Kashmir Aims For Golf Tourism

The Royal Springs Golf Course (RSGC), in the undulating foothills of the Himalayan Zabarwan range, overlooking the imposing Dal Lake, is the focus of the state government’s plans to draw high-end tourism.

The scheme includes the linking of golf courses across the Valley and the construction of a course with RSFC natural marsh and transitory trees as its hub.

G A Mir, State Tourism Minister, said, “We are constituting the Golf Development Authority by the y end of the year to endorse the sport as a chief tourist attraction. Huts are coming up around the golf courses and staying there is going to be an exclusive occasion for tourists.”

Recently, some European countries have relaxed their travel advisories, encouraging the government to drive high-end tourists. The Valley’s four golf courses along with RSGC, rated among the best in India as well as one of the top 10 in Asia, are seen as the central part to these plans.

The course extending up to 300 acres with rough fairways of four types of Kentucky blue mixture has been designed by a distinguished American golf architect Robert Trent Jones (Jr). The course constitutes the US PGA standards with 18-hole, par 72 golf course.

The course’s club building exemplify the traditional Kashmiri architecture and provides amenities like tented accommodation, driving range and health club.

Kashmir...plz refer http://blog.kashmirtourismpackages.in/ Golf Course is the oldest in Kashmir; spread over 52 acres, a few kilometres away among chinar and pine trees. Gulmarg, which remains snow covered for 6 months, surrounded by tall mountains, has one of the world’s highest golf courses at an altitude of 2,730 m.

It is a delight for the long hitters teeing off at the course due to resort town’s thin air, where the land slopes descent along the entire stretch. The Gulmarg golf course is also known for having India’s longest hole. The tourism brochure Proclaims, “Conquering all the fairways offers the crucial challenge for a golfer and makes Kashmir an absolute golf destination.” REFERENCE

Sri Lanka Broadcasted As a Number One Tourism Destination

Channel 6 telecast a special coverage on Sri Lanka at 21:00 hrs on Saturday (13), “Swkai Fushigi Hakken” a Japanese documentary titled “Discovery of the World’s Mysteries” on Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS). This programme was telecast on Prime Time, thus enabling a larger viewership to watch the programme. The TBS is one of the three most viewed TV channels in Japan having a nationwide exposure.

The programme’s duration was of 75 minutes, as it highlighted the numerous mysteries in Sri Lanka

Please check…http://www.honeymoonpackagestours.com/sri-lanka/ , which featured the country as a favourable destination for the travellers. The programme also included a special interview with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. During the interview, the President spoke about the close and friendly two-sided relations that both countries share and also mentioned the instigation of the bilateral relations dating back to Sri Lanka participation at the San Francisco Peace Conference in 1951.

In the San Francisco Peace Conference on Japan, held in September 1951, Sri Lanka was among the nine Asian countries which had participated.

The Finance Minister of that time, J. R. Jayawardana’s speech on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka at the Conference influencing the member countries to accept Japan into the comity of nations without any war reparations in the spirit of the Buddha’s teaching, continues to be deeply appreciated by Japan.

After the telecasting of the programme, the passion and curiosity of the population of Japan on history, developments and tourism of Sri Lanka have drastically increased and aroused. Infact, the Production Company and the Embassy have been receiving a huge number of emails and communication expressing thankfulness and gratitude for illustrating and projecting the key historical and iconic events such as the San Francisco Peace Conference as well as tourism in Sri Lanka, thus raising the awareness among the people of Japan. As for the ratings of the programme, around 50 million people have viewed the “Discovery of the World’s Mysteries” on Sri Lanka on the given date of 13th July, 2013.

“Sekai Fushigi Hakken” also featured Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, Ambassador of Sri Lanka as a Special Guest on the programme. The Ambassador proposed Sri Lanka to be the number one tourist destination and also among the safest places in the world to visit. He also presented an invitation to all Japanese tourists to include Sri Lanka on their next travel schedule. REFERENCE

Manali Tourism the Worst Hit this Year – Experts Says Rumor of Flood is the Reason

MANALI: Manali Tourism is highly affected as till July most of the hotels occupancy is just 25%. The rumors of the flood are the reason and tourists are not been able to gather courage to visit the hill station.

This is for the first time, Manali has seen such a worst in the tourism industry as by 15 August, Manali used to be jam packed and neither of the hotels used to be empty. But this year it is badly affected and there are hardly advance bookings for Diwali and Dussehra holidays.

