On September 9, 2018, the third convocation ceremony of Travind Institute of Travel and Tourism Management successfully took place at MCCIA Trade Tower Shivaji Nagar, Pune. The chief guests of the occasion were Mr. Deep Bhong(Founder and Managing Director), Mr.Vishal Terkar(Finance Director), Mr. Datta Dongare (Technical Director), Mr. Pramod Dongare (Operations Director), Mr. Vivek More (Director of Travind Institute) and the special speaker was Mrs.Archana Biwal, Senior Speaker of Maharashtra State Institute of Hotel Management and Catering. Travind certified 40 students  in this year’s convocation for the courses - Diploma in Travel and Tourism With the Certification of GDS Fares & Ticketing ( Amadeus )

While congratulating the students Mrs.Archana Biwal addressed,

“You will be entering the real world with its ups and downs. The process of transition pose some problems, but I am sure that with the value system and training that you have acquired at this institute, you will be able to face the world of work with confidence.”   

Travind Institute of Travel and Tourism Management marked its wonderful presence in the travel and tourism industry by providing proficient skills and education to the students in an effective and efficient manner. Its students are performing well in the industry and appreciated not only by their employers but clients as well.  

Union Minister of State for Tourism K J Alphons will inaugurate the ‘Tribal Tourism Circuit’ at Gangrel in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh on September 14. The project is being developed to highlight tribal culture to the domestic and foreign tourism by Chhattisgarh Tourism Board.
The key components for development under the project are ‘Ethnic Tourist Village’ and ‘Ethnic Tourist Development’, Destination Development and Wayside amenities. The project is being developed by Chhattisgarh Tourism Board.
Notably, the Union Tourism Ministry had allocated Rs 99.94 crore to develop Tribal Tourism Circuit to highlight tribal culture to the domestic and foreign tourists in the year 2015-16.
“Source:Dailypioneer”

Government roll out 12 action plan to revive Kerala tourism

The state will organize the Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) from September 27 to 30 with the motive of projecting the destinations among 10,000 buyers and sellers. In order to increase the traveller's footfall, the Kochi-Muziris Biennnale will be used to promote the destination from December to March 2019. 
"Source: The Hindu"

“ The 'Incredible India 2.0' campaign is launched by the government with the view of marking a shift from generic promotions to market-specific promotional plans.”

 
This facility has been extended for the citizens of 165 countries. A 365 days toll-free multilingual tourist helpline has also been introduced. Events like 'Paryatan Parv' (tourism festival), International Buddhist Conclave and International Tourism Mart have been organized in order to promote tourism in India.
Source: "businessstandard"

Rajasthan Government has launched multi-year,  multi-modal, multi-narrative, multi-core global and campaigns to promote its tourism. It aims at enhancing the tourist from 1.5 million to 3.0 million by 2020. It will not only raise the number to foreign tourist but also enhance the domestic viewers from 33 million to 50 million per year.   

Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje said, “Tourism is the world’s biggest industry and Rajasthan is rich in this industry because it has explore it efficiently. It grants jobs and improves economic status in the state by both direct and indirect means.” She further adds, “the plan of enhancing tourism is associated with basic model of Government such as social justice and job creation.”  Government has also introduced the logo for a year to promote tourism.

Source: "TimesofIndia" 

Tourism Minister of Sri Lanka, John Amaratunga, recently stated that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in a move to boost tourism is looking out for possibilities of offering visa-free entry to tourists from tourist-friendly countries.
For the said task, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister has even appointed a task force that will be working on the ground level. As this effort is all to boost tourism into boosting tourism in further regions with Liberation Tigers of Tamil and emerges it as one of the top destinations in Asia.
While India topped the list by registering a record number of arrivals in Sri Lanka at 206337, Chinese tourists followed at 136294.
All tourists to Sri Lanka must obtain an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) cards before their arrival.
Source: TimesofIndia

World Tourism Day (WTD) 2018 will shed light on how digital technology is transforming travel and tourism industry. By providing opportunities for innovation and preparing the sector for the future of work, celebrating this World Tourism Day, in Budapest, Hungary (27 September 2018).
The importance of digital technologies in the tourism industry. explains, advances including big data, artificial intelligence, and digital platforms, on the map of sustainable development. “We must better understand the growing economic, societal and environmental impacts of technology and innovation in tourism if our sector is to sustain continuous and inclusive growth in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations,” states the WTD website.
Source:unwto

Do you want to travel the world but are you stuck in a 9-to-5 Job with two weeks of holidays? There are jobs for which you can wander on your employer's penny that pay more than $ 100,000 per year.

1. Travel Advertiser (VP or higher)
Average salary: $ 116,000
A publicist establishes and maintains positive relations with the media, placing his clients in different media, from television to magazines. A travel blogger works for a hotel (or hotel chain), a cruise line, an airline or an advertising agency that represents travel clients.
The longer you stay with an advertising agency, the more you can do. The average salary for a high-level vice president is around $ 116,000 a year, according to the Payscale.com job website.

2. Luxury travel advisor
Average salary: $ 100,000
Before the Internet, travel agents (as they used to be known) could do as little as booking a plane ticket. Now, travel consultants not only prepare for your trip, but also provide a high level of service and advice, and manage your vacation time.
Travel consultants are always on the road, especially those who specialise in luxury travel, where customers with large budgets want consultants to know the product through first-hand experiences.
The salary of a travel agent is approximately $ 36,654 per year, with an extra $ 6,000 for bonuses and commissions.

3. Hotel manager
Average salary: $ 105,000
The hotel manager ensures that everything about the hotel works without problems. They manage all aspects of the property, including operations, staffing and customer satisfaction, and are mostly responsible for operational efficiency and profitability.
While the average salary for a hotel manager is approximately $ 105,000, those who work in a large, high-end hotel, especially in large metropolitan cities, can earn close to $ 200,000 a year. The Glassdoor employment website shows a manager position at Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, a five-star hotel chain, with an average salary of $ 114,000 from $ 95,000 to $ 129,000.

4. Sales Director
Average salary: $ 108,737
A hotel sales manager is responsible for developing businesses through direct sales, marketing, direct mail and tours through the hotel, it also boosts sales revenue, which may be reserving large-scale events and conventions at the hotel. The minimum salary of a director of sales in a hotel is $ 88,116, with the additional compensation in cash (including bonus or commission) of $ 20,621 per year, which amounts to $ 108,737.
If you manage commercial sales for an entire region, such as all hotels of the hotel company in a city or region (that is, all Marriott hotels in New England), you can expect a higher salary of $ 117,440 per year with additional compensation of $ 56,729.

5. The pilot of the airline
Average salary: $ 137,330
If you have ever dreamed of being the pilot of a plane, know that you have a high salary: more than $ 100,000 per year (up to $ 208,000 per year for major airlines). The average annual salary is $ 137,330, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

6. Creative or art director
Average salary: $ 133,000
The average annual salary for a creative director in the US. It is $ 133,839, but it can reach $ 200,000 at the higher end for those who have more experience and get jobs in large companies.
Directors working on trips, such as a hotel chain, for example, get the advantage of travelling through their work, travelling to new hotel openings to determine the general vision, working with designers, artists, editors and marketing specialists

Source:CNBC

The promotion of Malabar Tourism will be the focal theme of the upcoming 10th edition of Kerala Travel Mart (KTM), which will be a platform for extensive business-to-business meetings and chalking out measures to make the money-spinning tourism sector of the state a sustainable enterprise.

