Archive May 2018

The overseas offices were started beneath the Ministry of business to position Asian nation as a most popular tourist destination and organize events to extend the country’s share in the global business market.

Arguing that in today's digital world, so many overseas offices were not required, Union Tourism Minister KJ Alphons recently told The Indian Express:
"The plan is to reshape these 14 offices into eight regional hubs for greater efficiency The offices in Toronto and Los Angeles are the first ones to be wound up."

According to sources within the business Ministry, the move follows an indoor survey conducted by the Overseas promoting Division in Delhi virtually a year agone to assess the value of running these overseas offices as compared to the revenues they generate from the individual markets. The study had found that many offices as unprofitable.

"Based on allegations/ complaints/ audit observations, etc, received in the Ministry of Tourism against India Tourism Offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, London, New York and Toronto, disciplinary proceedings have been initiated in cases where prima facie allegations were found to be substantiated."

Source: Indian Express

Pune, Maharashtra – Travind Institute of Travel & Tourism Management conducted The Philippines Training Destination Module, taking place at Travind Institute on  13 May 2018, in collaboration with Philippines Tourism Board. Travind Institute is proud to conduct such events on regular basis as a part of their curriculum providing in-depth knowledge of the subject matters pertaining to travel destination worldwide.

The module was conducted by Mr. Mandar Kelkar, who represented the tourism board of Philippines presenting the nitty-gritty of traveling to the Philippines. In the words of the speaker,“It’s More Fun in the Philippines!- the Department of Philippines always welcomes its tourists all over the world focusing on Leisure, FIT (Free Individual Traveler), Destination Weddings boosting the sustainable eco-tourism and medical tourism leading to the financial growth of the country.

He added saying “Usually such events are mostly conducted by travel agencies. I really appreciate the efforts taken by the Travind Institute to conduct such good events for its faculties and students. For the first time, I could interact one on one with the students, the upcoming leaders in travel and tourism industry”.

Our director Mr. Vivek More is constantly on the spree of adding more value to the courses conducted every day at Travind, be it the 9 Month diploma course or 6 months IATA certification. He always says, “Using such interactive training modules always has a good impact as it gives the exact and complete knowledge about the destinations covered in our courses with real-life scenarios and case studies as to how the industry works.”

The student enjoys such interactions with industry experts since they get to learn things straight from the horse’s mouth. This is practical training in a true sense. 
The institute celebrated the entire week ( 13 May 2018 - 19th May - 2018)  as The Philippines week exploring and studying the destination and the history of the country. 

Kerala Tourism Facebook page got first position in term of the ranking done by facebook based on total engagement that includes like, share , comments and the reaction given by the tourist between the time frame 1 January and 31 December 2017. Pushing Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department's Facebook page to the second place with 1.5 million likes to emerge as the top page and Gujrat to third place.

Speaking on the achievement, Rani George, Secretary, Department of Tourism, Kerala, said, "Kerala Tourism has been able to successfully convey the reasons as to why Kerala is a destination that should be on every traveller's itinerary".

P Balakiran, Director, Kerala Tourism said: “Kerala Tourism’s activity on Facebook and other social media space has been focussed and proactive. The page has been able to keep travellers from India and abroad engaged with interesting and innovative posts on the various projects and activities undertaken by the department. The ranking comes at a time when Kerala Tourism has upped the Digital marketing budget to 15% and been communicating to the people across the globe in exciting ways.”
Hearty congratulations to Kerala Tourism Department.

Source: First Post

As Indians are big fan of sports and travel, sports tourism industry in India sees 10-12 per cent growth says experts.

"Globally sports tourism is a multi-billion dollar industry. According to estimates, global sports tourism was worth USD 7 billion in 2017. While it is a mature industry overseas, in India it is in infancy (stage)," Cox and Kings Head, relationships, Karan Anand told here.

The first love for Indians is cricket and they travel to watch the game, whether in India or overseas, he added.  Sport events like the Soccer World Cup or the Olympics. We see large number of people travelling to the destination where the sport is going to be played. Over the last 10 years its reported that the interest to watch the olympics, the Soccer World Cup and Grand Prix Formula One motor events apart from cricket.

India Marketing Head, Brand, Manmeet Ahluwalia said India saw a change in travel patterns and rise in incidence of travelling for sports events ever since the launch of Indian Premier League in 2008.

“Indians always loved to adored the two games and travel, so occasions around donning occasions are the ideal mix to fulfill two desires immediately, he added.
Many people travel for watching these sports and hence these trips boost sport tourism and many tourism industry have began to realise the value of wooing these tourist -  many of them fall into the high-spending category, stay longer than other tourist categories, are high-calibre and often stimulate other tourism," he added.

Source: Economic Times.

The tourism department which wants to develop lesser-known destinations in the state by connecting them to major ones is trying to tap the adventure tourism potential of spots like Bhoothathankettu and Thattekkad which can be accessed by tourists traveling to Munnar.
"The plan is to promote inland destinations like Bhoothathankettu and Thattekkad as an alternative or at least a one-day stopover destination enroute Munnar, by developing adventure tourism activities like bamboo rafting and kayaking.
Just like how Kumarakom was developed from scratch to one of the most desired tourism destinations in the state, the project envisions the development of these locations in a manner that would give them a pride of place in the state's tourism map," he added.

Source: Times of India