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According to a PIB release, Ministry of Tourism (MoT) recently held a road show for domestic tourism in Bengaluru, which was inaugurated by Sultan Ahmed, Union Tourism Minister of State. The focus of the road show was to highlight tourism attractions of Southern Indian states including Union Territories. After inaugurating the road show, Ahmed mentioned that that while the Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) are subject to various external factors, the domestic travellers continue to be the mainstay of national tourism industry.  

The Minister informed that ‘Visit India Year 2009’ which was launched in January 2009 in collaboration with all stakeholders including state governments, airlines, hotels, and tour operators has now been extended till March 2010. He requested the travel trade to make use of this extension and support by adding new programmes to attract more visitors. 

During the road show the state tourism departments made presentations to the travel trade from other regions of the country to promote domestic tours, so that they can familiarise them with the Southern Tourism products, as well as new initiatives taken by the state governments. There was also an interaction as Buyer – Seller Meet where the tour operators of other regions interacted with the package providers of southern region as well individuals, hotels, transporters etc.

Ahmed said that domestic tourism is an important engine for promoting national integration and taking this cue, MoT has been attaching importance to the development of domestic tourism in the country. He added that domestic tourism also continues to show encouraging trends, with the availability of disposable income and affordable holiday packages, tourism in India is increasing steadily. Wide publicity and tremendous awareness about the diverse products have inspired people to travel to different regions. He urged upon the states to capitalise on the trend to maximise arrivals to their destinations. The Minister said, this segment can certainly counter the negative impact of the global meltdown and give the required fillip to the economy. 

Referring to the different initiatives taken by MoT, he said, Market Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme has been extended to provide financial incentive to approved domestic tour operators who participate in such events. MDA scheme has also been extended to Medical Tourism service providers, as well as Wellness Tourism service providers for participation in overseas events.  Considering the importance of the wellness segment, MoT has instituted a new category of award for Wellness Centres in the National Tourism awards Namely ‘Best Wellness Centre’. 

Ahmed opined that Adventure Tourism has immense potential for growth. For experiencing the different types of Adventure Tourism- rock climbing, river rafting, para gliding, mountaineering and under water diving, MoT has sanctioned several projects to different states during last four years. He urged upon the industry in Southern India to promote Adventure Tourism in their region and constantly strive to diversify the tourism products. 

The Minister added that in a major move to encourage more and more travel industry service providers to seek recognition from MoT, the guidelines for approval of Inbound Tour Operators has been relaxed in terms of space requirement and also manpower employed. He expressed the hope that the tour operators will make use of this relaxation. 

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