Travel News and Updates: india tourism

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

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.

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.