Tag Archives: tourist

UP set for promoting lesser-known tourist destinations; to appoint District Tourism Officers

Post-Covid, Uttar Pradesh (UP) Tourism is pacing up its promotional strategy by showcasing unique themes from each district, as well as unveiling new products to attract domestic and international tourists.

The state has been churning out new tourism products such as, Eco-Tourism, Water Sports activities at Ramgarh Tal, Gorakhpur, Buddhist Circuit, Bundelkhand Circuit, Braj Circuit, Awadh Circuit, Vindhya-Varanasi Circuit, Wildlife Ecotourism Circuit, Ramayana Circuit to be relevant in the highly competitive tourism market. UP Tourism plans to promote its lesser-known destinations through unique themes of food, religion, monument, art, and culture.

In a recent conversation at the Travel Tourism Fair 2022 Hyderabad, Ashwani K. Yadav, Tourism Information Officer, UP Tourism and Manish Srivastava, Tourism Information Officer, UP Tourism informed that the tourism department is focusing on the growth of district tourism by introducing a scheme where every district of UP will have a District Tourism Information Officer/ District Tourism Officer. “We are already in the process of recruiting people in line with the thoughts of our CM. The first project will consist of many phases, and now we are working on the first phase where a total of 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh will have 75 Tourism Information Officers,” Yadav said.

Elaborating further, Srivastava said, “There will be a team of 23 officers, where the President would be the DM, Vice President would be CDO and the Joint Secretary of the team would be District Information Officer and Cultural Department Officer. The team will also consist of Treasury Officers. The idea behind this team is to streamline the process of promotional plans.”

Srivastava informed that the aim of the Tourist Information Officers would be to identify a unique theme from their designated district and create a promotional strategy around it, so that domestic and international inflow of tourists increases, attracted by the experience of those unique themes. The idea behind this project is to promote lesser-known destinations to the world through their specialties, such as the famous black pottery from Azamgarh, Terracotta from Aurangabad, Banarasi Saree from Varanasi, Attar from Kannauj, and brass cravings from Moradabad, etc.

Andaman and Nicobar admn announces curbs for tourists amid Covid-19 scare

The Andaman and Nicobar administration announced a set of curbs for tourists amid the rise in Covid-19 cases. Now on, 500 visitors will be allowed during in the first half – 9 am to 12.30 pm — at the museums of the Cellular Jail, which is a top draw among tourists.

A similar number of visitors will be allowed in the second half — 1 pm to 4 pm, as per an order issued by the Directorate of Tourism.

At the light and sound shows in Cellular Jail and Netaji Subhash Bose Island, only 50 per cent of the capacity will be allowed, the order said.

The visitors will have to follow all COVID guidelines, it added.

Besides, all the tourist boats will have to operate with 70 per cent capacity, the Directorate of Tourism said.

The curbs were put in place in view of the increase in coronavirus infections and detection of omicron cases in the islands, it added. (Source HT)

Kashmir records highest-ever tourist footfall in 7 years

A total of 1,27,605 tourists visited Kashmir in November this year which is more than all the figures in the month in the past seven years, according to the Jammu and Kashmir government officials. The officials are planning to organise various festivals for the Winter season in the mountain Union Territory.

According to the official, 6,327 tourists had visited Kashmir in November 2020 which is way lesser than the current figure of nearly 1,27,000.

Dr GN Itoo, Director, Tourism Kashmir, said, “On the direction of the LG, we conducted some of the iconic festivals like houseboat festival, the Sufi festival in which the national level celebrities had participated and also literary festival because of which a buzz was created at the national as well as the international level. So the tourists from all over the world preferred visiting Kashmir. Almost 1,27,000 tourists have visited in November and almost 93,000 tourists have visited in October. It is the first time in the past 7 years, that tourists in such large number have turned up in October and November.”

Itoo further said that this is the result of a vigorous campaign including the roadshows in the country to promote tourism in Kashmir along with other measures to attract the tourists after the second wave of COVID-19.

