The
Secretary Union Ministry of Tourism Shri Sujit Banerjee has issued following
statement on the status of Tourism in Jammu & Kashmir here today. The
statement has been issued on the occasion of All India Editors’ Conference on
Social Sector and Infrastructural Issues being held in Srinagar which was
addressed by him.
·
Jammu & Kashmir is one of the most
attractive tourist destinations, both for foreign as well as domestic tourists.
The state includes Jammu, Kashmir valley and Ladakh region. Kashmir valley is perched securely between
bewitching snow-clad peaks, glaciers, interspersed with beautiful lakes and
famous gardens. The emerald blue skies
peeping through the chinks of the clouds, the tall chinar trees swaying to the
rhythm of the gusts of wind make the surrounding breath-taking. It is, therefore, rightly described as the ‘paradise
on the earth’. Existence of important
shrines, oldest monasteries, temples and cave temples in all the three regions
is other attraction for the tourist.
Jammu is considered to be a hub of pilgrim tourism in the State being
abode of Mata Vaishno Devi attracting millions of tourists/pilgrims throughout
the year. The valley has immense
potential for adventure tourism such as mountaineering, trekking, skiing,
rafting, hand-gliding and para sailing besides leisure tourism. The cold arid desert area of Ladakh comprises
two districts namely, Leh and Kargil and its surreal landscape has often been
termed as ‘moonland’. The state has
become an all-the-year round destination.
Tourist Arrivals
·
Tourist Arrivals have increased over
the last few years in the State. During the year 2006, there were 76,46,274
domestic tourist visits which increased to 79,15,271 in the year 2007. In the
year 2008, the number of domestic tourists visiting the state was 76,38,977. As
regards Foreign Tourist Arrivals in the state, in the year 2006, the number of
Tourist Arrivals was 46,087 which increased to 52,754 in the year 2007. During
the year 2008 there were 54,697 Foreign Tourist Arrivals in the state.
Infrastructure
Projects
·
Development and promotion of tourism
is primarily the responsibility of the State Government. The Ministry of
Tourism, Government of India, however also extends the financial assistance to
augment the tourism infrastructure in the state and to provide the required
publicity for promotion of Tourism in the state under various schemes.
·
During the 10th Plan
Period, the Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India sanctioned the Tourism Projects
amounting to Rs.128.23 crore to Jammu & Kashmir. These include
infrastructure development projects as well as the Grants for fairs &
festivals.
·
In the 11th plan,
so far, the Ministry of tourism has sanctioned tourism infrastructure projects
amounting to Rs.130.98 crore. Keeping in view the difficulties faced by the
State Govt. owing to the topography and difficult terrain of the region, the
implementation period of a project for which Central Financial Assistance is
provided by the Ministry of Tourism has been increased to 36 months.
·
The above sanctions also include the
projects approved under the Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Plan providing
financial support for 12 Tourism Development Authorities at Patnitop,
Bhaderwah, Kishtwar, Poonch, Rajouri, Lakhanpur-Sarthal, Pahalgam, Gulmarg,
Kokernag, Sonamarg, Leh and Kargil.
·
The Ministry of Tourism has identified
Spritual Destination of Leh-Ladakh as a Mega Tourist Destination in which
central financial assistance upto Rs.25 crore can be provided.
Rural Tourism
·
As a part of National Tourism Policy
2002 Ministry of Tourism is developing and promoting the Rural Tourism sites
which have core-competency in art, craft, culture/heritage, handloom, etc. The objective is to showcase rural life, art,
culture and heritage at rural locations and in villages and to benefit
the local community economically and socially as well as enable interaction
between tourists and local population for a mutually enriching experience
·
Under the PM’s Reconstruction Plan of
J&K, this Ministry has sanctioned 20 Rural Tourism Projects for Rs.12.93
crores.
Human Resource Development
·
The Ministry has set up an Indian
Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering (IISM) in Gulmarg for promoting skiing,
mountaineering etc. and also provides funds for courses to the Institute. The
Ministry has sanctioned Rs. 829.00 lakh for the building and the institute is
functional. The institute offers training courses in snow skiing, water skiing
and related adventure activities. For
giving a boost to adventure tourism, union budget for 2009-10 has exempted
customs duty on inflatable rafts, snow-skis, sail boards and other water sports
equipments and this will further increase adventure tourism activities in the
state.
·
There is a functional Central
Institute of Hotel Management at Srinagar which is affiliated to the NCHMCT
with annual intake of 120 in degree course (B.Sc. in Hospitality and Hotel
Administration) and 150 in diploma and certificate courses.
