by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, News, Politics
Mahesh Sharma (left)
New Delhi : India has adopted sustainable development steps to preserve its nature and cultural heritage, Minister of State for Culture Mahesh Sharma said on Tuesday.
Sharma was speaking at the second UN World Tourism Organisation/UNESCO World Conference on Tourism and Culture being held in Muscat on how India is making efforts to protect its culture.
During his visit to Muscat, Sharma also held bilateral discussions on cooperation between India and Oman in fields of culture and tourism. He also met Minister of Tourism of Oman, Ahmed Bin Naseer Bin Hamad al-Mehrzi, and discussed cooperation in field of tourism, including early conclusion of the MoU on cooperation in the sector.
“There is a huge potential expanding tourism exchanges between the two countries. People of Oman, due to their familiarity with India, visit India, including for medical treatment,” he stated.
On the sidelines of the conference, Sharma also held a bilateral meeting with his Turkish counterpart wherein the two sides agreed to institute a joint committee to explore areas for mutual cooperation in fields of culture and tourism.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Istanbul : The foreign tourist influx to Turkey experienced in 2017 will continue to increase in 2018, and early reservations suggest a growing interest from the European market.
The country is rapidly moving toward its 2023 vision of 50 million tourists and $50 million in tourism income. The decline in the number of European tourists compared to previous years is balanced by the fact that German tourists prefer Turkey in 2017, while tourism representatives that have started their 2018 sales are very hopeful for the next year. In the first nine months of the year, 26 million tourists came to Turkey, and the 2018 figures are expected to be even better, Daily Sabah News reported.
While tourism representatives who think that Turkey will make a big break in tourism in the next three years make essential tourism connections to Turkey with early reservations, Tatilsepeti.com General Manager Koray Küçükyılmaz told the Turkish Star newspaper that the company is receiving requests from Europe for early booking, adding that there appears to be a significant increase in the planning of European tour operators and demand for Turkey.
Küçükyılmaz also said the expected improvement and increase in the European market would hopefully be seen in 2018. “The improvement in the European market and reaching the 2015 figures will be gradually realized. Turkey’s destinations consist of regions known and liked by European customers,” Küçükyılmaz said.
More than one-third of foreigners who came to Antalya in the first ten months of the year were from Russia. In the January-October period, close to 9.5 million foreign tourists arrived at Antalya Airport. The number of passengers from abroad in the first ten months increased by 60 percent compared to the same period last year. In this period, the most significant number of tourists came from Russia with 3.6 million, which constituted 38.66 percent of total foreign visitors. Russia was followed by Germany with 1.6 million and Ukraine with 710,871 people.
—SM/OIC-UNA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
London : Saudi Arabia wants to be the top global destination for Muslim tourists by the end of the decade, according to a top official.
“We want to beat Dubai, Malaysia, and Turkey to the top spot,” said a senior official at the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCNH) in an interview on the sidelines of the World Travel Market in London.
“We have different projects in the pipeline, and we are developing our pilgrimage sites. We are opening up our historical sites, we have five UNESCO sites, and we are aiming to have ten by 2020. “We have everything in Saudi Arabia. Our history gives us a competitive advantage. We have a beautiful natural landscape and thousands of years of Islamic and pre-Islamic history. We are open to all,” said the spokesman. “For Muslims, we have the advantage that everything is already halal here.”
It comes amid a massive push to develop the Kingdom’s Red Sea coastline and maximize tourism spending among the millions of Muslims who already visit the Kingdom each year as part of Hajj and Umrah, Arab News reported.
Saudi Arabia is planning to develop hundreds of kilometers of its Red Sea coastline as a global tourism destination and has enlisted the help of Virgin Group chief Richard Branson to advise on the ambitious project, which is a key plank of ongoing economic reforms.
The Kingdom is in the “final stages” of ratifying its much-anticipated tourist visas, which would grant unrestricted leisure travel in the country, the spokesman confirmed.
“We expect the tourist visa to be in issuance within six months.”
Currently, Saudi Arabia issues two-week visas for those on business, pilgrimage or visiting resident family members but they can be difficult to obtain. A specific visa for tourists would open up the country to foreign visitors and allow access to destinations beyond the holy sites of Makkah and Madinah.
The tourism official said that the Saudi government is working on ratifying tourist visas for visitors from 165 countries, including 66 Muslim countries.
He said the Kingdom would welcome all nationalities, all religions, and female visitors.
“For women, they may not need to wear a headdress, but it is thought an Abaya will be necessary. The details of the new regulations will be confirmed with the coming months.”
He added, “Many people will be surprised by the heritage and landscapes that Saudi has. We have skiing, diving and beautiful beaches stretching across two seas.”
Dr. Yazeed Al-Shammari, the founder of Arabian Nights, a major KSA tour operator, told Arab News he was looking forward to the new tourist visa “widening and developing” his business.
“People are very curious about Saudi Arabia. Some people think that all we’ve got is sand and camels, but the reality is we have much more variety and texture than that. I’ve already had many inquiries from European agents.”
Caroline Bremner, head of travel and tourism at Euromonitor, said: “It will be interesting to see what Saudi does now as previously the focus was only on the Hajj. Saudi Arabia is a beautiful country with a lot to offer. There have been developments lately that make the country seem more attractive to visitors, such as allowing women to drive.
