The Union Tourism Minister, Subodh Kant Sahai addressing the Cinematic Tourism Conclave.

The conclave was jointly organized by the Department of Tourism, Chandigarh Administration and Northern India Management Association. The conclave was also attended by Tourism Minister of Punjab, alongwith K.K.Sharma Adviser to the Administrator UT Chandigarh, Ram Niwas, Home Secretary UT, Geetika Kalha, Principal Secretary Tourism, Punjab, Dhanpat Singh, Principal Secretary Tourism, Haryana and Managing Directors of State Tourism Corporations of Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana and other prominent personalities of Tourism fraternity and Punjabi Cinema.

Mr Sahai also felicitated the winners of excellence honours in the various spheres of tourism like Innovative Travel Agent , Innovative Tour Operator, Innovative Tourist Transporter, Innovative Restaurant, Innovative Tourism Photographer, Innovative Tourist Shop, Creative Travel Writer, Creative Interior Designer, Creative Cultural Event, Creative Theatre Group, Innovative Cinematic Tourism, Innovative Baker & Confectioner, Innovative Medical Tourism, Innovative Golf Tourism Services, Innovative Hospitality Institute, Innovative Tourism & Aviation Institute.

Applauding the efforts of Chandigarh Administration to promote Chandigarh as a cinematic Tourist destination in the region the Minister also highlighted the importance of inbound tourism to increase the foreign exchange earnings and to have mega Tourism projects under public-private partnership so that holding tourists becomes more important than getting tourists into the country and places like Chandigarh which are known for its architecture tourism world over. He also emphasized the need to organize such regional conclaves in the different zones of the country to synergies the efforts being made by the State Governments and the private players connected with the Film and small screen industry.

The total goods earnings have gone up from Rs. 1577.16 crore during the period from July 11 to 20, 2010 to Rs. 1743.64 crore during July 11 to 20, 2011, showing an increase of 10.56 per cent. The total passenger revenue earnings during the period July 11 to 20, 2011 were Rs. 804.79 crore compared to Rs. 715.44 crore during the same period last year, reflecting an increase of 12.49 per cent. The revenue earning from other coaching amounted to Rs. 68.10 crore during this period compared to Rs. 61.73 crore during the same period last year, showing an increase of 10.32 per cent.

The total approximate number of passengers booked during the period July 11 to 20, 2011 was 231.28 million compared to 221.09 million during the same period last year, showing an increase of 4.61 per cent. In the suburban and non-suburban sectors, the number of passengers booked during July 11 to 20, 2011 was 121.65 million and 109.63 million compared to 116.85 million and 104.24 million during the same period last year, registering an increase of 4.11 per cent and 5.17 per cent respectively.

Union Tourism Ministers and State Tourism Ministers lighting the lamp at the conference.

Breaking Tourism News…BTN India
Union Minister for Tourism Subodh Kant Sahai inaugurated the Second Western Regional Conference of Tourism Ministers at Aurangabad today. Speaking on the occasion the Minister outlined the vision of the Ministry for developing tourism during the 12th Five Year Plan. This set the tone for the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations to share their developmental plans through comprehensive presentations. The presentations made by the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations highlighted matters relating to development of infrastructure through integrated planning, Public Private Partnership, convergence of resources, man power development, strategies for promoting of intra and interstate domestic tourism, and implementation of code of conduct for “Safe & Honourable Tourism” and “Sustainable Tourism. Prithviraj Chavan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Sultan Ahmed, Union Minister of State for Tourism were also present at the inauguration ceremony.

The participating states include Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Chhattisgarh and the Union Territories of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu. The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has organised the two day conference to bring together all the State Governments, Union Territory Administrations and the private sector stake holders in the western region on a common platform to discuss and take forward a holistic and integrated development of tourism in the region.