The entire Kullu Valley is safe throughout the monsoon season; there was no flood or landslides in any part of the district. It is for the first time in so many years, the Delhi - Manali National Highways was not damaged by the landslide. Despite a favorable condition, tourists are keeping themselves away from Manali, Sources said.

The entire tourism departments of Manali are puzzled by the uncertain downfalls in the number of tourists visit. Looking at this, Manali

JUST CLICK AWAY… http://www.manalitourismpackages.com/ Hoteliers Association president, Anup Thakur said, “Rumors have destroyed the monsoon tourist season completely. Hoteliers are getting calls to know whether the situation in Manali and other areas are fine after floods and cloud brusts. We are surprised that who spread such humors to crores of people and think that Manali has been hit by recent natural calamity life cloudburst and floods.

The tourists who are not aware are still cancelling their bookings and has put the tourism industry deep in trouble, he said. “We have suffered losses in crores of rupees. We have shared our information to many of the tour operator that it is the best season in Manali, but this has now worked either, “Thakur said.

Manali used to receive heavy advance bookings, but this time the rumor has affected the season. Tourists are hesitating in advance bookings and we were also eying that tourists looking forward to tour Uttarakhand would also visit to Himachal Pradesh. But this has become the other way and has proved wrong. Only few star category hotels have 20% to 30% occupancy, a hotelier, Ram Prakash, Said.

The hill station Manali has around 1,000 hotels, resorts and guests houses and they have the capacity of 30,000 beds, which is more than that of national capital Delhi. More of the residents here depend on tourism as they are the backbone of the livelihood, while all the 196 home stays units are also waiting for tourists, sources said.

Now as the season, is affected, Manali is now waiting for winter season, where thousands of newlywed couples throng here for holidays. REFERENCE

Stricter Visa Rules Hampering Indian Medical Tourism

Prathap C Reddy, the cardiologist who built Apollo Hospital chain at $2 billion over three decades in India, says that he’s looking for growth in abroad because of the visa policies in India.

Reddy claimed in an interview at his Chennai Office that Apollo Hospitals is reckoning hospitals in Indonesia, Cambodia and Tanzania as the tourists seeking medical treatment in India are facing inconvenience because of the norm of special visa’s for patients which forces them to visit an immigration office.

India offers world’s largest savings for US medical touristsJUST CLICK AWAY…http://globalvisiontours.com/. But it is losing its clients to Singapore and Thailand mainly due to the visa rule. Due to the slackness of the government, India may fail to gain $40 billion that is expanding 25% a year, said Josef Woodman, founder of the guidebook Patients Beyond Borders.

According to Patients Beyond Borders, India engrossed as many as 350,000 medical tourists in 2012 compared with 250,000 a year whereas on the other hand Thailand treated as many as 1.2 million overseas patients last year, while Singapore had 610,000 medical visitors.

Foreign Patients Fortis Healthcare set up a hospital in Singapore last year and bought a stake in a hospital in Mauritius in 2009. Apollo also has hospitals in Mauritius and Bangladesh. To this Woodman said, “India has been fairly casual of this industry”.

Apollo and its competitors are also reaching out to developed markets to attract patients who are looking for treatment at a lower price. Devi Shetty, a Bangalore based cardiologist and businessman also has extended his Narayana hospital chain to the Cayman Islands.

According to Woodman, US patients can save up to 65-990% treatment in India ranging from coronary artery bypass to rhinoplasty.

Vishal Bali, group chief executive officer of Fortis Healthcare, said in an interview, “India has great latent to be a big player in global health care”. He also said, “India is the centre of our whole health-care system” as the company uses hospitals in India to serve patients from South Asia, Middle East and The West, and Singapore to treat patients from Southeast Asia.

Visa Restriction In the year 2005 a proper Visa Policy was made for medical tourist to thrive the Industry, but the various restrictions have made it impossible for the patients to enter the country, Reddy Said. The visa which is valid for a year, has to be registered with the Foreign Regional Registration Office within two week of times, but for those who are critical and going though serious health suffering finds it very difficult and is more like “insulting”, added Reddy.

The Permit only allow three entries, making it tough not only for the patients , but also to the doctor to provide the follow up treatment and has to deal with complications, he said. Compare to tourist visa, medical visa is bit costlier and more of all it is not available for nations in Africa, which affects the majority of the patients looking forward for treatment in India, according to an Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management report.