“It will also need to pay attention to the quality of its hotels and tourist experiences as it enters the world as an emerging tourist destination.”
—SM/OIC-UNA
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, Markets, Medium Enterprise, News, SMEs
(Note Ban Series)
By Sanu George,
Thiruvananthapuram : The two main industries of Kerala, seafood and tourism, escaped the brunt of demonetisation, as did the information technology sector. But agriculture — rubber plantation in particular — suffered adverse impact, from which it is yet to fully recover.
Seafood exports from the state bring in a large proportion of Kerala’s revenue. It showed no adverse impact. If anything, exports grew by 20 per cent in volume terms and 25 per cent in value during the first quarter of 2017-18 compared to the first quarter in the previous year. And tourism keeps the Kerala economy flying.
“Figures from the first quarter speak the story and it has done well,” A. Jayathilak, Chairman of the Marine Products Export Development Authority, told IANS, adding that there was no impact of demonetisation on this sector.
He said seafood exports from the country stood at 251,000 tonnes valued at Rs 9,066 crore ($1.42 billion) in the first quarter of the current fiscal, up from 201,000 tonnes worth $1.17 billion during the previous quarter of 2015-16.
The I-T industry also evaded any adverse impact, largely because most transactions in the sector were carried out through the banking channels. “On the contrary, demonetisation served to reinforce the industry’s resolve to rigorously follow governance and compliance norms. Since the IT industry, from its formative stages, was not in the clutches of the tax-men, it developed as a legitimate above-board industry,” said V.K. Mathews, a member of Nasscom and head of IBS Software Services.
Mathews said demonetisation was a bold move. “It is indeed daring, considering its scope and implication over such a large population, where corruption and noncompliance are part of the nation’s culture — India is the most corrupt nation in Asia and among the worst in the world, according to the recent Forbes report,” he added.
The first CEO of Technopark and former Kerala State Planning Board member, G.Vijayaraghavan, told IANS that he had been a supporter of the demonetisation programme from the very beginning and continues to support it. “But”, he said, “I feel the whole exercise could have been done better by taking into confidence all the chief ministers and the state finance ministers a few hours before it was announced, but without giving them the time to inform their cronies about it,” said the technocrat.
He said 80 per cent of Indians did not have a problem with withdrawal limits as these were “much higher than what the majority required.” He said the group that was most impacted was the politicians’.
He said that to conclude that the economy had failed because of demonetisation was like saying that black money was required for economic development. “I am unable to agree with that,” he added.
The tourism industry too remained largely unaffected because most of the visitors make books through the properties or through agents before they arrive.
“If there was any issue, it was related to tourists who had to get Indian currency and also to those who already were in the state and had the notes that went out of circulation . For the business as such , I don’t think there was a direct impact as few resorts collect cash from guests,” said M.R. Narayanan, general secretary of the Confederation of Tourism Industry in Kerala.
According to official figures, foreign tourist arrivals in Kerala in 2016 were 103,800, up from 977,479 in 2015, and domestic tourists grew by 5.67 per cent and touched 13,172,535 visitors. The total foreign exchange earnings from the tourism sector was Rs 7749.51 crore during 2016.
The major impact, however, was felt by the agrarian community, which includes small rubber farmers and also those who were engaged in cultivation of cash crops like banana and arecanut.
“We continue to be affected by demonetisation. It came when rubber prices were already low. It was a cruel jolt as rubber dealers had no money to pay us and this went on for long. For those who had no other source of income, it was a nightmare,” said Thomas Mathew, a small rubber farmer in Kottayam.
The nightmare continued for those engaged in cultivation of banana. November and December are generally the months when fresh plants are sown. With little money to pay for the plants, many had to forego the season’s cultivation. Daily wage earners were, of course, the worst affected.
“We survive by working in small homesteads and with no cash available, people used to avoid calling us to do the daily labour. This went on for several months and that hit us very badly. We wish to know who benefited through this foolish exercise,” asked Sasidharan, a daily labourer.
(Sanu George can be reached at sanu.g@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
BJP leader Sangeet Som
Noida : BJP leader Sangeet Som has triggered controversy by saying the Taj Mahal is a “blot” on Indian culture and misquoted history by saying that Shah Jahan, builder of the 17th century marble mausoleum, had jailed his father and wanted to wipe out Hindus from the country.
The remarks by the Sardhana MLA in Meerut came after the Uttar Pradesh government removed the Taj Mahal from the list of attractions in its tourism booklet.
“Many people were disappointed that the Taj Mahal was removed from the UP tourism booklet. What history are we talking about? Whose history?
“The creator of the Taj Mahal (Shah Jahan) imprisoned his father. He wanted to wipe out all Hindus from India. If these people are part of our history, then it is very unfortunate.
“I guarantee you that we will change this history,” Som was shown saying in an undated viral video, apparently addressing a public gathering.
TV reports said the BJP leader was addressing a gathering in Meerut.
Som wrongly quoted history saying Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan had jailed his father. It was Shah Jahan’s son Aurangzeb who had dethroned and jailed his father inside the Agra Fort.
The Taj, one of the Seven Wonders of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage site, was built by Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.
—IANS