R H Khwaja , Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India led the delegation comprising senior officials of the Ministry of Tourism, State Tourism Departments and the private stake holders to a visit to the World Heritage Sites of Ajanta and Ellora. The objective of the visit was to assess the existing infrastructure and the need for further development of these World Heritage Sites.
The significant presence of the private sector representing various trade bodies and Associations like FICCI, CII, TAAI, IATO, HAI, FHRAI, ITTA, etc. reinforces the commitment of all the stake holders towards the success of the public private partnership spirit in the development of tourism.

The Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Dr. Nasim Zaidi and the FAA Administrator, Randy Babbitt signing a bilateral Aviation Safety agreement in New Delhi.

The Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA) between India and the USA has been signed by Dr. Nasim Zaidi, Secretary, Civil Aviation and J. Randolph Babbitt, Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today. The signing coincides with the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to India. The signing took place in the presence of Senior Officers from the Ministry, DGCA, AAI from the Indian side and FAA and USTDA from the US side.

BASA will facilitate reciprocal airworthiness certification of civil aeronautical products imported/exported between the two signatory authorities. Indian standards would be comparable to global standards and its aeronautical products would be accepted by the U.S.

The nascent aircraft manufacturing industry in India would be hugely benefited and it would spur trade between the two sides. It would demonstrate that India has the capability to develop FAA certifiable aircraft articles/appliances. It would encourage the civil aeronautical products industry which will eventually lead to self sufficiency in the sector.

BASA would encourage indigenous aircraft and aeronautical products industry and the US acceptance of Indian products will help their global acceptance. It would lessen the economic burden imposed on the aviation industry and operators by redundant technical inspections, evaluations and testing.

The next stage is to sign the implementation Procedures for Airworthiness (IPA) which provides for airworthiness technical cooperation between FAA and its counterpart civil aviation authorities. The scope of IPA can be enhanced from time to time. The USA has signed BASA with 24 countries.

The top ten States in terms of number of domestic tourist visits (in millions) during 2010 were Andhra Pradesh (155.8), Uttar Pradesh (144.8), Tamil Nadu (111.6), Maharashtra (48.5), Karnataka (38.2), Madhya Pradesh (38.1), Uttarakhand (30.2), Rajasthan (25.5), West Bengal (21.1) and Gujarat (18.9).The contribution of top 10 States was about 85.5% to the total number of domestic tourist visits during 2010. The percentage shares of top 5 States were Andhra Pradesh (21.0%), Uttar Pradesh (19.6%), Tamil Nadu (15.1%), Maharashtra (6.5%) and Karnataka (5.2%) .

The number of foreign tourist visits (FTVs) during the year 2010 was 17.9 million as compared to 14.4 million in 2009 and 2008. This shows an impressive growth of 24.2% over 2009 as compared to a decline of 0.1% in 2009 over 2008.

The top ten States in terms of number of FTVs (in millions) during 2010 were Maharashtra (5.1), Tamil Nadu (2.8), Delhi (1.9), Uttar Pradesh (1.7), Rajasthan (1.3), West Bengal (1.2), Kerala (0.66), Bihar (0.64), Himachal Pradesh (0.45) and Goa (0.44). The contribution of top 10 States was about 90.3% to the total number of FTVs in the country during 2010. The percentage shares of top 5 States were Maharashtra (28.5%), Tamil Nadu (15.7%), Delhi (10.6%), Uttar Pradesh (9.4%) and Rajasthan (7.2%).

The next week is expected to remain near to its normal position on many days of the week. Fairly widespread rainfall may continue over most parts of the country except south interior peninsula where subdued rainfall conditions may prevail.
Current synoptic condition show that the low pressure area lies over north Madhya Pradesh and adjoining south Uttar Pradesh, an upper air cyclonic circulation lies over Chhattisgarh and neighbourhood between 1.5 to 4.5 km above mean sea level. The off shore trough extends from Gujarat coast to Kerala coast and The western disturbance as an upper air cyclonic circulation lies over north Pakistan and adjoining Jammu & Kashmir.