India’s largest tourism event, the four-day KTM will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on September 27 at 6:00 PM at Grand Hyatt, Bolgatty, Kochi, coinciding with World Tourism Day organised by KTM Society in partnership with Kerala Tourism, the event will conduct its business-to-business meetings at Samudrika and Sagara Convention Centre, Willingdon Island, Kochi, from September 28 to 30.

Announcing the details of the KTM 2018 at a press conference on Wednesday, Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said the opening of Kannur airport this year would give a boost to tourism in the Malabar region in north Kerala.

This is in continuation of the summit meeting between the Indian Prime Minister and the Russian Federation President last year to celebrate 2018 as the Year of Tourism in India and Russia.
Source: Blive
 

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. 

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

• Tourism Fiji has announced Ileana D'Cruz the brand ambassador -new Indian face to Fiji!
  
  
• The Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board (MPTB) has reportedly created a land bank with the aim of giving a major boost to tourism in the state.Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge) Surendra Patwa has said that “Madhya Pradesh has been segregated into five tourism regions and potential of private investment has been identified - Indore, Jabalpur, Bhopal, Gwalior, Rewa region”.
  
  
• Indian Railways, to promote heritage tourism work on meter-gauge lines. A senior official from the Railway Ministry said regarding this development, "As part of the strategy to preserve the meter-gauge lines, Indian Railways is planning to preserve few meter-gauge lines, which have the potential to attract more tourists."

Source “timesofindia” “business standard”

As per the data, by WTTC the travel and tourism sector generated Rs 14.1 trillion (USD208.9 billion) in 2016, which is the world’s  7th largest economy and the sum is equivalent to 9.6% of India’s GDP.

Additionally, the new report says that the tourism sector created 40.3 million jobs in 2016, which ranks India 2nd in the world in terms of total employment generated. The sector accounts for 9.3% of the country’s total jobs.

David Scowsill, President, and CEO, WTTC, said-

“India is a tremendous Travel and Tourism economy, and I am pleased to see the sector GDP is growing. However, we believe that these numbers could be even higher and that the positive impact of our sector could be more wide-ranging. India has a huge potential to increase its international visitors and, in doing so, it can create more jobs and drive economic growth”.
He added, “We encourage the Indian government to continue to adopt policies that encourage the tourism in India”.

Therefore, it's a great advantage for those who are working in travel and tourism sector and also for those who wish to make their career in travel and tourism sectors.

Source "economictimes"

The cruise service provider promoting itself as a cruise tourism destination to generate employment. Union minister for road transport, highways and shipping Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday.

“A businessman from Goa has brought a very good vessel. Almost 550 to 600 people will be able to travel by it and the vessel will have five to seven restaurants.” He added that the hotel industry too will benefit hugely from cruise tourism.
He added - “Commenting that employment is a serious problem facing the nation, the minister said that adequate support for cruise tourism in the state will help enhance employment prospects for Goans”.

Goa should take a gander at is securing eco-accommodating trawlers for anglers under the focal government's Sagarmala venture. Said Nitin Gadkari
Therefore, Cruise tourism is India's economic growth engine as there is a vast untapped potential yet to being released with ample of job opportunities

The world was stunned by the arrival of latest technologies in recent years, same way the travel and tourism experts are surprised by the use of these technologies in travel and tourism industry. Subsequently, travel companies are opting different technologies to improve customer interface and operations.  




According to Elena Mogos, Associate Analyst for Digital Travel & Tourism at GlobalData, remarks: “Travel still revolves around meaningful human interactions. However, to be successful, companies need to create a balance between the technological innovations and the human element. Improving the customer experience must always be on the back of travel and tourism companies’ minds when investing in technology.” - Source (Global data)

Here are some of the advance Technologies used in Travel and Tourism

Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR and VR):  Augmented Reality is being used in all other industries for content marketing or to enhance the consumer’s experience. Nowadays airlines are using VR Tech to show passengers the cabins in virtual reality, to get sell more expensive tickets.

Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI is almost behind every latest technology which is evolving in travel and tourism. The livingly applications of this technologies are  Machine Learning, ChatBots or Travel Bots, and Robots.

Internet of Things (IoT): Internet of Things has a lot of potentials to change the future of travel and tourism industry. For ex. Lufthansa Airlines has recently introduced the function of real-time tracking of your luggage in their respected app.

Wi-Fi connectivity: When traveling people want to stay connected with their family or friends by the medium of social media due to that most of hotels and airports are giving free of cost internet usage.

Wearable devices:  Now Disneyland and universal studio to introduce the smart  wearables to track the time for rides and to eliminate the waiting and it is smart innovation

Indian tour operators and the travel agents are requested to add value to the tour packages as per the growing demands, changing needs of the travelers apart from their define itinerary.

Ms. Meenakshi Sharma, Additional Director General Tourism, Government of India. She was addressing an interactive meeting of the IATO on March 1 in Delhi. She said -
 “ tourists were no longer interested in just seeing monuments, they wanted to experience things for themselves. Diversified products must be offered and value for money should be the criteria, not cheap packages.”

Ms. Sharma addresses more towards the growth of tourism, She talks about the Campaign "The Great Indian Blog Train" Where 60 bloggers who were on four luxury trains recently, commented that more freedom should be given while traveling, rather than just follow a rigid itinerary.

The ministry asks the tour operator to give their suggestions to revamp the ministry website as per the growing demands and changing needs of the travelers.IATO president Pronab Sarkar revealed that under the ‘adopt a heritage program’, the association was taking up Mahabalipuram and Ellora for maintenance. said
“that the recent Bharat Parv Festival was a great success with domestic tourism promotion and should be held every year.”

source = eturbonews

Thailand Tourism Authority has launched its new marketing concept 'Open to the New Shades of Amazing Thailand' in India. The campaign focused on attracting more visitors to Thailand. Discover new perspectives on existing attractions and including unique experiences in new tourist attractions.

In his product presentation, Tanes Petsuwan, TAT Deputy Governor for Marketing Communication said, "The Open to the New Shades concept is about asking visitors to 'open' their minds and hearts to deepen and widen their experiences into a new perception of attractions and variety of experiences in Thailand."

The campaign will introduce brand-new products to visitors, or reveal a new destination to explore Thailand. To target specific customer like Luxury Travel, Weddings and Honeymoon visitors, Female Travellers and Families. Also targeted are university students and newly working women.

Source: Aninews

Thailand Tourism Authority has launched its new marketing concept 'Open to the New Shades of Amazing Thailand' in India. The campaign focused on attracting more visitors to Thailand. Discover new perspectives on existing attractions and including unique experiences in new tourist attractions.

In his product presentation, Tanes Petsuwan, TAT Deputy Governor for Marketing Communication said, "The Open to the New Shades concept is about asking visitors to 'open' their minds and hearts to deepen and widen their experiences into a new perception of attractions and variety of experiences in Thailand."

The campaign will introduce brand-new products to visitors, or reveal a new destination to explore Thailand. To target specific customer like Luxury Travel, Weddings and Honeymoon visitors, Female Travellers and Families. Also targeted are university students and newly working women.

Source: Aninews

Maharashtra announces to built its first Hyperloop route in India between Mumbai to Pune.
Virgin Hyperloop One Chairman and founder Sir Richard Branson announced the Framework Agreement in the presence of Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis to begin the development of the route.