“The department has started a vigorous promotional campaign after the first wave of COVID-19. We have conducted almost 21 roadshows within the country. When the second wave hit the country, we vaccinated all the members of the tour and travel fraternity as a confidence-building measure,” he said.

Talking about the future plans of the government for the Winter season after attracting a record number of tourists in the Autumn season, the Director said that they are planning to celebrate International Mountain Day and Christmas in a big way.

“We have planned some initiatives for the winter season. We have International Mountain Day on December 11. It will be celebrated in a big way because mountain tourism is also a big attraction in Kashmir. We have planned snow carnivals during Christmas and New Year. So we expect that more tourists will visit then,” he said. (Source HT)

Tourist footfall to Bodh Gaya likely to increase soon: Vietnam ambassador

Vietnam’s Ambassador to India, Pham Sanh Chau, has expressed hope that footfall of domestic and international tourists to Bihar’s Bodh Gaya will increase soon. The Mahabodhi Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site, reopened on August 27 after remaining closed since April this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Addressing members of Bodh Gaya Temple Advisory Board (BTAB) , he said, “The Mahabodhi Temple is a matter of pride for the people of Bihar. Bodh Gaya is one of the most important Buddhist pilgrimage centres in the world. We are quite sure that footfall of both domestic and international tourists will soon increase.”

Ambassadors and consulate generals of the embassies of Bhutan, Thailand, South Korea, Myanmar and Sri Lanka also attended the BTAB meeting which was chaired by the Vietnam ambassador. The previous BTAB meeting was held on November 22, 2019.

“Issues such as security and development of Mahabodhi Temple and tourist facilities, promotion of tourism and increase in pilgrim footfall to Bodh Gaya, and air connectivity with Buddhist countries were discussed in the meeting,” a senior official of the Bihar government said. (Source FE)

Sikkim registers record tourist footfall during Durga Puja festival

Sikkim registered a record tourist footfall during the Durga Puja vacation.Over 22,000 domestic tourists and 651 foreign travellers visited the state over the last week, Tourism Department officials said.

An average of 5,000 tourists are entering Sikkim daily at present, they said, adding that it would soon double. The surge was recorded after the state government withdrew all Covid-related restrictions and reopened its borders.

The government took several measures to encourage tourism this festive season to make up for the financial hit it took last year. The two-month lockdown during the peak season last year caused an estimated loss of INR 500-700 crore, officials said.

Nearly a quarter of the state’s population is dependent on tourism, which generates annual revenue of INR 4,000-5,000 crore, they said.

However, as landslides hit the state over the last three days, cutting road connectivity to several places, the chief minister Prem Singh Tamang urged people to avoid travelling.

“In the past couple of days, Sikkim has witnessed incessant rainfall, leading to landslides in several parts of the state, causing roadblocks at multiple spots. I am in constant touch with the line departments and closely monitoring the current situation,” Tamang said.

“In order to avoid any untoward incident, I appeal to all our citizens to refrain from travelling in these circumstances, and pray for their safety,” he added.

Sikkim’s lifeline National Highway 10 is at present blocked with kilometre-long traffic waiting for the road to be cleared, officials said. (Source HT)

Centre gears up to resume issuing tourist visas in a phased manner

In a bid to boost the economy as daily Covid-19 cases in the country have come down, the Central government is considering to resume issuing tourist visas very soon, confirmed a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official on September 15.

A senior MHA official confirmed that things have been formalised and a meeting has been called in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The official said that it will be done in a phased manner and as per the feasibility, it will be open to all. The government is likely to allow only vaccinated people to apply for tourist visas.

Tourist visas are suspended since March 2020, from the day the first lockdown was announced. Later, several categories of visas like business, employment and others were exempted but tourist visas remained suspended.

Many Gulf countries have resumed tourist visas. Before the suspension of tourist visas, around 7-8 lakh tourists used to come to India every month.

Covid-19 has severely affected the tourism industry, resulting in job losses and shutdowns of hotels and restaurants. (Source HT)