Out of 36 meteorological sub-divisions of the country, rainfall was excess in 05 which were mainly over central India, normal in 10 , deficient in 16 and scanty in 05 sub- divisions during 7 to 13 July. In area – wise distribution, 14% area of the country received excess/normal rainfall. Remaining 59% area received deficient /scanty rainfall.

The cumulative seasonal rainfall for the country as a whole for this month till yesterday has been 24% below the LPA. The rainfall was below normal over all the four homogeneous regions with highest deficiency of 32% over northwest India. Cumulative rainfall during this year’s monsoon has so far 03% below the LPA for the whole country. The cumulative seasonal rainfall continues to remain near normal over all the four homogeneous regions.

Out of 36 meteorological subdivisions, the rainfall has been excess over 06, normal over 22 and deficient in 08 sub-divisions. In area – wise distribution, 81% area of the country received excess/normal rainfall. Remaining 19% area received deficient/scanty rainfall.

The Union Minister for Railways, Dinesh Trivedi holding discussions with the Minister of State for Railways, Bharatsinh Solanki and officials of Railway Board at Rail Bhavan in New Delhi.

Breaking Tourism News…BTN India
On his first visit to Rail Bhawan today after being sworn in as Union Railway Minister on July 12, 2011, Dinesh Trivedi has held discussions with his colleague Minister of State for Railway Bharatsinh Solanki and the officials of the Railway Board.

Later, while interacted with the media persons, Mr Trivedi outlined the focus and priorities set for the growth of the Indian Railways. He said “Indian Railways is one of the best organizations in the World, a lifeline of the country, which has done the nation proud. Considering the constraints under which it has to work, it has rendered phenomenal service to the nation, which is only possible because of the dedication of all the workers and the management.”

1. To improve productivity and efficiency.  To respond to the needs of the 21^st century with associated tools and technologies, to help workers and unions achieve their best.  This will also include Process Reforms.
2.  Passenger – ultimate customer.  Their security, safety, service, comfort and flexibility are of utmost importance.
3. Substantial expansion of the Railways in handling of passengers and freight, to add and to grow in the Indian economy and respond to the needs of business and service sector.
4. Land use through preparing national database of railway owned land, management of the same and potential to create new community assets through PPP.
5. Modernize Railway stations through PPP. To create community space not only for transport but also for education, health, business and entertainment. Provide Wi-fi in Railway stations and trains. Revive Rail-Tel.
6. Modernize Railway factories to increase capacity. Emphasize indigenous design and development, local production to create new jobs.
7. Real-time Track management.
a. Implementation of modern e-signaling systems for train protection, improving track capacity and efficiency.
b. Advanced Anti Collision Devices on trains for averting both head on collisions as well as accidents caused due to track obstruction.
c. Implementation of GPS systems for real tracking of trains, advanced traffic analysis for efficient logistics of passenger and freight trains.
d. Manning/Over-bridge for all the unmanned level crossings.
8. Mobile ticketing, associated mobile commerce and other services for passengers and vendors. Railway Debit Cards to be made available at stations via digital kiosks for the purpose of purchasing items from vendors and can be used to purchase tickets as well.
9. Timely completion of East West Dedicated Freight Corridor.
10. Explore new projects, such as high speed rail to meet growing needs of the Indian Transport sector linking with other transport hubs to create seamless integrated connectivity.

He said that the priority would be given to the timely completion of the projects which have already been initiated and announced in the previous Railway Budgets.

The Secretary of Civil Aviation, Nasim Zaidi addressing at the launch of the 3rd International Exhibition & Conference on Civil Aviation “India Aviation-2012”.

Dr. Nasim Zaidi, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation launched “India Aviation-2012”, the 3rd international Exhibition and Conference on Civil Aviation today at Begumpet Airport. Addressing on the occasion, Dr. Zaidi said that it would be necessary to redefine the parameters of regulation in order to assure travellers the guarantee of safety. The ministry is considering restructuring the DGCA into a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). In order to prevent repetitive accidents, an Independent Civil Aviation Accident Investigation Committee has been set up within oversight of Ministry of Civil Aviation to coordinate and oversee the investigation into accidents and also effective follow up of compliance of recommendations.