Richard Branson Said, "Virgin Hyperloop One can help India become a global transportation pioneer and forge a new world-changing industry."

"I believe Virgin Hyperloop One could have the same impact upon India in the 21st century as trains did in the 20th century. The Pune-Mumbai route is an ideal first corridor as part of a national hyperloop network that could dramatically reduce travel times between India's major cities to as little as two hours," he added.

The Hyperloop route will connect Mumbai and Pune, link central Pune, Navi Mumbai International Airport, and Mumbai in 25-minutes connecting 26 million people and creating a thriving, competitive megaregion.

Source: Deccan Chronicle

Navi Mumbai International Airport will handle six crore passengers annually.
Projected to be largest Greenfield airport in India. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, inaugurated the airport the fourth terminal of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in the presence of many big names like Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra; Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra; Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road, Transport & Highways Shipping and Waterways, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India; P Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India; Dr GVK Reddy, Chairman and Founder, GVK; and other dignitaries.
"Navi Mumbai International Airport will be boon to the CSIA airport in Mumbai which today handles traffic equal to the traffic of entire nation 25 years back and is already saturated in terms of capacity.

Gadkari commented , "Costing INR 8,000 cr, JNPT's fourth terminal will further boost India's trade activities, especially on the international level through seaways. JNPT already contributes 54% of port traffic in the country. This terminal is a boon to Maharashtra and Konkan region as it will also provide employment to 1.25 lakh people in these regions. Further, the government is planning to handle traffic activities for this port through seaways thereby reducing traffic in Navi Mumbai area and be cost effective too. Also, the government is working on developing seaways to connect to Navi Mumbai International Airport from Mumbai."

Modi added that seaway plays a very important role in international trade activities and development of ports like JNPT is a sign that the present government is working towards opening doors of trade for the world and boost country's economy.

Source: travel biz monitor

Government to transform Telangana into a major tourism hub. The state to host ‘Telangana Tourism Conclave 2018’ three-day event in the state.
The tourism secretary B Venkatesham on 19 February said -

“A day would soon come when one can find Telangana State as a major destination in the tourism map,” the government was moving ahead with plans to develop heritage tourism, IT Hub, Pharma hub, medical tourism, adventure tourism he added.

He also talks about “the government plans, to develop the tourist places commercially along the lines of Hong Kong, Singapore, and France. To increase business by attracting foreign tourist.A foreign tourist does not hesitate to spend even Rs one lakh whereas, the domestic tourists spend less”

 ‘Telangana Tourism Conclave 2018’ host by FTAPCCI president G Srinivas said. The event would be organized for three days between June 28 and June 30. Focusing on travel education, travel business development. business to business meetings.

Source: The Hans India

After executing a series of strategies for Kashmir tourism promotion in India, the J&K Government plans to host nearly 700 Indian tourism players to attract more tourists to Kashmir.

The government, in collaboration with the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), will bring tourism agents and aviation players from March 25 to March 29 to the Valley.
Zahoor Qari, chairman of TAAI's J&K chapter, told Kashmir Reader that the main aim is to tell the convention's invitees about the reality of the Kashmir Valley, which is in contrast to the wrong reportage done by Indian national news channels and newspapers.

“Among the delegates, we have players who have never been to Kashmir but have settled for its image as constructed by the Indian media. We want to tell them the reality that Kashmir is not what you see in Indian media,”

Last year, Kashmir Tourism players were left despondent with the state's hitting a palpable low in tourist arrivals. Their main strategy has been to dispel wrong notions of Kashmir in the states of India, a strategy to be adopted by the Government of India's special representative Dineshwar Sharma. As Kashmir always focused on Indian tourists than foreign for tourism growth. In the report it is mentioned the tourism industry players from all across  India will meet in March to host the event.

It is certain that this step will encourage the travelers to explore heaven on earth. It will definitely boost Indian tourism industry.

Source: Kashmir Reader

Ministry of Tourism has announced 2018 as the year of Adventure Tourism.
Jenu Devan, Managing Director and commissioner of Gujarat Tourism, said we are promoting Gujarat in a big way with some upgradation of existing facilities and introduction of new tourism concepts. Report state that, during the discussion the Gujarat Tourism Minister talk about the recently launched ‘Border Tourism’ on December 16 at Nadabet Border in Banas Kantha district,

He Said,  "the response rate toward border tourism is really well hence, we are planning to start the international Buddhist circuit, Dandi heritage zone, and a solar energy village" 

Out of them, 98 percent were domestic tourists and two percent were foreign tourists. He added

The USP lies in the festivals which include the Rann of Kutch jamboree, Navratri, and the kite-flying festival. Attracting a lot of domestic and foreign tourists. Now, we have identified seven big golf courses and documenting our birds to develop niche tourism.
Gujarat Tourism Ministry decided to soon promote International Buddhist circuit, Dandi heritage zone as it will show complete about Mahatma Gandhi presence.

Source: Daily Pioneer

Digital Travel Summit APAC 2018 - The leading three - day digital event for travel, hospitality, and leisure, help to take travel and tourism industry to a next level.While in the past, all efforts were focused towards getting a customer to book immediately, the new-age digital strategy extends beyond the initial touch-point. The summit starts from  17th April to 19th April at the Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore.

Summit APAC 2018 will help participants learn how to take their digital, e-commerce and customer experience strategies to the next level with enhanced personalization at every point. Many prominent personalities of the travel industry will participate.

“Suren Ratwatte, CEO SriLankan Airlines, Grant Colquhoun, Senior Director of Account Management Asia-Pacific at TripAdvisor, Jane Jie Sun, CEO at CTrip, and Christophe Chavry, Head of Digital Commerce Experience E-commerce at Cathay Pacific, among others”

It will help participants perfect customer experience, creating a seamless cross-device UX for customers' evolving shopping habits.Through sessions, participants will also discover content that provides differentiation and real customer engagement, understand how to execute an effective omnichannel marketing strategy that both delights customers and increases direct bookings, and master mobile marketing.

Source:Travhq

After the first edition of Abu Dhabi Week in Delhi and Mumbai in 2017, the second edition is all set to host this year in Kochi & Kolkata on February 16  and 23 respectively.

The three-day event is organized by the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi, to promote the cultural heritage of the Emirate in India. The event will start on February 16 in Kochi at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, Kaloor (Kochi)

After that, the exhibition will continue to host in Kolkata on February 23. Positioning Abu Dhabi as the ultimate destination for vacations, leisure travel, and weddings, the Abu Dhabi Week will offer an experiential mix of culture, art, entertainment, cuisine, and sports. It will also take guests on a virtual tour of the city in all its grandeur.

‘Abu Dhabi Week’ will offer variety of new experiences to its audiences including life-like encounters of Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, Desert Safari, and a glimpse of the majestic Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Speaking about Abu Dhabi Week, Mubarak Al Nuaimi, director, promotions and overseas offices, department of culture and tourism, Abu Dhabi, said:

"Owing to the growing levels of disposable income in the hands of Indian travelers, we believe that India is a crucial market with a potential to expand the tourist inflow in Abu Dhabi."

Source: The Hindu

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, took a great step to promote Indian tourism via India's Luxury Trains keeping in mind the importance of Social Media as an effective tool for destination branding and marketing, is organizing a Social Media Key Influencers' Campaign "The Great Indian Blog Train" involving bloggers and their communities from all across the world, who have been invited to travel in the Luxury Trains operating in different States.

