We have everything in the state, be it religious tourism, spiritual tourism, eco-tourism, wildlife, landscape, festivals, heritage and culture etc. The government is very aggressive to develop and promote this sector in collaboration with the private players. We hope with such vision and efforts, UP will become the number one state in terms of tourism.”

To accelerate the growth of tourism in Kerala, the Department of Tourism has launched a three-year long Continuous Tourist Survey 2017-20 (CTS). The Government of India will provide financial assistance of Rs. 25 lakhs, for the survey. During 2010-13, Kerala Tourism had conducted a similar Continuous Tourist Survey (CTS). One of the key findings of that survey was that a foreign tourist stays an average of 18 days in Kerala, while spending Rs. 81,000 on average. The Continuous Tourist Survey (CTS 17-20), conducted in collaboration with Datamation Consultants, intends to study in depth the interest of tourists, their age and demographic details, reasons for visit and nature of tours undertaken. A mobile application will be used by the enumerators of Datamation Consultants to collect various details. The survey will cover not only tourist destinations but also hotels, house boats, home stays, Ayurveda centers, restaurants, tour operators, etc. The Minister for Tourism Kadakampally Surendran, said, “Through the data obtained from the survey, the Tourism Department will evaluate the growth of tourism. The survey will provide us an accurate picture of tourists, likes and dislikes and help us to plan accordingly.” He added that Kerala has been following a comprehensive tourism development plan to double the number of domestic tourist arrivals and increase foreign tourist arrivals by 50%, by 2021. Speaking about the growing popularity of Kerala as a tourism destination, Dr. Venu.V, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala stated, “With over 1 million foreign tourists and 13.1 million domestic tourist arrivals, Kerala has been witnessing tremendous growth in tourist traffic since the last couple of years. Kerala has now become a trendsetter in the Indian tourism industry and we …

Jal Mahotsav will take place from October 15, 2017, to January 2, 2018. Organised for a period of 80 days, the festival is held in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh with an aim to revive adventure tourism in the state. The activites include zip lining, paintball, archery, kite flying, land parasailing, paramotors, hot air ballooning, water parasailing, water zorbing, snorkelling and scuba diving among others.

Madame Tussauds Delhi has announced the opening dates of the attraction slated for December 1, 2017. Located in the heart of Delhi’s Connaught Place, the attraction has opened its online portal for ticket bookings which allows guests to visit any time or day of their choice within 365 days. The tickets to the attraction start from Rs 860 for adults and Rs 660 for children (online prices). Post opening of the attraction, the tickets will be dated tickets, priced at Rs 960 for adults and Rs 760 for children. Commenting on the same, Sabia Gulati, Head Sales & Marketing, Madame Tussauds Delhi said, “Madame Tussauds will serve its Indian guests with a unique and fun filled experience especially strategized and developed for them. Finally, we are here to change the way entertainment had been perceived till date. With the opening of the attraction on 1st December, Indians will behold a new era of entertainment allowing them to own their moment of red carpet in showbiz. We are sure our guests will welcome the attraction enthusiastically and will love it for most exciting celebrity experience it will bring to them.”

Maharashtra’s Minister of Tourism Jaykumar Jitendrasinh Rawal met H.K Mauder Kakkur, Managing Director, NYC & Company New York, to discuss the prospects of tourism in Mumbai and Maharashtra in order to promote ‘The Brand Maharashtra’ in the City of New York. Vijay Waghmare, Managing Director, MTDC and Aashutosh Rathod, Joint Managing Director, MTDC, were also present at the event.