Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department to organise 8-day Festival at Leh

As part of its efforts to attract tourists, Jammu and Kashmir Tourism department plans to organise an eight-day festival later this month at Leh to showcase the rich heritage of Ladakh region.

"The Ladakh festival will commence on September 20 and conclude on the World Tourism day on September 27," an official spokesman said after a meeting chaired by Secretary (Tourism), Farooq Ahmad Shah in Srinagar.
The spokesman said the meeting was convened to review the arrangements for the festival being organised by the Tourism department.

Apart from showcasing the tourism products of Ladakh region, the festival would also witness handicrafts, Thangka and photo exhibitions, musical concert, Polo matches and ethnic food.

Chief Executive Officer of Leh has been designated as the Nodal Officer for the event, the spokesman added.

Uttar Pradesh explores feasibility of orchard tourism

Uttar Pradesh Tourism department is exploring possibility of introducing orchard tourism in the state, to give visitors a chance to explore country life during the harvest season. Many hill states, besides Gujarat and Maharashtra are already offering such packages.

The government is working on formulating a policy to encourage farmers and land owners to build small hotels in the orchards and green areas where tourists can stay on a bed-and-breakfast deal. The government would provide external amenities like road, power supply and drainage system to aid the facilities.

"If integrated with Lucknow's architectural heritage, cuisine and tradition of dance and music, this package can work very well," said Prateek Hira, an international tour operator in city. He added that mango festivals can blend well with the concept.

UP Tourism director general Amrit Abhijat claimed the department has identified several spots in western districts, Terai region, Bundelkhand and Avadh (Lucknow-Faizabad region) for the purpose. "A feasibility study will begin shortly," he said.

Officials in tourism department said mango orchards in UP attract a lot of people and they can be drawn to the farms once the facilities come up. Notably, UP's mango belt spans over 4 lakh hectare area in north and central UP.

Single-window clearance of tourism investments in Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh will consider all tourism investments in the state as industrial ventures and will offer single-window clearance, informed N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He was speaking at a meeting that he chaired to finalise the state’s tourism policy. Andhra Pradesh will also look at setting up dedicated police stations for tourists, and a round-the-clock call centre for tourists in the state.

The Chief Minister said that tourism projects would be treated as industrial ventures and single-desk clearances would be granted to them within 21 days. The Naidu also assured special tariff for power usage for tourism projects. Suggesting the department to focus on attracting international tourists, Naidu told the officials to get tourist operators on board and work with them.

The state will explore opportunities in water sports, Beach Tourism, Spiritual Tourism, Ecotourism, Caravan Tourism,  and Heli-Tourism. Emphasising on the need to promote Telugu culture, he suggested that Kuchipudi and other local and tribal art forms, and dances be promoted through various carnivals on a large scale.

TSTDC to start boating point at Nagarjunasagar

To tap the tourism potential of Nagarjunasagar, Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation (TSTDC) has decided to operate boats from the left bank side by constructing jettis to station boats and purchasing new boats.

The existing launch station, which was having 5 launches, had gone to Andhra Pradesh during the division of the State. Since major tourist spots like Ethipotala, Anupu, boating point and others are located on the right side of the largest masonry dam, the tourists coming from Hyderabad side are straightaway proceeding towards the right bank while the hotels and other business establishments located on the left bank have been receiving less number of tourists post division.

Since the boating point used to generate about Rs. 2 crore revenue annually, the loss to AP has affected the TSTDC’s revenue in Sagar considerably. Following this, the tourism officials at Nagarjunasagar had sent proposals to the State government requesting it to construct a new boating point to operate boats to Nandikonda.

Subsequently, Executive Chairman of TSTDC, G. Kishan Rao visited Nagarjunasagar a fortnight ago to finalise the project after discussing with irrigation and tourism officials. Tenders for the Rs 1.18 crore project were issued which were bagged by Parvathi Constructions a few days ago. The contractor has to construct three jettis to station the boats. The width of each jetti would be 7 metres and length 20 metres.

Divisional Tourism Officer K. Venkateshwarlu said most probably the jettis will be constructed at the crocodile zone. Since the location falls under Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (NSTR), he said the State government has sent a letter to the concerned officials seeking permission. Earlier officials had operated boats from earth dam on left bank canal, the location also in discussion for construction of jetties. Currently, the AP launch station was having five boats which was bought at Rs. 1 crore each.

Mr. Venakteshwarlu said the Telangana government is preparing to purchase three such boats which were not yet finalised. Since a majority of tourists to Nagarjunasagar were coming from Hyderabad, the tourism officials said that the Telangana side launch station will tap a majority of the revenue.

Government planning to construct jetties at left bank side and purchase three boats

Goan disapora to be roped in to give boost to tourism

Widening the scope for promotion of Goa tourism internationally as a land of contrast and 365-day destination, Goa tourism has decided to involve the Goan diaspora. People of Goan origin settled abroad and well-known in their respective fields, will be appointed as tourism ambassadors.

No names have been finalized so far, but tourism director Ameya Abhyankar has had consultations with some prominent Goans settled abroad. More meetings are scheduled to take place on the sidelines of world travel mart (WTM), London, a three day trade international fare that begins on November 3.

Abhyankar said besides promoting Goa through conventional forums, this is another way of marketing Goa tourism. "We will engage the Goan diaspora. Many of them are well-settled and made a mark for themselves in their adopted country," he said.

"We want to know how best we can engage them in promoting Goa. They care for Goa and want to contribute for their mother land. Only thing is that they have to be provided a platform," he added explaining about the efforts made in promoting Goa internationally.

Odisha govt green lights to sand park on sea beach

In a belated move, the state government has decided to create a sand art park in Puri. Jugal Kishore Mohapatra asked the tourism department to execute the project with technical support from famed sand sculptor Sudaran Pattnaik. "The tourism department would prepare a detailed report on the proposed project, indicating organizational structure, source of finance and timeline for its implementation," an official release said.

The government will provide around three acre free of premium to the tourism department. Jugal suggested department secretary Arvind Padhee to constitute a site selection committee for the project.

"The objectives of the project are attracting tourists to the beach town, educating and training budding talents on sand art and providing amusement to amateur artists. I will soon draw up a design of the proposed park," Pattnaik said.

Going by his plan, the park would house beautiful sand sculptures in the open. Pattnaik would also invite foreign sculptors to create magic on sand. There will be a separate block in the park to showcase photographs of Pattnaik's previous creations.

Tourism Ministry to Set up Multilingual Helpline

India will soon have well-equipped, multilingual telephonic contact centre to provide information services to foreign tourists. The tourism ministry has initiated the action to set up a telephonic contact centre with competent, qualified and experienced partners.

This service will primarily serve those who are calling from abroad and know very little about travel within India. Also those who have reached India but don't understand Indian systems or Indian languages, often not even English, will be helped by the helpline.

The government has identified ten international languages - Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish - for the helpline. The ministry will outsource back offices for guidance services.

This helpline is expected to start by March 31, 2015.