·
Ministry of Tourism had sanctioned in
the year 2007-08 a Food Craft Institute at Jammu and another at Leh in the year
2008-09. The Central assistance in each case will be limited to Rs.4.75 crores
of which Rs.2 crores stands released.
On being functional, each of these institutes would conduct diploma and
certificate courses in Food Production, F&B Services, Housekeeping and
Front Office with annual intake capacity of about 200 students per year.
·
The IHM Srinagar is also an
implementing Institute for the MoT’s training Programme for creating employable
skills. The Programme offers two courses: one of 6 weeks duration for imparting
training in food and beverage service; and the other of 8 weeks duration for
training in food production. The Programme is open to young persons in the age
group of 18-25 years, who are atleast 8th class pass. It has also
been decided to include FCI Jammu as an implementing agency for this
Programme. The two institutes together
are expected to train about 350 persons annually.
·
The Ministry of Tourism has also
decided to designate the IHM Srinagar as a Skill Testing and Certifying
Institute. The IHM Srinagar will
conduct, regularly, for interested service providers, orientation courses of 5
days duration each followed by skill testing and eventual certification. This way, the skills of the service providers
would be formally recognized
·
Under the policy of Broadbasing of
hospitality education, existing Institutes (ITIs, Polytechnics, Government
Schools, Colleges, and Universities) can be extended funds for creating
infrastructure necessary for starting hospitality courses. While a school will be eligible for funds to
the extent of Rs. 25 lakhs, the others can take upto Rs. 200 lakhs each. Under this dispensation, the University of
Jammu has been sanctioned Rs. 200 lakhs.
Publicity and Promotion
·
The Ministry is also making efforts to
promote the state for domestic tourism. A Domestic Media Campaign for the
promotion of Jammu &Kashmir Region during the year 2007-08 and early
2008-09 was launched with a gross outlay of Rs.11,79,22,058/-. Advertisement
spots were released in various Hindi, English and Regional language TV channels.
A Print Media Campaign in National and Regional Newspapers for the promotion of
Jammu &Kashmir among the domestic travelers was also launched in 2007-08
and early 2008-09. This campaign was launched for an amount of Rs.
1,64,23,024/- and the advertisements were released in various Hindi, English
and language newspapers. Further the forthcoming issue of the Incredible India
magazine (Oct.-Nov. 2009) covers the Boat Houses of Srinagar as accommodation
option when visiting Srinagar.
Support under
Marketing Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme for overseas promotion.
The Ministry of
Tourism, Govt. of India has relaxed the guidelines of the Marketing Development
Assistance (MDA) Scheme, so as to enable tourism service providers in the state
of Jammu & Kashmir to avail benefits under the scheme. Under the revised
guidelines, tourism service providers in Jammu & Kashmir, approved by the
State Tourism Department (and not necessarily by the Ministry of Tourism, Govt.
of India) and with a total turnover not exceeding Rs. 20 crore (not necessarily
including foreign exchange earnings) can now avail financial support from the
Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India for undertaking promotional activities in
the overseas markets, under the following categories:
1.
Participation in Travel Fairs and
Exhibitions
2.
Sale-cum-Study Tours
3.
Printing of Publicity Material for
distribution overseas.
IMPORTANT
MILESTONES IN TOURISM SECTOR IN INDIA
Ø
Statistics of Growth in the year 2008 & 2009:
·
The
foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) to India in 2008 witnessed an increase of 5.6 %
over the arrivals for the same period in 2007, while the world tourist arrivals
grew by less than 2% in 2008. A total of 5.37 million tourists
visited India in 2008. The important source countries were US, UK, Canada,
France, Germany and Japan. The foreign exchange
earnings (FEE) from the tourism sector in 2008 was Rs. 50730 crore, an increase
of 14.4 % over 2007. The period January –
September 2009 has seen an overall decline of 7.7% in foreign tourist arrivals
as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.
·
Whereas, the
downward trend in foreign tourist arrivals to the country had shown improvement
in the month of June 2009, which registered, for the first time in 8 months, an increase of 0.2% in foreign tourist
arrivals to the country as compared to the corresponding month of the previous
year, followed by an increase of 0.6% in the month of July, the month of August
and September 2009 has once again seen a decline of 8.6% and 4.1% as compared
corresponding months of previous year, possibly due to Swine Flu..
·
The domestic tourist visits in India
increased from 309 million in the year 2003 to 563 million in the year
2008.
Ø A
series of promotional initiatives have been taken in the overseas markets such
as Scandinavia, Australasia, Russia, USA, West Asia, etc. for promoting tourism
and increasing foreign tourist arrivals to the country.
