Wildlife capital of India

Why Assam Is India's wildlife capital

TNN | Apr 30, 2016, 12.10 PM IST

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Why-Assam-Is-Indias-wildlife-capital/articleshow/52051670.cms

eVisa effect : Jump in foreign tourist arrival in India

1.17L tourists came on e-visa in Feb 2016 - a jump of 369% over same period last year: 

As many as 1.17 lakh people arrived in India on online visa in February as compared to 24,985 during the same month last year, registering a growth of 369.1%. UK continues to occupy the top slot, followed by the US and France among the countries availing e-tourist visa facility, tourism ministry said in a statement on Friday .

With effect from February 26 this year, the e-tourist visa facility was extended for citizens of 37 more nations, taking the total to 150 countries. UK topped the list of countries availing e-tourist visa facilities in February this year with 27.86%, followed by US (13.85%), France (8.08%), Russia (6.21%), Germany (4.92%) and China (4.91%). The share of Canada was 4.21%, while that of Australia was 3.64%, Korea 2.15% and Ukraine 2%, it said.





(Source : TOI)
eVisa effect : Jump in foreign tourist arrival in India

Brahmaputra river cruise

Assam Tourism to introduce economical cruise of Brahmaputra for domestic tourists next year. This is a good intiative. There are few local circuit river cruise available around areas like Guwahati, Kaziranga and Dibru Saikhowa. Tourism in Assam has picked up reasonably well in last few years. People in general no more consider it as a troubled state. Living in Delhi, I had observed that more people had died in road accidents in Delhi in last one year itself then stray incidences of violence in Assam over last ten years. The areas from Guwahati to Kaziranga, Gibbon WLS and Dibru Saikhowa WLS are absolutely trouble free. I am happy to see many photographer friends making these circuits regularly in recent years.  This intiative will promote untapped tourism. 

Read the full article here:

Assam Tourism to introduce economical cruise of Brahmaputra

Spiralling prices of travel in India

Indians are definitely travelling a lot more these days. The unprecedented mad rush  witnessed during last long weekend (15-18 Aug 2014) of people trying to get way from Delhi was a good example. Many had to eventually come back for lack of hotel accommodation.  I had to skip breakfast because all eateries were overcrowded and was unable to cater to the sudden rush. You cannot afford anymore to travel without prior confirmed hotel booking, especially on such long weekends. People are travelling to even remote unheard of destinations. Hoteliers are reaping huge profits of this sudden charge of tourist ready to travel any season. The ever burgeoning travel cost had sent alarm bells ringing.

Source: TOI

First piece of news came in the last week of August, 2014 from none other than the Union Minister for Tourism. PTI reported quoting him that the Union Tourism Ministry has appealed to the Finance Ministry to lower taxation on tourism products and related services, which will result in increasing footfalls in the country. "We have requested the Finance Ministry that the taxation on the tourism products and related services should be lowered so that we can attract more visitors to the country," Union Tourism Minister Shripad Naik told PTI. He said that the services like tourist taxis, hotel tariff should have lower taxes, which will make destinations cheaper compared to international rivals. "The tax rebate can be offered to hotels so that they will have low tariffs. We have also asked the ministry to consider cutting down the visa fees. We have 100 US dollars as Visa fee while Sri Lanka charges only 25 US dollars. We need to bring visa fee at par with other world destinations," Naik said. He said that the Finance Ministry has in-principle agreed to look into the demand and lower the Visa charges. 

Things like lowering Visa charges can directly impact tourism as more tourists will be inclined to come. On my trips to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, I had paid Visa fee of 1250, 850 and 2000 rupees. Thus at $100 or roughly 6100 rupees, India is definitely pricey.  This percolates down to entire tourism industry, specially the hotels. I beg to disagree with the honorable Minister that inflated prices of hotel charges are because of high taxes.  It is because of greed of hotel owners. I had written an article earlier – ‘Is travelling in India cheaper’ where I explained why travelling to Phuket or Langkawi is cheaper than to Andamans. Hotel prices in India are much higher than its competitors Thailand and Malaysia. Even the dirty, filthy hotels in India tend to charge around 1500 these days. If you are looking for decent accommodation, then you need to be ready to shell out 2500-3000 per night. Most of my travel is for wildlife photography. Crores of black money had been invested in building luxury resorts across most wildlife parks in India. The tariffs of some of these resorts during season will make you giddy. The published AP rates for many of these resorts are around 8000-10000 rupees per night for two. Fortunately no frills alternatives are available for people like us. I do not go to wildlife parks for a swimming pool, spa and gym. However, I do go to these places during off-season when parks are closed for monsoon, to enjoy these facilities at half the price.

