Travel News and Updates: indian tourism

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 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

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 

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

‘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.

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



 

“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

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

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.