Ø It
is also decided that the Ministry of Tourism will support state Govts. / UTs to
have one Convention Centre in every state/UT for promotion of MICE Tourism.
Ø
The Institutes of Hotel Management
(IHMs) have initiated a six to eight week fast track skill training programme
for youth under twenty five years of age, who are at least eighth pass. These programmes would be in food
production and food and beverage
services. It is expected that after this
training, the participants would be able to get gainful employment in the
growing hospitality / hotel sector. It
is estimated that around 5000 youths would be trained in the year.
Ø Ministry of Tourism has initiated the Scheme
for Certification of skills of those service providers who are working in the
hospitality sector. Under the scheme,
the service providers opting for certification would undertake a three-day
orientation programme followed by test that would be based on practical and
viva voce. Those who pass the test would
be provided a certificate (recognizing them as MoT certified service provider),
which would make them more employable in the market. A minimum of 5000 service providers would be
certified in the year.
Ø A
revised and more liberalized Incredible India Bed & Breakfast/Homestay
Scheme launched and the states/U.T.s encouraged to formulate their own scheme
to develop Bed & Breakfast/Home stay units.
Ø The CCEA also approved the policy of broad basing hospitality
education to ITIs, vocational schools, polytechnics,
universities and colleges to meet the growing demand of trained manpower in
hospitality sector.
Ø ITDC
declared a dividend of 20% on paid up capital amounting to Rs.12.15 crore for
the year 2007-08.
Ø As
a responsible tourism initiative, 142 rural sites are being developed as a
rural tourism product. The traditional
artisans from these sites have been given exposure to national/international
platforms. Mega shopping festivals are
providing an opportunity for sale of art and craft products.
Ø Niche Tourism Products
(i)
Caravan Tourism: A new policy guideline has been announced to
promote Caravan Tourism in India and to facilitate the infrastructure required
for Caravan Tourism.
Considering
the diverse tourism products and the multitude of landscapes in India, Caravans
and Caravan Parks have a potential to add an exciting new facet to tourism in
Incredible India and would attract a wide range of market segments including
young people, families, senior citizens and international tourists
(ii) Heliport
Tourism: With a view to promote tourist destinations
in hilly and remote areas of the country,
the Ministry of Tourism has issued guidelines to extend financial
assistance to State Governments/Union Territory Administrations for
construction of heliports under the Scheme of Product/ Infrastructure
Development for Destinations and Circuits.
Two projects for
construction of heliports at Mangan and Geetang Khola in Sikkim have also been
sanctioned under this new initiative of the Ministry of Tourism. Both the
projects are likely to be completed within two years.
Ø
Initiatives
taken to counter the impact of the global meltdown.
To
discuss the Industry problems as a fall out of the recent terrorist attacks in
Mumbai as well as issues affecting the industry due to the ongoing financial
melt-down, the National Tourism Advisory Council (NTAC) and the stakeholders
met on December 15, 2008. Following measures have been taken subsequently:
i.
Strengthening the Market
Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme
ii.
Organizing Familiarization
Tours for Overseas Media and Travel Trade Representatives:
iii.
Subsidy to the trade and
state governments for participation in international travel fairs and
exhibitions:
iv.
Extending the benefit of
the Marketing Development Assistance Scheme of the Ministry to active Members
of India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB):
v. Medical & Wellness Tourism is to be
supported through the Market Development Assistant (MDA) Scheme.
vi.
A Visit
India Year 2009 Scheme has been announced by the Ministry of
Tourism, in collaboration with all stakeholders including airlines, hotels,
tour operators, State Governments, for incentivising travel to India during the
period April to December 2009. Scheme
details have been hosted in the www.incredibleindia.org
website of the Ministry of Tourism for worldwide publicity.
Ø International
Accolades
- PATA Gold Award 2009 – Marketing Media –
Travel Advertisement Broadcast Media
- PATA Gold Award 2009 – Marketing Media –
Travel Poster
- Conde Nast Traveller, UK in its
Readers Travel Awards 2008 ranked India among the top 2 most favoured countries in the world.
- Incredible India Website winner of PC
World Web Award
- “World
Travel Award 2008” for
"Responsible Tourism”
- Global SASI (Shop America Salutes
Innovation) Award to Incredible India by National Geographic Society
- Grand Prix Award at the International
Film Festival in Plock and also Das Golden Stadttor Award at ITB 2009 for
the Incredible India promotional film “Nirvana”
- New Frontiers Award to Mumbai at Arabian
Travel Mart 2009 for outstanding resilience.
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