Blog Page

Dr K Chiranjeevi, Minister of State with Independent Charge for Tourism, Government of India, has approved Central Finance Assistance (CFA) to the tune of Rs 47.62 crore for the development of the backwater circuit in Alappuzha into a mega circuit in Kerala, a release stated. The project is expected to be commissioned within 36 months.

The project will involve construction of house boat terminals at Arookutty, Thaneermukkom, Pallathuruthy, Nedumudi, Kanjipadam, Thottappally and Kaymkullam; night halt terminals at Vattakayal West and Karumadi Vilakkumaram; development of micro destinations at VayamkaraChira, Pandy, Thazhuppu and Kuthiravattomchira; development of beaches at Arthunkal and Thottappally; and development of Alappuzha town as the central destination of the circuit.

Rs 2.38 crore has been released as first instalment of the CFA for starting the work. The state government will provide land for the project free of cost and also render assistance for its timely completion.

India has woken up to travel and people are travelling across the country for work, pleasure and events. Travel is no more a luxury it has become a necessity. Talk to any family anywhere today regardless of the income group – they travel. The improvement in infrastructure like road travel, train travel and air travel has connected destinations like never before. No.of hotels, resorts, lodges, travel inn etc have started mushrooming all across India and most of them are doing well. Intercity and intra city volvo coaches, deluxe buses and chartered trips have made travelling easier.

Biggest game changer has been the rapid growth of road travel which has made last minute travel decisions a norm to stay. Today you find get together’s and reunions etc are a year round affair. These can be classified as under

• Family get together & outings
• Residents association  outings
• Office get together and outings
• Community weekend drives & outings
• College reunion
• School Reunion
• Office reunion
• Class reunion
• Family day out
• Children’s day out
• Weekend getaways & breaks
• Pilgrimage tours
• Community outings
• Focused group outings etc

Facebook has contributed a lot in bring individuals together , infact FB has played a crucial roles in creation of groups which allows closed private interactions limited to the group. Ranging from within city to International tours this segment is turning out to be a huge draw. The organized market in the customized tours packages for this business is minimal today thanks to the information available on the internet. In the unorganized market, team leaders play a key role in identifying and negotiating deals with vendors.

If you are the adventurous kind and willing to do something out of the routine then we have “Auto tour of Kerala”. Many are opting out of the conventional leisure travel which most of the tour operators provide. We at Mystikal Holidays have decided to get out of this routine holidays ourselves and come out with Mystikal experiential holidays for those who willing to let go of the luxuries and get involved with the local community. Each of our tour is an experience on its own, however the new breed of travelers are asking for more and we are hereby including real life experiences with flora, fauna and people of Kerala.

Kerala has been in the forefront of  Responsible Tourism with respect to destination based development, but this hasn’t gone into other areas of tourism yet. All of our products which feature under this segment would add value to the Kerala Holiday experience and would be way off from the conventional Kerala Tour package. We would take you to places which you haven’t seen within Kerala, footprints of which are not available much online or offline. Give you experiences at accommodations which would consist of offbeat resorts, Homestays, services apartments, exclusive bungalows etc… it could even be a simple shack or a tented accommodation.

5% percent of the revenue generated from selling these tours will be used to organize environmental protection campaigns and for providing basic facilities for the local community at places where we operate these tours in association with the local body. These tours are our contributions towards corporate social responsibility as well. We intend to work on cause centric projects and products for the future in additional to the existing leisure business model. Kerala travel experiences have to be beyond the bed and breakfast products which we have been offering over the years.

Mystikal Experiential Holidays would include cycling tours, bike tours, auto tours, jeep tours, walking tours, activity based group tours and more. We have some very interesting group tours designed in this category whereas group travelers you get the opportunity to interact and work with the local community. This is particularly interesting to the student travelers who are willing to undertake community projects for short periods. In addition we shall be announcing exclusive tours over the next few months. So keep coming back or subscribe to our newsletter.

Mystikal Holidays has evolved from a conventional tour operator to a fully fledged Destination Management Company (DMC) offering professional service for South India. A decade long extensive ground work catering to various principles has made Mystikal Holidays one of the few possessing extensive local knowledge, expertise and resources. We specialize in the conceptualizing, planning, designing and implementation of tours, transportation, events, activities and program logistics.

We provide a ground service based on our strength of local expertise. The services include transportation, hotel accommodation, restaurants, activities, excursions, conference venues, themed events, gala dinners and logistics, meetings, incentive schemes as well as helping with overcoming language barriers. As the regional DMC for Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Goa we provide extensive tours and support across all these destinations.

As we are based in Kochi, Kerala the access to three international airports besides the major cities of Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Goa give us extensive entry and exit points in South India to make us a strong regional player. We offer short and long tours from all these entry points besides MICE and weddings. Being based in Kerala gives us an added advantage of offering programme starting from Goa, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Trichy, Madurai ending at Kerala or vice versa. We have huge bouquet of South India Tours, some of the popular ones have been displayed on our website. We are able to offer variety, flexibility and attractive fares for our programmes

There was a time when Delhi was the hub for Destination Management Companies in India.  It is now passe as India as a destination has grown and is no longer limited to the Golden Triangle.  Principle agents have realized this and have now started working with multiple agencies in North and South India. As an established DMC we provide preferential rates and services which have been strengthened with years of practice- this comes with smiling Mystikal Hospitality. So if you are looking for a DMC in South India, do reach us.

Tourism has been awaiting good news for a while and the timing couldn’t have been better. As India reels under the dropping graph of foreign tourists the government took the best initiative in years opened up the VISA norms. On 7th October government gave go ahead for extending visa on arrival (VOA) to 40 countries, establishing an online application system for visas and facilitating visa on arrival for pensioners and those attending conferences.

This means foreign tourists will no longer face the tormenting experiences and procedural delays in the Indian Embassy. Tourist from 40 countries including the US, the UK, Germany, France, Brazil, Russia and China among others will now avail visa on arrival when they arrive on Indian shores. The government has also agreed to extend visa on arrival to foreign travelers above 60 years of age from all countries and cut down the time taken to give visas to groups that are keen to attend conventions.

The implementation may take some time but it is certainly a sure shot winner of a decision for the tourism Industry. The ministries have been asked to prepare the ground work for to roll out the visa on arrival scheme. As a large amount of infrastructure and manpower would be required the roll out may take some time.

Currently visa on arrival facility is available at international airports of Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Kochi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. It was also decided at the meeting that visa on arrival visa facility would be extended to more airports like Goa, Gaya, Chandigarh and Amritsar which have a large flow of foreign tourists. So far, citizens of around 11 countries including Japan, New Zealand and Vietnam are able to avail this facility.

This open regime will not open flood gates in the Indian Tourism sector immediately, but would certainly lead to one, if the promotional campaigns by Ministry of tourism is scaled up in tandem with this. Awareness about India and its products needs a radical push with consistency across all nations where we are going to provide the VISA on arrival, especially into those nations where we don’t have campaigns running. A concentrated effort from the trade would definitely bring in huge change in no of arrivals translating into much required Forex.

Kudos to Government of India for making such a populous decision, special credit to Ministry of Home and Ministry of Tourism. Tourism industry welcomes this much awaited decision and looks forward to a fast implementation.