Around 60 Bloggers from 23 countries including India will be traveling on a week-long journey in royal luxury trains, i.e Palace on Wheels, Maharaja Express, Deccan Odyssey and Golden Chariot in groups of 15 Bloggers on each train.

In order to give a boost to the promotion of India's Luxury Trains, Smt. Rashmi Verma, Secretary (Tourism), Suman Billa, Joint Secretary (Tourism) and Meenakshi Sharma, Additional Director General (Tourism), Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and other officials of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India visited the Safdarjung Railway Station today for an interaction with the domestic and international Bloggers and see them off on their journey on the Palace on Wheels.Really a super step of the Indian government to promote Indian Luxury Trains on social media.



Source: Aninews 

Forget mountains, oceans, pebbled beaches and waterfalls. Mud tourism is a whole new concept to come close to nature mother earth, I bet you won't regret it.

"Mud tourism" is booming as visitors flock to see rooftops poking above the bubbling lake and life-size statues made of mud. Like all forces of Nature, earth — in its gritty, runny form — can give both great joy and great pain. It can relax and rejuvenate, it can get you into a party mood or leave you reflecting on the destruction it leaves in its wake sometimes.

The Daecheon beach is called Mud Square: for an entire week in July, The Boryeong Mud Festival is South Korea's biggest attraction for global tourists. Mud tourism is a whole new concept rising in tourism industry tourist all over the world comes to experience the different range relaxing and adventure activity.

Think concerts and air shows, rowdy bouts of mud wrestling, mudslides and mud obstacle races. While rowdy bouts of mud wrestling, slides, and obstacle races set the tone of the event, there are plenty of niches and relaxing experiences to have as well, like massages and mud baths.

Travelers across the world rejuvenate themselves by soaking themselves in mud, letting it dry all over them and then washing it off. In 2006, in a phenomenon commonly termed the "Lusi mud flow", mud just began spewing out of the ground in a paddy field and didn't stop.
“Such was its scale and speed that it began to be called a "mud volcano", though the cause is still under debate”.

Source: The Hindu

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Assam Global Investors’ Summit announces to have the world-class airport terminal in Guwahati. The scheme is set to increase the Assam's connectivity to other areas. The Power schemes worth more than INR 10,000 crore have been initiated in the northeast.

PM Narendra Modi further stated that-
“In the last three years, the government has spent more than INR 5,000 crore on development of railways in the northeast.”
 He added “The construction of 15 new rail lines are underway. Rail connectivity between Tripura and Bangladesh will also be developed,”

Union Minister for the civil aviation P Ashok Gajapathi Raju and the chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation of the new international world-class airport terminal. The project is seen as a major boost to the aviation sector in the northeastern region.

"Transportation and connectivity are the two most important means for economic prosperity. The government of Assam accords top priority to improve communication and wants to engage in the faster development of road, rail, and air linkages as well as internet connectivity," said Sonowal.

source: Travel Biz Monitor

Travel representator Renuka Natu (RNTR) has been appointed as the India representative for Brunni-Bahnen Engelberg AG, a mountain destination in Switzerland.

In an appointment  Renuka Said -
“In the current year, which is our first year for Brunni, we will follow the traditional methods of marketing in the first two quarters i.e. promote and market through tour operators, consolidators, European DMCs and travel agents. In the second half of 2018, we will look at other methods of promotions.”

Renuka plans to promote Brunni - Bahnen Engelberg among the travellers who love to explore and enjoy mountain excursions. It is considered as the sixth product added to the portfolio of RNTR for promotions and marketing in India.

During the discussion when asked to Renuka Nath about the company’s expansion plans she said -
“Our primary efforts through 2018 will be to service the existing accounts in such a manner that we are able to expand our B2B client base in India through personalised training and hand-holding. In 2018, we will focus on strengthening our foothold for the existing portfolio and render the market better prepared for selling these destinations,”

Source-Travel Biz Monitor

Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance, Government of India would like to convert 10 prominent tourist destinations into iconic and model destinations by adopting a holistic approach to development with private sector support.

Finance Minister announced that they are planning to enhance the tourist experience of 110 monuments which comes under the ASI ( Archaeological Survey of India) under the scheme National  Heritage City Augmentation.

The ministry announces the construction of a tunnel under 'Sela Pass 'in Arunachal Pradesh to improve connectivity and tourism in that northeastern state.
Sela Pass is a high-altitude mountain pass located on the border between Tawang and West Kameng Districts of Arunachal Pradesh, an area China claims to be a part of south Tibet.

He also mentioned about the 14 km long tunnel at the Zoji La Pass is progressing well.Considering the aviation infrastructure, “the government will enhance airport capacity to handle one billion trips a year” he said

“56 un-served airports and 31 un-served helipads have been already activated under the Regional Connectivity scheme of the government and operations have already been started on 16 such places,” he said.

Source: Travel Biz Monitor

According to the reports, the government introduces 325 more routes to airlines as well as helicopter operators under its regional connectivity scheme (RCS) to enhance flight services to hilly and remote areas, including Kargil.  

Ministry of Civil Aviation, 56 new airports and helipads are being connected to 36 existing aerodromes. The routes have been awarded to 15 airlines and helicopter operators after the bidding process for the second round of RCS, also known as UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik), which aims to connect tier-2 and tier-3 cities and take flying to the masses. Among the major domestic carriers, out of total IndiGo has bagged 20 proposals, SpiceJet got 17 while Jet Airways won four.

"In the second round, we have given RCS routes to helicopter operators also. In all, we got 141 proposals for 502 routes (for both planes and choppers). Letters of award have been given to 90 proposals for 325 routes. Out of these, 129 routes are in a newly created category of 'priority areas' that include Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal, Uttarakhand, North East, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep Islands," R N Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation said.

As per the scheme, RCS flights' fares are capped at Rs 2,500 per hour of flight for fixed-wing aircraft and for 30 minutes on a helicopter. This clearly give aviation industry a great height.

source: Travelbizmonitor 

Government's Digital India initiative, Minister of State for Tourism and Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, K.J Alphons launched the Incredible India digital calendar in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Along with the digital Calendar, he also launched the Incredible India wall and desk calendar for 2018. The calendar has an application that enables users to know about the events and festivals happening in India on the go. The digital calendar App can be downloaded on Android and iOS platforms.

It contains all the information about the festivals and events happening in the country and will also allow the user to plan their personal events accordingly. It helps the user by notifying the upcoming festivals and events, allow set up of customize reminders for individual events, share the events with friends and contacts, etc.

The calendar contains all exclusive features making it a perfect travel planner on to go. The calendar is designed in such a way that, each day the user will get a different experience, stunning images of different tourist destination from all across India. which can be shared on various social media platforms also. Incredible India Desk calendar 2018 profiles has 12 different kinds of travelers that suggests the great destinations for them.

The theme of the Desk Calendar is designed as "India for Everyone" showcasing India's incredible destinations for travelers.

In 25th GST council meeting FAITH had made 9 major demands to the GST council in meeting with the ministry of finance. On 17th January 2018.

FAITH  statement says-
“To push through the remaining recommendations, FAITH and its member associations will keep on engaging with the central and state policy-makers to hone in the realization that a strategic GST regime is very critical for competitiveness of our tourism & hospitality industry and consequently for higher employment in India,”

FAITH pay gratitude to honorable Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and pay special attention to the two main bottleneck points in the GST council meeting -

1. Tour operator to tour operator GST to be made available as it was earlier in the service tax regime.This will prevent the tax on tax in the tourism distribution value chain.