Steps are under way to set up a full-fledged Independent Accident Investigation Board. He announced that a land mark Bilateral Aviation Safety agreement has been approved by the Cabinet and will be signed with USA, during the visit of Hilary Clinton, US Secretary of State. The proposed agreement will open up huge market for export of aeronautical products manufactured in the country in USA and other regions of the world. This will open up huge potential for investment.

Emphasizing the passengers’ facilities and consumer protection, he said that the rights of the passengers need to be respected and protected at all times. The significant steps for consumer protection has been taken through CARs on disability related rights, refunds, cancellations, delays, over-bookings and denied boarding. He suggested that airlines and airports should compete with each other in offering to passengers better of facilities, services and protection of their rights. He announced that a task force is working in Ministry to prepare an outline to set up an Ombudsman institution in civil aviation sector. Ministry of Civil Aviation has also set up an Innovation Council to suggest primarily IT lead innovations to improve products, services and customer related matters by airlines, airports and air traffic management service providers.

Dr. Zaidi also announced that the Ministry of Civil Aviation is also proposing to declare February 18 as Civil Aviation Day every year.

On connectivity, he said that the ministry is reviewing policy of route dispersal guidelines to enhance connectivity in inaccessible areas and islands of the country. With a view to increase regional connectivity, regulatory framework pertaining to schedule and regional operators is also currently being reviewed to ensure that regional connectivity gets boost with the support of Airports Authority of India and private sector participating in the development of Tier II and Tier III cities. A task force is also working to examine the ways and means required to cut transaction time, cost and various other measures to simplify procedures to improve business environment with regulatory authorities.

Highlighting the growth of Civil Aviation Sector that the Secretary said that the sector has registered phenomenal growth in India in past decade. Passenger traffic has grown at 18% year on year basis and the year 2010 closed at 90 million passengers both domestic and international. India is the fastest growing aviation market and expected to be within 4-5 big aviation markets by 2020 and 3rd in terms of domestic market after US and China. India will cross 450 million marks of domestic passengers by 2020. During the last two decades from a fleet of only about 100, the scheduled operators today have 435 aircrafts connecting the nation and the world. It is projected that the center of gravity in the aviation industry will be shifting to the Asia-Pacific region in the coming years. Considering the geographic position of India, it has the potential to become an aviation hub at the cross roads between Europe/ Middle East and Asia Pacific. He informed that T-3 Terminal at Delhi International Airport is already evolving into a hub. About 11000 passengers are transiting from various spokes to different destinations in the world by utilizing spoke and hub system. It is also proposed to develop Mumbai and Chennai as hubs in next 2 years.

There are 271 helicopters in the country out of which 209 are engaged in commercial non-scheduled operations. A large percentage of the helicopter fleet (71 %) is of single engine helicopters. The helicopter industry has a tremendous growth potential as indicated in recent analytical studies. The growth brings challenges and safety is the paramount concern of DGCA. DGCA is committed to meet the target of reducing helicopter accident rate by 80 percent by 2016.

In the review, the helicopter operators expressed their views on wide ranging issues related to helicopter operations. The DGCA summed up the suggestions with concrete action points and assured that periodic review meetings will ensure compliance of safety initiatives both on part of regulator and the operators. The action plan is to lay stress on analysis of accident and incident data and implementation of recommendations of inquiries; training of pilots in handling of emergencies with the use of simulators, introduction of safety management system which has proved successful in countries where it is practiced and addressing the deteriorated condition of helipads under the control of state governments. The Director General advised RWSI to create a database of all helipads available in the country and their features, obstacles etc., and publish the information for use by helicopter pilots. He also assured that separately, the matter will be discussed with AAI to review the special corridors for helicopters for operations from Juhu and Delhi.