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Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat: The Domestic Tourism Road Show by MoT has started

The Ministry of Tourism GOI had organised ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat -- Domestic Tourism Road Show’ in Raipur, Chhattisgarh on Dec 18. The road show organised by India Tourism Mumbai Regional Office received active participation from members of Chhattisgarh Tourism Board and Gujarat Tourism Board. Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel was the chief guest at the roadshow, which was attended by Tamradhwaj Sahu, Tourism Minister of Chhattisgarh, and other senior officials of the state tourism boards of both the states. This event was the first B2B event organised by the MoT since the start of the pandemic. Held at the Mayfair Lake Resort, Raipur, 15 tour operators, members of the ADTOI, IATO and TAAI from Gujarat, travelled to Chhattisgarh for the event. Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme aims to enhance interaction and promote mutual understanding between people of different states through the concept of state-pairing. The second in the series of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Domestic Tourism Road show will be held today in Goa. Tour operators and travel agents from Mumbai will travel to Goa today to interact with travel and tourism stakeholders.

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Tourism sector will thrive again in post-vaccine era: IHCL CEO

Though the travel and tourism sector is most impacted by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will thrive again in the post-vaccine era, Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) MD and CEO Puneet Chhatwal said on Thursday. The travel and tourism sector is the worst-hit sector globally and is even in India expected to lose around $66 billion, he said while speaking at the CII Partnership Summit 2020. "Future of travel and tourism is definitely bright. It is an industry which is going to thrive, the question is how do we build the bridge between now and the next 18 to 24 months, which is the post-vaccine era," Chhatwal said. Speaking about the survival and revival of the sector, he said reopening of the services sector in general and tourism in particular requires the industry to be safe, attractive and economically viable for all stakeholders. "Crisis is also an opportunity to change and we can come up with innovation on new products, services, business models so that revival is faster," Chhatwal said. Technology can help, we have to accelerate digital skills training for the youth, that will help us revive the business, though a full recovery may take 2 to 3 years, he added.

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Goa revives ropeway project across Mandovi river to promote tourism

The Goa Tourism Development Corporation has revived a ropeway project over the Mandovi river, stretching from the banks of the state capital Panaji to the picturesque village of Reis Magos across the river. Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the state government's Investment Promotion Board, chairman of the government-run corporation Dayanand Sopte also said that the chairman of the Board, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had said that all formalities to set up the project are expected to be completed by January 31. "The passenger ropeway will ferry persons from Panaji across the Mandovi river to Reis Magos village," Sopte said. The ropeway is expected to be constructed 35 meters above the water level. The ropeway has been on the Goa Tourism Ministry's agenda as part of a conscious plan to widen the bouquet of experiences for tourists visiting Goa. It was mooted in 2017 as part of a Rs. 157 crore project which also included a zip line, sky diving services, a 4D aquarium, revolving restaurant, artificial skiing, artificial surfing facilities, etc. The project was to be completed on a DBFOT (Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer) basis. Sopte also said that a sea plane service was also being envisaged further inland in the same river along the UNESCO-endorsed 17th century church complex near Old Goa, located a short distance from Panaji. Goa is one of the leading beach tourism destinations in the country and attracted nearly eight million tourists last year.

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Gulmarg hotels booked to brim as tourists return to Kashmir