2. Administrations like elephant rides, camel safaris, event congregations and such others are at 0% rating. Elephant rides, camel rides, Amusement parks, joy rides have been brought down to 18% from 28%.  

Complete Highlights of the Meeting are-

• IGST be made accessible for ardent properties for tourism convenience such as for hotels, cruises, campgrounds and for eateries (restaurant).
• Trade profit in tourism benefits as fares and give a zero rating or an extraordinary rating of 5%.
•  Exchange esteem and not Declared Tariff ought to be the reason for rate arrangement of lodgings.
•  Hotels above 7500 charge 28% GST,  will be rationalized.
•  An option to discharge under presumptive model may be extended to travel agents, tour operators who are booking hotel accommodation/ any other tourism products/ tour packages (1.8% for B2C & 0.9% for B2B)
•  Tour operator to tour operator GST to be made available as it was earlier in the service tax regime.
•  Travel and Tours administrations outbound from India ought not draw in GST as they are in the nontaxable domain.
•  Administrations like elephant rides, camel safaris, event congregations and such others be at 0% rating.
•  Special arrangement and administrations account code of experience for visit administrators.

With annual “Beat the Peak” campaign – the united kingdom to encourage Indian visitors to make use of the UKVI’s post-dated visa offer, which allows travelers to apply three months in advance from the date of their visa for when they travel.

The post dated service benefit the visa applicant as Indian visitors are allowed to start their visa on their intended travel date. For example, If you are planning to travel in April, you can apply for the visa 3 months before  January, whilst keeping the full six-month validity for when they intend to travel.

According to Dominic Asquith, the British High Commissioner to India said:-

“2017 was a record-breaking year for the UK-India relationship, with more Indians traveling to the UK than ever before. In the year ending September 2017, well over half a million visas were issued to Indian nationals and visit visas alone were up by 11% year-on-year,”

“We want the UK to be a ‘must-go-now’ destination for visitors from India. Making it easy to travel here is an important part of our tourism offer.  With our hotels, attractions, and shops, all offering great value for Indian visitors right now, it is a great time to come to Britain.” said by Tricia Warwick, Interim Director for Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa.

#BEATthe peak campaign 2018 was launched by the British High Commissioner to India, Sir Dominic Asquith KCMG to begun that intend to connect with the Indian visitor's showcase and urge them to visit Britain and apply ahead of schedule for their visa to do so.

Source: Travelbizmonitor

Hotel Industry is planning to utilize Artificial Intelligence to show better information of customers via personal data provides on reservation or “Beacon Technology”

"Technology will allow us to know what the client needs before he even knows he wants it," says Alvaro Carrillo de Albornoz, head of Spain's Hotel Technology Institute.

A hotel room automatically brings into an agreement according to the need of each guest, with new technologies like virtual reality headset, AI algorithm to track the guest hoping to benefit from lucrative personal data.

Some Important Points Are -

• A prototype of the hotel industry for checked-in will completely change. Hotels of the future will provide checked-in via a mirror equipped recognition.
• Once the client is identified, the room adapts itself automatically to all demands made at reservation: temperature, lighting, Picasso or Van Gogh in the digital frames hanging on the walls.
• Hotels incorporated with cutting-edge speech recognition technology, allowing to guest to order in 40 languages
• Even the lock is intelligent — it opens and closes via the WhatsApp application on the client’s phone.
• Apart from data collection, AI algorithms will help in determining the client's like and dislike offering a tailor-made experience or sell them additional products for their special events and purpose. All purchases can be made automatic.
• Virtual reality (VR) headsets will be provided to the visitors so that they can carry with them and can get the amazing experience of the place. Promoting this tool to tourism professionals as the brochure of the future, without too much success so far in some places by virtual reality travel agents in the world.

Source: The Hindu

To give it a further boost, West Bengal tourism department has taken an elaborate promotional plan for the northern corner of the state as a part of its international travel mart 'Destination East'.

"Among all sectors of trade and commerce, tourism business has been one of the deepest sufferers of the situation. Now it is the time to turn around," said tourism minister of the state Gautam Deb.

"Under Destination East travel mart, a special promotional initiative has been chalked out to showcase Darjeeling hills and adjoining foothills to the international travel trade representatives," He added.

"Their first-hand experience will be the confidence builder for travels from their respective locations to Darjeeling as well as the entire eastern Himalayan region," said veteran travel consultant Raj Basu.

Destination east is a joint endeavor of state tourism and Confederation of Indian industries to showcase and promote new and non-conventional to international buyers. Beginning in 2010 with 30 representatives from south Asian countries only, the travel mart will have 102 visitors from 30 countries in 2018.

Source: economictimes

India and Egypt have a tremendous potential to raise tourism through shared experiences, according to travel experts.

The Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC) of the Indian Embassy has organized a seminar on 'Sustainable Tourism: New Avenues for Development' with the participation of eminent Indian and Egyptian speakers.

The discussion held last week Thursday focused on sharing experiences from developments in the space of tourism in countries like India and Egypt. Which have the incredible scope and potential to benefit from the tourism sector.In the seminar, the speakers focused on the promoting tourism as both the country has rich civilization.

Elhamy el-Zayat, ex-chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Federation said that social media is an important tool to promote tourism in both countries.

"I always say that we have tools that we didn’t have in the past, which social media. We can always say stories that are interesting for everybody,"

The Speakers also mentioned that one of the finest ways to promote Indian tourism in Egypt is showing more Bollywood movies as they are already gaining more fans in Egypt. Some Indian movies have already been screened on the big screen in the recent period.

Source:moneycontrol

Indian tourism industry focus to Promote rail tourism in the country.  As the Rail department asked its zonal its zonal arms and public sector undertakings to outsource their ticketing and catering works to IRCTC and concentrate on branding.

“In a letter on January 3, Railway Board chairman Ashwani Lohani has asked all zonal railways to promote the brand of rail tourism on select routes.
Lohani has also asked rail PSUs such as Indian Railway Finance Corporation and Ircon International, and zonal railways to give the catering contracts for all events, seminars and programmes held outside rail premises to IRCTC, the railways' catering and tourism arm.”

He has asked them to identify tourist and luxury trains and brand them both on the interior and exterior. He addressed one of the major objectives of the travel community which said that the running schedules of such trains were not made clear. In order to cut down on delays, the board has now entrusted the Director, Coaching as the nodal officer for luxury trains.
The executive can now be directly approached for approval on any scheduling issues, instead of the zonal railways.

Sources say that the board now take initiative to promote rail tourism seriously with state tourism departments.

Indian tourism industry focus to Promote rail tourism in the country.  As the Rail department asked its zonal its zonal arms and public sector undertakings to outsource their ticketing and catering works to IRCTC and concentrate on branding.

“In a letter on January 3, Railway Board chairman Ashwani Lohani has asked all zonal railways to promote the brand of rail tourism on select routes.
Lohani has also asked rail PSUs such as Indian Railway Finance Corporation and Ircon International, and zonal railways to give the catering contracts for all events, seminars and programmes held outside rail premises to IRCTC, the railways' catering and tourism arm.”