  

As travelling to Thailand or Malaysia is cheap, many Indians prefer to spend their holidays in those countries. One of my guides in Bangkok politely queried if income of Indians had gone up significantly because she had observed that number of Indian tourists had gone up significantly in recent times.  Disposable income had certainly increased with economic growth, but mindset had also changed. If your holiday budget is 40K per head, then one would prefer to spend it on a foreign trip. Because of relatively lower hotel rates, tourists tend to stay for longer duration awhile travelling abroad. This is probably one of the reasons for Indians figuring among highest spenders on hotel overseas.

These stats should open the eyes of Indian hotel industry. Rather than looking to profiteer and mislead people in the name of high taxes, they should look to improve occupancy by better services. Indians travel all season. So rather than making quick bucks in so called high season, one should look to make entire year a season with improved occupancy.

Govt of India launches Comprehensive Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India

26 August, 2014 : The Union Minister for Tourism Shri Shripad Naik here today launched the Comprehensive Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India (STCI) for Accommodation, Tour Operators and Beaches, Backwaters, Lakes & Rivers Sectors. Speaking on the occasion the Minister said, his Ministry is committed to develop tourism in India based on the principles of sustainability, minimizing the carbon footprints. Government has ensured that strategies for development of tourism are not in conflict with the environment and have minimal negative impact. Shri Naik urged all the stakeholders in the Tourism industry not to over-exploit natural and other resources for short-term gains. 

He said, when we talk about sustainability we should not only talk about conservation of resources but also our culture and heritage. The authors of the STCI have adopted a comprehensive approach. The principles of the Sustainability as has been elaborated earlier include conservation of water, energy, culture, heritage, revival of ancient architecture, involvement of communities, protection of wildlife and non- exploitation of women, children and weaker sections. 

Shri Naik said, the exercise of implementation of Sustainable Tourism Criteria must be all inclusive. The criteria must be implemented for success by all of us together - the hoteliers, the tour operators, the tourists, the opinion makers, the media, the community leaders and members. The Ministry would like sustainability criteria to be implemented on voluntary basis based on the principles of providing incentives. 

Referring to the priority of the Union Government, the Minister said, tourism development is one of the five major priorities of our Government led by Shri Narendra Modi. He said, the Prime Minister sharing his vision had stressed upon the need for development of tourism, neighborhood cleanliness and conservation of resources for the economic development of the nation. The Finance Minister as part of the common vision of our Government in his Budget Speech has made special allocation of Rs. 900 crore for development of five new tourism circuits, development of pilgrimage centers, archeological sites and heritage cities. He said, the issue of sustainability assumes greater significance in context of India as we support one fifth of the population of the world with only 2.3 percent land mass available. 

Shri Naik urged all the stakeholders in the Tourism Industry to be eco-sensitive and adopt the Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India and do business for long-term benefits with the objectives of creating employment, generating national income, preserving our cultural & natural heritage, enhancing the status of women and underprivileged and facilitating growth of a more just and fair social order. 

Later, Shri Naik also inaugurated the Sensitization Workshop for the stakeholders on STCI wherein panel discussions were held. Both the initiatives are part of activities/programmes that have been taken up by the Ministry of Tourism for completion within the 100 days of the incumbent Government. Deputy Director for Sustainable Development of Tourism, UNWTO Ms. Sofia Gutierrez, President of the Development Alternative, Mr. George C. Varughese, leaders of Tourism Industry and experts in the field participated in the two events. 

Ministry of Tourism constituted a Steering Committee with representatives from all the 14 sectors of the tourism and hospitality industry of India to formulate the Sustainable Tourism Criteria. The Committee has since finalized the Comprehensive STCI. These are the guiding principles and minimum requirements that any tourism business for State Governments should aspire to reach in order to protect and sustain India’s natural and cultural resources, while ensuring development of tourism in India are not in conflict with the environment and have minimal negative effect. Sustainability is imperative for all tourism stakeholders and must translate from words to actions. 

(Source : Press Information Bureau, Government of India, Ministry of Tourism )

Flow of Foreign Tourists to North East States on Upward Trend: Tourism Ministry

Good news for tourism industry in North East. The tremndous potential had not been harnessed because of political and social unrests in last decade. The flow of foreign tourists to the northeastern states has been on an upward trend since 2011 and the growth rate in 2013 was more than double compared to 2012, according to Tourism Ministry data.

A jump of 12.5 per cent was registered in foreign tourist visits (FTVs) to the northeast in 2012 as against 2011, which further rose by more than 100 per cent to register a growth of 27.9 per cent during 2013 in comparison to 2012, the data states. There were a total of 58,920 FTVs to the northeastern states in 2011 with the figure going up to 66,302 in 2012. That number further increased to 84,820 in 2013.

In Assam, there were 16,400 FTVs in 2011 and the number rose to 17,543 in 2012. The following year, 2013, saw the figure rise to 17,638. According to the data, Sikkim drew 31,698 FTVs in 2013 as against 26,489 in 2012. There were 23,602 FTVs in Sikkim in 2011.

(Source : PTI)