New Delhi, Dec 18 : Kashmirs famous tourist resorts and hill stations, particularly Gulmarg and Pahalgam, are receiving a huge rush of visitors this winter as almost all the huts and hotels have been booked for the next several weeks. Like scores of huts and hotels, the high-end Khyber Resort and Spa at Gulmarg is fully sold out till the middle of January 2021. “I have been shuttling between my office and Khyber in search of a room for our tourism advisor who is scheduled to attend an important event here on 31 December. I have completely failed as they don’t have a single room unsold”, Dr Javed-ur-Rehman, Assistant Director Tourism said. He said 700 to 800 tourists come into Gulmarg every day. They include 200-300 visitors from all over India while around 500 local visitors also enjoy a trip every day. The recent snowfall has triggered a remarkable influx of visitors as hundreds are keen to fulfil their passion for skiing or a joyride on the famous ropeway called ‘Gulmarg Gondola’. The Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation is currently operating only the first phase of the ropeway as the skiing activity for now is limited to the lower end. A large number of common and amateur skiers have converged on Gulmarg. “The high-altitude phase of Gondola, between Kongdori and Afarwat, over the alpine slopes will operate around the next snowfall as we require a minimum of 2 metre thick snow for the professional skiers there”, Nisar Ahmad Wani, Director of Tourism, said. According to him, it was mainly due to Christmas and the New Year celebrations that all the huts and hotels had been booked in advance. “We are going to have a huge snow carnival here. Like March 2020, Khelo India national games of 2021 are also being held at Gulmarg. These will be scheduled for January 2021. We will be starting the professional skiing events from 1 January 2021 as our snow safety officer will be arriving from the US on 28 December. It will be a three-month-long event which is expected to be attended by hundreds of celebrated skiers from all over the country and abroad”, Wani said. “Fortunately the fear of Covid-19 is receding and the air traffic from New Delhi and other cities to Srinagar is increasing sharply.”

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India-Bangladesh reopen Haldibari-Chilahati railway link

The Haldibari-Chilahati railway link was inaugurated yesterday, 55 years after it was last operated in 1965. The railway line connecting Haldibari in India with Bangladesh’s Chilahati is a major transit link connecting Assam and West Bengal with Bangladesh. This railway link will also enhance rail network accessibility to the main ports, dry ports, and land borders to support growth in regional trade and to encourage economic and social development of the region. After a joint inauguration of the railway link by Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, a goods train was flagged off by the Railway Minister of Bangladesh, Md. Nurul Islam Sujan, from Chilahati station which entered India passing through the international border thus heralding a new era for the people living in both the countries. Once passenger trains are planned in this route, tourists from Bangladesh will also gain easy access to popular destinations like Darjeeling, Sikkim, Dooars, apart from countries like Nepal, Bhutan. Economic activities of these South Asian countries will also be benefitted from this new rail link. The Haldibari-Chilahati line is the fifth rail link between India and Bangladesh, the others being Petrapole- Benapole, Gede-Darshana, Singhabad-Rohanpur and the Radhikapur-Birol railway link. Operational till 1965, the Haldibari-Chilahati rail link was part of the broad-gauge main route from Kolkata to Siliguri during partition. Trains travelling to Assam and North Bengal continued to travel through the then East Pakistan territory even after partition. However, the war of 1965 effectively cut off all the railway links between India and the then East Pakistan. In pursuance of the joint declaration in the Inter-Governmental Railway Meeting (IGRM) held in Delhi in May, 2015, the Railway Board sanctioned for construction of a new BG line from Haldibari station to Bangladesh Border for connection with Chilahati (Bangladesh) in 2016-17 in order to reopen this erstwhile rail link.

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First Direct Flight Service to Shillong from December 21

The hill state of Meghalaya will finally be carving a place for itself on the air map on 21st December, with the maiden Shillong-New Delhi flight. In a first, the 72-seater Bombardier Q400 aircraft will take off from the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi at 10 am and land at Umroi Airport at 1:10 pm, the same will return back to Delhi at 1:50 pm and land at 4 pm. The Meghalaya Government has signed a contract with private players to operate flights between New Delhi and Shillong, and the inaugural date for air services have been timed with the reopening of the state for tourists after a prolonged lockdown due to the pandemic. “At the same time when we start tourism, I am happy to inform that the first flight from Delhi to Shillong will also start on December 21,” said chief minister Conrad Sangma to the media. “We will ensure that the flight from Delhi to Shillong is operational at least twice a week. But the first flight will take off on the 21st (December),” he added. Earlier, discussing the possibility of direct flights between Meghalaya and Delhi, Minister of Development of North Eastern Region, Jitendra Singh said, "A direct flight to Shillong from Delhi will not only bring ease of travel but also promote tourism in the state.” He mentioned that special impetus was given to improve connectivity and transport through new airports, flights in different sectors, double-gauge rail tracks, network of roads and new inland waterways across the northeastern region.

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