He has asked them to identify tourist and luxury trains and brand them both on the interior and exterior. He addressed one of the major objectives of the travel community which said that the running schedules of such trains were not made clear. In order to cut down on delays, the board has now entrusted the Director, Coaching as the nodal officer for luxury trains.
The executive can now be directly approached for approval on any scheduling issues, instead of the zonal railways.

Sources say that the board now take initiative to promote rail tourism seriously with state tourism departments.

India to promote tourism growth over 10% growth in six months ending september 2017.
Increased budgetary support for tourism sector and will boost the domestic tourism in india. Where the rising incomes are changing the consumption pattern of millions of Indians.

India is planning to cut taxes on travel and tourism in next month’s federal budget and give more incentives to the $210 billion sector, government sources said,
“hoping to boost economic growth and create more jobs”.

This would definitely boost the domestic tourism and will make India the world's second most populous nation.

 “We’ll announce measures in the budget to promote investment in the tourism sector,” a top finance ministry official told Reuters, adding that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley favours lowering a 28% tax on hotel tariffs, and offering incentives to attract private investments.

CHEAPER FLIGHTS India needs about 200,000 new hotel rooms, Tourism Minister K.J. Alphons told parliament this week.
“We have reached a plateau point and need more resources to create new infrastructure and develop tourist packages,” Alphons later told Reuters, adding there was huge potential in developing areas that were not the usual tourist destinations.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said “developing tourism, particularly in India’s remote north-eastern states, is one of his top priorities”

ONLINE PLAYERS Tour operator said that the online players will get the double digit hikes. A huge no of foreign visitors visited india last year. The domestic travellers also boot the online player growth.
“The government must lower the tax burden, ease rules and build infrastructure if it wants to ensure 15-20% annual growth in tourism in coming years,” said Sarkar of IATO.

source: livemint

France, the country emerged as the world leader in promoting sustainable tourism. Report state that the country leads as the world leader in promoting sustainable tourism and preserving their social, cultural and natural capital of the country.

As per The Economist's Sustainable Tourism Index, the first place is occupied by Europe, with France, Germany and the UK taking up the top three spots.

"Of the ten countries included in the index, only France and Germany have taken concerted and sustained action at the national level to develop policy, set targets and monitor results," researchers write.

France preserved it's sustainable tourism and sets specific targets and guidelines for carrying capacity and tourist attraction worldwide. Studies say, Tourism contributes about 5% of the worldwide greenhouse gas emission and is expected to grow more in the coming years. The overflow of tourist leads to the physical degradation of several natural and historical assets.

As per the ranking report, here we have mentioned the top 10 countries on the basis of Sustainable Tourism Index.
1. France
2. Germany
3. UK
4. US
5. Japan
6. India
7. Brazil
8. China
9. Indonesia
10. Egypt

Source: news18

Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath government has undertaken the development of 10 new airports in Uttar Pradesh (UP) to boost religious business tourism in India by increasing the connectivity between the religion, region and business to boost the economy of the country.

The Union Civil Aviation Ministry, develop Agra Kanpur airport after bidding under the regional connectivity scheme in the first phase. In second phase the government also decided to built 10 more new airports - Allahabad, Aligarh, Bareilly,Azamgarh,Chitrakoot, Hindon (Ghaziabad), Jhansi, Moradabad, Muirpur (Sonbhadra), and Shravasti are under the project. As these are the prominent cultural and religious tourism places in Uttar Pradesh. Kanpur (Leather) , Aligarh (Lock Making Units)and Moradabad (Brassware) are the place have industry that will help in the business growth.

Yogi government had urged the Center to expedite the proposal in order to boost the religious business tourism in India.

‘Travel and Tourism’-the new engine for India growth. Cruise tourism is one segment of the tourism industry and is famous all over the globe. It is one of the expensive, luxury tourism witnessed a steady growth over time. India also has a large number of travelers who choose to spend time at sea and explore popular destinations at the same time.

Maharashtra's Minister of Tourism Jayakumar Rawal said cruise tourism will “create more jobs while making a value addition of Rs 32,500 crore to the national economy.”

An increase in the cruise tourism will increase the economic growth of the country as the purchasing power for India’s middle class has fuelled a rising demand for luxury travel. 

Mumbai developing the city as a homeport, Jayakumar Rawal along with the chairman of the Mumbai Port Trust Sanjay Bhatia working to boosting tourism in Mumbai the port has huge capacity to explore. 

Tourism Minister Jayakumar Rawal said that the “shipping ministry plans to convert all six ports into cruise ports”. He also lauded the Immigration Department for introducing e-visas at ports like Mumbai, Goa, Kochi and Chennai.

He also announced Mumbai Mela, a shopping festival on the lines of the annual shopping event in Dubai to attract more people to the city.

The European Union’s Mobility and Transport Commissioner Ms Bulc has invited India to explore a longer engagement in the civil aviation industry.
Ms. Bulc talked focused on the importance of global agreement on railways and safety, security and improvements in airports.

Which result is the growth in the aviation sector in India. This will explore new career opportunities in the aviation industry in all possible concrete areas.
In an interview, Violeta Bulc said that she met Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Tuesday and had suggested holding an annual aviation summit in India to explore ways to improve safety, security, and the size of airports.

Ms. Bulc said - 

“We shared connectivity issues during our meeting,”  “That's why I invited the minister to consider the next step in our bilateral agreement, which would be a comprehensive aviation agreement. That will, of course, have a direct positive impact on tourism as well.”

She also met Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, where she discussed the issues related to railways and road safety.

She said - “Road safety is at the top of our agenda,”
“It has become a very important global issue. It has been elevated at the UN level as well. The Minister [Mr. Gadkari] expressed an interest in how we approached the systemic issues to decrease road safety, especially fatalities. So, I shared with him our policy attention, and also our Vision Zero, which I invited India to join.”

“One thing that was very effective in the EU was that we started to collect statistics on road safety and compare member states and wherever we saw that there was not such a good performance, we would then engage with the member state and help them make the next step,”

“In engineering, many new features will be introduced in cars, we are working with industry.”

While talking to Mr. Goyal Ms. Bulc Highlighted on the importance of global standards and had also said that there is emerging a need for an international agreement regarding railways.According to Ms. Bulc

“So, we will initiate a joint global event where we can start discussing standardization and regulator alignment on a global scale. We hope that this will emerge next year. There could be potential for a new UN chapter like we have for aviation,”

Source:thehindu

Alphons says the tourism ministry has recognized medical and wellness promotion tourism by organizing campaign shows

The government said that the value of medical tourism in India is likely to touch USD 9 billion by 2020 forecast as compared to the USD 3 billion in 2015.

Tourism Minister KJ ALphons today informed the Lok Sabha that India has developed as a major medical tourism destination over the years.

According to a Ministry of Commerce report 2016- India is ranked among the top six medical value travel destinations of the world including - Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Mexico.

"It is further informed that as per the report, through adequate focus and effective execution, Indian medical value travel, pegged at 3 billion USD in 2015, can be 9 billion USD opportunity by 2020", the minister said.

Kerala, is now an all weather tourist hotspot. The state Tourism Department is all set to promote Global Awareness campaign to promote MICE tourism ( meeting, incentives, conference, exhibitions) promoting withdrawal of liquor ban as it widely liquor ban decreased the popularity of the state as MICE.
The meating is all about how how tourism industry generally felt that tourism policies should hold good for least 5 years."Targets should be set, and the implementation of various aspects of the policy should also be subjected to regular monitoring and supervision," Mr Iyer said.

The tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran mentioned many points as-

"MICE tourism has opened up infinite possibilities for tourism in the state but the policies of the former government had played spoilsport," tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran said.
"MICE tourism will go a long way in tackling the crisis in the tourism sector," the minister said. 

"Water sports, golf and casinos that were in the wish list of foreign travellers should be set up at any cost," Mr Iyer said. The minister, however, was sceptical about giving in to the wishes of foreigners.

"We need to create a unique Kerala experience," he said. Mr Iyer also raised the militancy of trade unions in the state.
"Such issues have dampened the state's MICE tourism potential. Demonetisation and the liquor ban imposed by the former UDF government had also affected MICE tourism in the state," he added.

It is decided a digital platform should be created in order to promote MICE tourism   "A blog should also be created for the internet promotion of MICE tourism in the state," said Anish Kumar, the president of ATTOA. 

The city of ports got new wings, Visakhapatnam airport (Vizag Airport) is now the entry gate for foreign tourist. The center has finally given approval for the introduction of e-Tourist visa on arrival (e- TVOA) launched by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday.

State Tourism Secretary Mukesh Kumar Meena informed visa stamping on arrival-

"Tourists and businessmen coming to Visakhapatnam so far had to get their e-Visas either in Hyderabad, Bengaluru or Chennai. The e-Visa facility will now make it easier for them to land in Visakhapatnam directly. Already visa-on-arrival facility is available for visitors from certain countries," Meena said.

In Andhra Pradesh Vizag airport is the first to facilitate e- tourist visa, the visitor could stay here for two months and can utilize the medical tourism facilities provided by the state.

There are 16 airports in India that give e- Tourist visa on arrival and now Visakhapatnam joined the list.

The facility of e-visa is extended to facilitate foreign tourist to fly into Andhra Pradesh. Tourist from Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Singapore, Cambodia, Japan, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos, Indonesia and Myanmar do not need e-Visa or Visa in advance and they can take the Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVOA) at eight airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
source:TheHindu



 

The city of ports got new wings, Visakhapatnam airport (Vizag Airport) is now the entry gate for foreign tourist. The center has finally given approval for the introduction of e-Tourist visa on arrival (e- TVOA) launched by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday.

State Tourism Secretary Mukesh Kumar Meena informed visa stamping on arrival-

"Tourists and businessmen coming to Visakhapatnam so far had to get their e-Visas either in Hyderabad, Bengaluru or Chennai. The e-Visa facility will now make it easier for them to land in Visakhapatnam directly. Already visa-on-arrival facility is available for visitors from certain countries," Meena said.

In Andhra Pradesh Vizag airport is the first to facilitate e- tourist visa, the visitor could stay here for two months and can utilize the medical tourism facilities provided by the state.

There are 16 airports in India that give e- Tourist visa on arrival and now Visakhapatnam joined the list.

The facility of e-visa is extended to facilitate foreign tourist to fly into Andhra Pradesh. Tourist from Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Singapore, Cambodia, Japan, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos, Indonesia and Myanmar do not need e-Visa or Visa in advance and they can take the Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVOA) at eight airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
source:TheHindu



 

“Mysuru is the transit route to Madikeri. Once the airport becomes operational, Kodagu may become the new transit zone to Mysuru if tourists prefer flying to Kannur instead of Bengaluru when they plan their vacation to the ‘Land of coffee’. Tourism is booming in Kodagu with scores of home stays and popular hill resorts to unwind,”

According to tour and travel tourist who wishes to visit Mysuru and Madikeri may opt travel to Kannur instead to Bangalore airport. The MTA invited to the stakeholders and authorities for a tour of the greenfield airport to check and start the operation.
Source :TheHindu

More than 10 lakh foreign tourists visited India in November 2017, The Tourism Ministry of India has registered a rise of 14.4%over the same period last year

The ministry reported, the number of constantly increased of tourist arrivals( FTAs) in India inThe number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India from November 2017 was 10.05, while it was reported 8.78 lakh in November 2016 and 8.16 lakh in November 2015, according.Hence, looking at the number of the visitor we can accept a huge growth tourism industry in coming years.

The Indian tourism ministry monthly estimates of FTAs, including those with e-tourist visas, on the basis of their nationality and port. The estimates are based on data received from the Bureau of Immigration (BOI). and further shared the percentage share of the top 15 countries applying for their e-Tourist visa facilities for the coming years

“These countries include UK (17.1%), USA (11.6%), Russian Federation (6.6%), France (5.7%), Germany (4.8%), China (4.8%), Australia (4.5%), Canada (4.3%), Korea (Rep. of) (2.6%), Thailand (2.4%), Italy (2.4%), Singapore (2.1%), Oman (1.8%),Spain (1.8%) and Netherlands (1.5%).”

source: zeebiz

More than 10 lakh foreign tourists visited India in November 2017, The Tourism Ministry of India has registered a rise of 14.4%over the same period last year

The ministry reported, the number of constantly increased of tourist arrivals( FTAs) in India inThe number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India from November 2017 was 10.05, while it was reported 8.78 lakh in November 2016 and 8.16 lakh in November 2015, according.Hence, looking at the number of the visitor we can accept a huge growth tourism industry in coming years.

The Indian tourism ministry monthly estimates of FTAs, including those with e-tourist visas, on the basis of their nationality and port. The estimates are based on data received from the Bureau of Immigration (BOI). and further shared the percentage share of the top 15 countries applying for their e-Tourist visa facilities for the coming years

“These countries include UK (17.1%), USA (11.6%), Russian Federation (6.6%), France (5.7%), Germany (4.8%), China (4.8%), Australia (4.5%), Canada (4.3%), Korea (Rep. of) (2.6%), Thailand (2.4%), Italy (2.4%), Singapore (2.1%), Oman (1.8%),Spain (1.8%) and Netherlands (1.5%).”

source: zeebiz

Road transport and highway minister on Monday came with a big plan to promote Indian tourism industry by exploring the possibility of connecting India with Asean Countries through cruise tourism.

He said that he already had talked about this with the companies about the cruise connectivity from Singapore exploring the various option.

Gadkari said:

He also pointed to the connectivity projects such as India -Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway project and also discussed about the establishment of marine transport working group with Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

source: financialexpress

After a gap of three years, Darjeeling a small popular hill station is all set to host 5 days tourism festival “Teesta Rangit Tourism Festival 2017’ from December 27 till New Year’s Eve.

Earlier in 2011 to 2013 the festival was stopped by Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA)due to lack of fund. But this year the festival will be celebrated significant, both politically as well as economically, Said by GJM leader Binay Tamang told to The Sunday Express he said,

“The aim of the business meeting is to see how Darjeeling can be developed economically and which industries can be brought here for investments. The principal secretary of the GTA is coordinating with the West Bengal government in this regard and a meeting was held at Nabanna (state secretariat) on December 4 to figure out the logistics. We don’t know which industrialists will be coming but the West Bengal government is likely to inform us by next week the names of the industrialists,” .

"We are planning to invite foreign consulates and embassies to visit and participate in the festival in order to send out the message to the world that the situation in Darjeeling is normal again, and visitors can enjoy the peace and serenity of the hills,"Tourism Minister Gautam Deb said.

"Local arts, dresses and cuisines will be showcased at the festival to cater to different interests of tourists. Adventure sports like rafting, paragliding, hiking and leisurely pastimes like bird watching will also find a mention in the promotional activities,"    

Source: The Hindu

The government to invest Rs 57 crore, implement new tourism development projects in Kozhikode.Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran has said.

