Dewan: Tap Germany & China markets

Talking about the Government’s initiatives, Parvez Dewan, Secretary, MOT, said all efforts should be made to tap China and Germany markets for inbound arrivals.

No visa for Maldivians on medical tourism

Maldives has been given a major visa liberalisation measure. Maldivians can come to India for 90 days for medical tourism without a visa. It is important to note that this is a facility that India has given only to Nepal or Bhutan so far. This is a major initiative by the Minister for Tourism,

K Chiranjeevi. This move will help South India, as the hospitals of Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai will benefit the most from this, and so will the Ayurveda facility at Thiruvananthapuram.

Focus on Germany and China

While we are delighted about our relationships with USA and Britain, there are two markets that we have not paid attention to. Germany has been the No 1 market for the world, but for us, it is No. 4. We should be making efforts to get more German tourists to our country. The other market is China. We are training Chinese guides at the rate of 200 a year. I encourage everyone here to get your employees trained for the Chinese market, he said. The other market that should go up is the Australian market. Thanks to Air India’s efforts, we now have direct connectivity.

Aviation sector flying high

The number of international airports has also gone up. Three domestic airports have now been made into international airports, including Imphal which is a long-standing demand of the industry. Soon we will be getting a new low-cost carrier, Dewan said.

MOT state initiatives

A festival of South India is coming up in partnership with private sector. The Ministry of Tourism ( MOT) has committed to five south Indian states, including Puducherry, that we will support the Festival of South India, he said. However, we are concerned about the offseason i. e. mid May- mid September. The first of this initiative is 777 Days of The Indian Himalayas. Also, the tourism minister has announced 50 per cent subsidy on the climbing fee and it became a reality in January 2014. Another initiative is planning a Buddhist circuit campaign for the off season as we are sitting on a major tourist destination – Bodhgaya - the mecca of the Buddhist world.

We also have a Northeast initiative in which we are promoting the 7 northeastern states and Sikkim and Darjeeling as the off-season destinations, he concluded.

The secretary was addressing the audience at SATTE 2014.

I feel that 2013 has been the year of decisions, 2014 the year of hard implementations and 2015 will be the year we will be benefitting from this

Parvez Dewan

Secretary Ministry of Tourism