Indian ministry of tourism attains first 100 day agenda

On completion of the first 100 days in office, the ministry of tourism has delivered on all the initiatives envisaged in the said agenda.
The first initiative promised in the said agenda urged upon the Institutes of Hotel Management (IHMs) to initiate a six to eight week fast track skill training programme for youth in food production and F&B services. Presently, 1197 professionals in the first batch are honing their skills at 25 IHMs institutes. Over 1000 professionals, who are working in the hospitality sector, have been certified and another 340 persons are undergoing certification training as part of another such initiative for certification of skills of service providers.To address the long pending reforms in hospitality education, the National Council of Hotel Management & Catering Technology (NCHMCT), in collaboration with National Informatics Centre (NIC) have successfully decentralised online counselling for admission in institutes of Hotel Management, as per the MOT’s mandate. The academic calendar of the IHMs had been converted into two semesters making it at par with other premier institutions of the country as promised by MOT in another such initiative.In the domestic market, the ministry has released a generic Incredible India campaign in the media to spur domestic market and launched domestic road shows to promote awareness on destination India in the domestic market. More such shows on the lines of the First such road show held in Calcutta will be organised across the country to boost the domestic travel market.The ministry has also delivered on the promise to develop niche products, as to develop India as a round the year most preferred destination. In this regards, it has announced a caravan tourism policy to promote and facilitate the infrastructure required for caravan tourism in India. It has also amended the marketing development assistance scheme for medical tourism, as to include accredited wellness centre in its purview. To give a boost to heli-tourism, the ministry has kicked started grant of financial assistance for construction of heliports to promote tourism in hilly and remote areas.The first ever inter state regional conference of the tourism ministers of the north and central states held in New Delhi was another such initiative aimed at domestic market that took stock of the state of development of infrastructure in the northern region.