Due to the complicated and time taking process “India is losing the patients to the competing countries like Thailand and Singapore, “the report said. REFERENCE

Vacationers Planning for Tour during Puja Holidays Worried Due to Recent ongoing Strikes in the Darjeeling Hills

With the ongoing strikes in the hills of Darjeeling for a demand of separate state for Gorkhas “Gorkhaland”, tourists who have made advance booking of packages for holidays in Darjeeling during Puja Vacation are bit worried.

Tour operators are worried as the bandhs has brought bad impact over the industry and they have kept their finger crossed and have appealed all the political parties to keep the tourism industry out from the purview of strikes. From the tourism industry, the sizeable population of the hills earns their living. Us and UK travel advisories have advised their citizens to be careful before planning trips to DarjeelingJUST CLICK AWAY…http://www.darjeelingtourismpackages.com as the crisis in the hills is going to worsen due to strikes and the people agitation for the demand of Gorkhaland.

Though it is an off season, there were still 30% to 35% bookings from students and corporate houses but now it is already cancelled. Booking for the Pujas had just started and people were keen to visit the hills as the West Bengal Tourism department is holding road shows in several states. The booking due to the strikes have come down and now even the tourists are asking was has to be done if the strikes continue. We have no answer of the query from tourists. Year 2012 and the half of 2013 has shown good sign for tourism and this year we expected of having a good tourism season due to the disaster in Uttarakhand and the trouble in the Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, Said Tapas Roy, Secretary, Eastern Himalayan Tour and Travel Operators’ Association (EHTTAO).

The US Department of State has state in its advisory, “The United States Department of State has stated in its advisory: "All US citizens residing or travelling in Darjeeling Hills and Dooars districts of West Bengal should monitor local media for strike updates, anticipate major transportation disruptions, and avoid all demonstrations. Even peaceful demonstrations can turn challenging and rise into violence. You should avoid areas of demonstrations, and exercise caution if in the vicinity of any large gatherings, protests, or demonstrations."

According to the graph, 1.75 tourists (15000 foreigners) visit to Darjeeling every year. According to the Roy, the annual business volume is in the tune of Rs. 4oo crore and out of that 65% is ploughed back to the local economy. Nearly 50% of the population benefits from the tourism industry, directly or indirectly.

“ Hopes are still alive and we are keeping faith on this. In the past strikes has been called off on two or three occasion. In Kerala, tourism wasn’t affected during the Bharat Bandh. In Nepal, the government arranged green buses for tourists when the country was having moist trouble. We have appealed to all the political parties to keep the tourism industry out from the strikes purview”, Roy added.

“With the ongoing strikes in the hills called by GJMM, there are no new queries. The one who have made advance bookings are also calling up to inquire, what they should or they should cancel their bookings. We are trying our best to make them understand that it is too earlier and if the things go right, GJMM would call of the strikes as done earlier. It is good to stay for some more time as things might get improve in times to come. We were expecting good business from the hills due to the natural calamity in Uttarakhand. People are in uneasy to travel in the valley Jammu and Kashmir and are also avoiding places in Andhra Pradesh due to Telangana Movement, “Singh Said.

Thus the hills tourism industry this year is badly affected by the bandhs and very soon if this continues, the million dollar industry of Hills, which is said to be the backbone of the hills is going to get crippled. We can only keep hope and keep our finger crossed, so that things get well and back to normal in the hills.

North-East magnetizing domestic and foreign tourists

Now it’s the North-Eastern Indian states which are alluring travelers with a growth of 20%-29% foreign tourists in Manipur, Tripura and Nagaland and 36%-41% increment in domestic travelers in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland from 2011-2012. Airways and improved packages by tour companies, apart from the government lifting the protected area permit (PAP) essential for Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur that was a prerequisite for global tourists are the slay of inventiveness liable for tourists favouring the north-east.

The data that are accessed from the tourism ministry shows an increment of 578 to 749 in Manipur with a growth rate of29.5% while Tripura recorded a growth of 29.67% with 6,046 to 7,840 in between the period of 2011-2012. The foreign tourists in Nagaland increased from 2,080 to 2,489 at a growth of 19.6% in just one year. In the span of 2011-2012, domestic tourists in Arunachal Pradesh saw an increment from 2.3 to 3.1 lakhs recording a 36% growth with 41% growth from 25,391 to 35,915 in Nagaland.