Observing the good tourism prospect in north Malabar the Kerala State Institute of Hospitality Management here on Thursday decided to open the works for boys’ hostel.

The government would implement new projects that are beneficial for local communities, promoting the eco-tourism and cultural-tourism. All the projects would be scrutinized to ensure about the quality.Mr, Surendran the tourism minister said “ the government will work on girls hostel would start from next year” he participated in the cake mixing ceremony and distributed sweets in orphanages.

Cultural zone
After the cake mixing ceremony, the minister introduced about the cultural zone at the Kozhikode beach. The tourism department plans how to go head with the cultural tourism to set up two more stages to utilize them as permanent venue rich heritage for more tourism for the Kerala Literature festival.

Observing the tremendous tourism potential in Northeast the Union Ministry of tourism decided to promote Northeast as a single tourism destination targeting to double the tourist inflow within next three year.

"From 2013 to 2016, the tourism sector in North East grew by 5.2% During this period, 77 lakh domestic and 1.6 lakh foreign tourists visited the region. This growth is encouraging, but it is just the tip of the iceberg," According to Ms Verma, "If we do an aggressive marketing campaign and awareness it is not difficult to double the foreign and domestic tourist arrival in next few years."

Reportedly the ministry has selected to promote eight north-eastern states (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura) as the region has a huge potential of cultural heritage, eco-tourism and adventurous tourism under the current slogan- Paradise Unexplored.

The tourism ministry informed that they are also working with border countries like Nepal so that tourist coming to Nepal can also come to India they said

"We are working out packages with BIMSTEC and ASEAN countries. Very soon we will have a tourism roadshow in Thailand. With this efforts, we expect the growth of tourism in Northeast India will commensurate with the growth of tourism in the country”

Thus, it's good news for the tourism industry, We can expect that this will create a lot of jobs and opportunities for locals as well as travel agencies.

Taj Mahal, among the seven wonders of the world, with over 8 million visitors per year, the monument of love, crafted in the ivory -white marble. Ranked second best UNESCO world heritage site around the world built by Shah Jahan(Mughal emperor ) in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal located in UP (Between 1631-1648). 

According to new survey, conducted by leading international travel website, TripAdvisor, listed TAJ as second best UNESCO heritage by travellers around the globe after Cambodia’s Angkor Wat followed by great wall of China built by Xu Da in 1368 AD, Machu Pichu in Peru in South America backed the fourth position 

President of Agra Tourism Development Foundation Sandeep Arora said,

TripAdvisor said:-

“You can find hundreds of tours and experiences to visit this mesmerizing site, from a private tour with guide and visit at sunset or sunrise, to a visit including a home cooked meal at a local home in Agra,”
“The best views are at dawn or dusk when the crowds have gone and the lighting reveals its true majesty,”

Iguazu Falls (Argentina and Brazil), the Sassi of Matera sites in Italy, Auschwitz in Poland, the Old City of Jerusalem, areas in Istanbul, Turkey, and the Old City of Krakow in Poland also made a place in the list.

Taj Mahal, among the seven wonders of the world, with over 8 million visitors per year, the monument of love, crafted in the ivory -white marble. Ranked second best UNESCO world heritage site around the world built by Shah Jahan(Mughal emperor ) in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal located in UP (Between 1631-1648). 

According to new survey, conducted by leading international travel website, TripAdvisor, listed TAJ as second best UNESCO heritage by travellers around the globe after Cambodia’s Angkor Wat followed by great wall of China built by Xu Da in 1368 AD, Machu Pichu in Peru in South America backed the fourth position 

President of Agra Tourism Development Foundation Sandeep Arora said,

TripAdvisor said:-

“You can find hundreds of tours and experiences to visit this mesmerizing site, from a private tour with guide and visit at sunset or sunrise, to a visit including a home cooked meal at a local home in Agra,”
“The best views are at dawn or dusk when the crowds have gone and the lighting reveals its true majesty,”

Iguazu Falls (Argentina and Brazil), the Sassi of Matera sites in Italy, Auschwitz in Poland, the Old City of Jerusalem, areas in Istanbul, Turkey, and the Old City of Krakow in Poland also made a place in the list.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has recommended new security plan 2017 implemented by states of the first Global Aviation Security Plan (GASeP) and was established this week by ICAO (Indian Civil Aviation Organization)

GASeP created a framework to define the responsibilities in Annex 17 in their national civil aviation security programmes that focus on four major areas -

1) Risk awareness and response
2) Security culture
3)Technology enhancement and innovation.
4)Security oversight and co-operation among states and with local organisations.

In a statement as per,  IATA director general and CEO  Alexandre de Juniac said  “flying is secure, but it is also clear that aviation faces security challenges"

“ Governments have the primary responsibility for the security of their citizens – including when they are flying. But differences in the capacity of governments to do this are clear,”

“The implementation of Annex 17 standards and recommended practices are far from universal. Focused efforts will be needed to foster co-operation and capacity-building to enable states to meet their obligations.”

“We have great expectations for GASeP. But states are sovereign and there is no global security regulator”“So governments must fully feel the weight of their responsibility to protect the security of four billion travellers each year."

“To stay a step ahead of the threats, governments must incorporate GASeP into their national plans and co-operate through ICAO to make sure that the global system works.”

Israel, for the second consecutive year, has broken its tourism record. Its natural beauty and historical legacy attracting tourist worldwide - the healing water, centuries and the valleys has attracted 49000 Indians by October 2017 marking the growth of 34% from January to October rising the highest number so far...

Director of Israel Ministry of Tourism India addresses India as an important contributor, promoting Israel as a dynamic holiday destination for Indians.He Said “Tourism is an important contributor to the Israeli economy and since the beginning of the year, tourism has brought in $4.1 billion into the economy. In 2016, 45,000 Indians visited Israel and we have surpassed that number by October itself this year. We hope to have 60,000 Indian arrivals to Israel by end of 2017.”

Israel, for the second consecutive year, has broken its tourism record. Its natural beauty and historical legacy attracting tourist worldwide - the healing water, centuries and the valleys has attracted 49000 Indians by October 2017 marking the growth of 34% from January to October rising the highest number so far...

Director of Israel Ministry of Tourism India addresses India as an important contributor, promoting Israel as a dynamic holiday destination for Indians.He Said “Tourism is an important contributor to the Israeli economy and since the beginning of the year, tourism has brought in $4.1 billion into the economy. In 2016, 45,000 Indians visited Israel and we have surpassed that number by October itself this year. We hope to have 60,000 Indian arrivals to Israel by end of 2017.”

Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called for aviation security to be additionally supported by tending to four key territories; 

(4) the proficient execution of new and existing technology expertise.

AirAsia has announced the launch of a travel fair in Hyderabad organized along with Tourism Malaysia. This fair is aimed at promoting tourism between India and Malaysia and so it could help to contribute to the socio-economic development of both the countries. Various offers and deals have been announced at this fair, one of it is up to 20 percent off flight ticket. The offer is valid on bookings made between November 3 and November 5 for travel between November 6, 2017 and April 30, 2018. This discount is applicable on flights from following cities to Kuala Lumpur.

1. Bhubaneshwar
2. Bangalore
3. Kolkata
4. Cochin
5. Hyderabad
6. Chennai
7. Trichy
8. Vishakhapatnam