Budget 2019 is in making and the travel and tourism industry has its demands. Relaxation in the taxes will allow improvements in the area. The native and global tourist crowd will experience immense growth and double the income in the sector. Enhancement in the infrastructure and connectivity is expected from the Budget 2019. Hastening the tourism projects in the destinations will attract travelers from across the world. "Last mile connectivity from major metros to tourism destinations will act as a catalyst to double our tourism numbers and contribute to overall development," stated Peter Kerkar, CEO of Travel company Cox & Kings Group. In order to bring in more tourists from abroad, the air seat capacity needs to be increased. This is one of the significant challenges faced by the tourism sector while attracting foreign tourists, he mentioned. Extending the UDAN Scheme to more airports and helping the private tourism sector in making it feasible, he said.

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

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

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

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