The president of Yatra.com Sharat Dhall said, "The north-eastern statesJUST CLICK AWAY…http://www.darjeelingtourismpackages.com/north-east-tour-package.html may be meager on opulence accommodation but have a lot of budget accommodation which is an important draw and the major change in awareness by which the traveler feels that the region is secure to travel in." Mr. Dhall credited the awareness and the perception for the increase in fame of the North-eastern states for tourism. According to an industry observer, several government-sponsored allowances including: leave travel allowance(LTA) has also donated to the increase for those roaming in the North-East. Government officials are permitted to flight tickets if they travel to the J&K, North-East and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Mr. Dhall said, "The Hornbill fiesta in Nagaland is famed and attracts people from India and abroad. Likewise, western music festivals and events are other famed celebrations that lure travelers to North-East.'' REFERENCE

Hill Tourism Washed Away Along With Uttarakhand Floods

The recent devastating floods In Uttarakhand may have destroyed towns like Kedernath, but the after affects is being felt in hill stations like Mussoorie, Manali, Shimla, Dharmashala and Nainital, where hotels are reporting low occupancy of 5-10 percent despite 50 percent cut rates.

The alarming thing is that the hotels are not even getting bookings for the two long weeks from Eid to August 15. Usually a long weekend around India’s Independence Day sends occupancy levels beyond 80 percent for hotels in these destinations, but this year bookings are scarce and hotels expect occupancies to stay around 20 percent during this period. For instance, Manali, is running at 12 percent occupancy rate with none of the 40 rooms at Apple Country getting booked, which is one of the largest properties in Manali.

Rajeev Abhuja, General Manager of the 110 room Manali Resort, says, “The only relief is a group from Tamil Nadu that is in Manali for a movie shoot. They have booked 15 rooms from us”. He says that even if the coming weekends shows improvement. Still the occupancy will remain around 30percent.

After the June 16 cloudburst which was followed by a series of floods in parts of Uttarakhand ">http://globalvisiontours.com/uttarakhand/tourist-places.aspx

, occupancy at all hotels in Nainital, Mussoorie and Corbett was badly affected. Even Jaypee Residency Manor of Mussoorie, saw several conferences booked in June and July getting cancelled. Fortunately some of them have agreed to travel in August, which help the occupancy rate of the hotel.

This hotel of 135 rooms has dropped its rate from Rs 9,000 to Rs 5,500 to attract tourists; still there is not much hope of occupancy even in the two long weekends. Right now the hotel has only 10 percent of its rooms occupied. Sharma also stated that Mussoorie usually gets its occupancy from the returning pilgrims of Kedernath Yatra, which is also missing this year.

Uday Chandel, general manager of Fernhill Resort near Shimla expects the occupancy rate to increase to 50 percent in the coming weekends. REFERENCE

Enhance Tourism in Mysore using USP

Additional Chief Secretary of the state tourism department, Aravind Jadhav said that tourism in Mysore can be upgraded only if collaborator come up with an USP (unique selling proposition) and finish contentment. Rotary Mysore West structured a seminar as drape raiser on the subsidiary of Go Beyond-Leisure and Lifestyle Expo-2013 in which he spoke on 'Mysore as an ideal global traveler destination - Bottlenecks and solutions, here on Tuesday.

The representative spoke on the significance of USP, like how the other states have about diverse technicality that has stepped as a doomsdayer to tourism in Mysore. Kerala attracts tourist through backwaters, even though there are much better places in Goa for the backwater voyage. Kerala has made beach as its USP. He also said, "Many countries publicize tourism in that way, New York publicizes it through a brand 'Big Apple',"

"Try to make certain of as many strides as feasible, as this can assist to expand tourism in and around Mysore,JUST CLICK AWAY… http://globalvisiontours.com/kerala/mysore.aspx . In Mysore, people extend too many tourism-related facets at a time, which does not assist much "he added."In Silicon City, opulence hotels are destined only for commerce, and not for families. Although there are tourist locations in the city, not many are fascinated in them. Mysoreans need to produce their individuality, and not just be infatuated with Bangalore," he recommended. The Mysoreans depend fully on Bangalore which has become a huge problem.

"How can we encourage tourism, if we regard guests as gods, and don't take money from them?" Treat guests as god (Atithi Devo Bhava) is an Indian concept that is maiming the tourism commerce, Jadhav said. CM Siddaramaiah, being from Mysore said, "We will afford required finances for its growth,"

DC on escalating airfield

Speaking about the bottlenecks in kinship, DC C Shikha said that Mysore has better roads compared to Bangalore."In upcoming days, the district management will try to enlarge the airport, as air affinity helps to heighten tourism" she said.

She called upon tourist operators to enlist places of tourist concern in Madikeri, Chamarajanagar and Mandya districts in their schedule. "Don't limit your list to Mysore Zoo, Chamundi Hills and KRS" she further added.

Stoppage of Landing Permit Effects Tourism

The Home Ministry of India (MHA) has issued stoppage to the Temporary Landing Permits (TLP) to private jets registered in foreign countries as for security reasons, and this move has not gone down well with jet operators. The ministry has also asked the crew members of such jets to get an employment visa.

The jet operators are not happy with this move as they are claiming that the move will severely affect business and tourismJUST CLICK AWAY…http://www.keralatourismpackages.co.in// from abroad. They are also pointing that it is against the Chicago Convention of International Civil Aviation Organization to which India is a participant.

According to the statistics, around 24,000 flight schedule of non-scheduled aviation is observed in India per month. To this, Kuldeep Singh Dhatwalia, additional DG, MHA, did not comment.

Rohit Kapur, president of Business Aircraft Operators Association, stated: “From this development, MHA seems to be confused”.

Before, the foreign registered non-scheduled aircraft was allotted the TLP for up to 72 hrs. If the aircraft needs to fly within the country for a month, then a special permission was to be taken from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA). The Kapur also added to his statement,” The MHA has asked the crew to get employment certificates. But the crew is here on a visit for a few days and not on any employment assignment”.

Above all, it takes about 5-8 weeks to get a visa processed, which is very long time taken. Secondly the employment visa for the crew has to be acquired within 15 days in advance, though the DGCA clearance is received just 3-4 days before the arrival of flight. To which Kapur commented to be absurd. The private jets are claiming that MHA should provide them visa for at least 3-5 yrs.

Rajen Mehra, who is the former head of Qatar Airways and currently MD, India for Universal Aviation, says that on one hand, finance minister P Chidambaram is seeking FDI from across the world and on the other the government is bringing regulations which are shifting investments away from the country.

This type of investment will take investment away from the country to countries like China and Korea.

Uttarakhand Tourism to Lose 4170 Crores per Year According To Assocham Survey

The recent survey carried by ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation has found out that the recent natural calamity has hit the tourism sector of Uttarakhand to the extent of 85%. The recent flood not only had brought impact over the tourism, but the social and cultural life of the people has been severely damaged.

For the tourism to develop it would take many years, Chardham to develop it will take time and places like Mussoorie and Nainital, which were flooded with tourists, has seen a sharp decline of 75%. People fear of the natural disaster and have cancelled their trips, said DS Rawat, secretary general, while releasing the ASSOCHAM paper.

With the affect of tourism, there would be a loss of 1,80,000 employment and they will be unemployed for about six months in the current year. The reading also shows that there are around 1,79, 218 household in the three district according to 2011 census, adds the ASSOCHAM Report. According to the association in the tourism, it is expected that from every household atleast one person were employed in tourism. The tourism sector in Uttarakhand would lose rs 4170 crore per year.

The tourist destination in Uttarakhand, Mussoorie and Nainital generally used to have 100% occupancy in hotels, but this year there is a sharp fall with only 20% bookings. Corbett National Park is also to the list, which is also facing the similar fate, added Rawat.

Every year, during the season time, around 23 to 24 lakhs pilgrims visit for Chardham Yatra in the state, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. The recent flood has hit the tourismJUST CLICK AWAY…http://globalvisiontours.com/uttarakhand.aspx/ severely and now it would take years overcome the trauma.

The recent study also reveals that, tourists are option safer place for holidays and trip. Most of them are visiting to places like Rajasthan, Goa, Kashmir and even Kerala for holiday trips. It is also reported that the people are making their last minute booking shifting the destinations to places like Jaipur, Agra, Udaipur and Mount Abu. These places are benefitted a lot this year due to the massive and destructive flood in Uttarakhand. REFERENCE