Category: Second Headline

UAE announces new transit visa policy which is aimed at enhancing transit visa procedures to enable stopover passengers to enjoy a day out in the country, thus boosting the tourism industry. The cabinet has given a thumbs up for the preparations to begin on a general policy to grant entry visas to transit passengers – across all UAE airports – who wish to visit the country’s landmarks and tourist attractions. The cabinet has formed a working group, led by the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, to prepare the new policy considering the possible positive effects it will have on the ... Read more

The much-awaited 2018 edition of Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB) is about to hit the Pink City, which is also known as the Paris of India. Regarded as the biggest travel and tourism event held annually in India, FICCI GITB is expected to add another feather in the cap of this historical city by turning it into a tourism hub. Jaipur’s growing reputation as a tourism hotspot, speaks volumes for its chances of becoming a heritage centre in India and its suitability to host an event for the tourism players across the world to chart new growth strategies and discuss ... Read more

Indian Railways is planning to promote heritage tourism by conserving the existing 5m gauge railway tracks. The tracks proposed for the conservation project includes the Visavadar-Talala line in Gujarat (42.27 km) that passes through the Gir forest in Gujarat. Mhow-Patalpani-Kalakand line in Madhya Pradesh (16 km). Mavli Junction-Marwar Junction line in Rajasthan (162 km), Mahur-Harangjao line in Assam (47 km) and the Nanpur-Mailani metre-gauge line in Uttar Pradesh (171 km), that passes inside the Dudhwa Tiger reserve. The tracks were built during the British ruling period. Meanwhile, the Railways currently focus on building and preserving the existing railway networks, on ... Read more

Rajasthan tourism marks a remarkable increase in tourist arrival, as in 2017 around 475.27 lakh, tourists visited the state which is higher in number when compared with the previous statistics. Around 16.10 lakhs arrivals, out of the total number were foreign tourists with the other half being domestic tourists. More foreign tourists are getting attracted to the state, which is filled with rich heritage and history in the form of forts, arts, festivals and architecture. The data further reveals that most of the foreign arrivals were reported from France 2.02 lakh, followed by the United Kingdom 1.56 lakh and USA’s ... Read more

Tourism News Live, the 24X7 dedicated tourism news portal, has received “Best Innovative Idea” award from the Association for Arab Tour Operators (AATO). Anish Kumar PK, President, ATTOI, received the award from Kerala Minister for Tourism, Kadakampally Surendran at a function held in Crowne Plaza, Kochi. Tourism News Live, the first integrated news portal discussing positive stories about the tourism and travel fraternity to the global audience, is the brain-child of ATTOI (Association of Tourism Trade Organisations, India). The minister has also released an Arab-English travel guide published by the Association for Arab Tour Operators. Kerala Travel Mart President Baby Mathew ... Read more

Flipkart has announced its tie-up with MakeMyTrip for travel bookings. Through the partnership, users can now make travel bookings through MakeMyTrip’s services using Flipkart’s mobile application. The partnership will be rolled out with domestic flight bookings in the next few weeks, followed by hotels, bus, and holiday bookings. “The partnership will help us reach out to an even wider consumer base through MakeMyTrip’s multiple travel booking sites — MakeMyTrip, Goibibo and redBus — and open up the online travel market significantly,” said the founder and Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MakeMyTrip Deep Kalra. The companies did not disclose the ... Read more

Kerala recorded the highest number of tourism arrivals in the past nine-year period, with a 10.94 per cent rise compared with the figures of last year. An increase of 15.54 lakh new tourists – domestic and foreign travellers combined – was recorded this year, with footfalls going up to 1,57,65,390 in 2017, as against 1,42,10,954 in 2016. Domestic tourism arrivals also grew in 2017 and recorded the highest number in the past nine-year period, posting an 11.39 per cent rise compared to the previous year.  An increase of 15 lakh new domestic tourists was recorded this year, with footfalls going ... Read more

International travel advisories against India are “hugely biased” and “uncalled for” because crime and violent incidents in the country are only “few and far between”, said Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons. He also asserted that India was a “perfectly safe” tourist destination for foreigners and the government was making efforts to get negative advisories against the country removed. The minister said this in an interview with IANS. “Most of these advisories are hugely biased. Why is the advisory for Assam is still on Level 2? Such advisories are completely uncalled for,” the minister added. The External Affairs Ministry has been ... Read more

Nepal has opened its first “accessible” trekking trail in the country’s famous tourism city Pokhara, targeting the disabled people with physical limitations and elderly population. The trail was inaugurated as part of a three-day international conference on ‘Accessible Tourism’ held for the first time in the Himalayan nation from March 29 to March 31 in Pokhara. Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari inaugurated the 1.3-km section of the 14-km long hiking path in the ridge connecting Sarangkot to Naudanda areas, the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) said in a statement. “The trail could be a benchmark of Nepal’s ... Read more

IRCTC is planing to launch its own digital payment gateway, which is being initially called ‘ipay’. The new payment gateway, which will be rolled out in phases after testing, is expected to be ready over the next 4-8 weeks. At present, Razorpay, Mobikwik and Paytm lead IRCTC’s railway ticket booking transactions through their gateways. The companies have to pay “a one-time licensing fee to integrate with IRCTC’s website and mobile app and in return share revenues with IRCTC on every transaction that goes through them. The licensing fee ranges from Rs 75 lakh to Rs 1 crore. IRCTC has recently completed its ... Read more

Indian Railways will replace Shatabdi Express trains with its first engine-less semi-high speed train for inter-city travel in June this year. The train boasts of world-class amenities and has been completely manufactured in Chennai under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious ‘Make in India’ programme. The train that has been codenamed ‘Train 18’ after the year its year of manufacture, is self-propelled like the Metro trains and capable of traveling at speeds of 160 kmph. THe train will have driving cabins on both ends and coaches will be inter-connected with fully sealed gangways. Compared to current trains, it will cut down travel time ... Read more

For the past couple of days, facebook has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons, putting scores of people in fear and doubt about the data breach. In response to the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data breach controversy, Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra has called for Indian Startups to find an alternative of Facebook – a Desi version of the social networking site. “Beginning to wonder if it’s time to consider having our own social networking company that is very widely owned and professionally managed and willingly,” he tweeted. Mahindra even announced that he is ready to “assist with seed capital” ... Read more

Foreign tourists, except those from Pakistan and China, may soon be allowed to visit some of the most pristine locations of the country, kept out of bound so far for them without a special permit. The Union home ministry is examining whether to relax the six-decade-old Restricted Area Permit regime, under which foreigners must obtain a special permission to visit Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and parts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir among others. “Discussions are on with the state governments to relax the Restricted Area Permit provisions for some areas for foreign tourists,” said Union Minister of ... Read more

In an attempt to increase passenger amenities and to give an aesthetic makeover to the most visited stations across Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways has formulated the plan to redevelop 90 stations across Indian Railways. The redevelopment plan of 90 stations is assigned to different zones/nodal agencies. Given that some stations are important pilgrimage hubs and report over 45,000 footfalls per day, Indian Railways would strive to ensure that passenger’s get best services at the stations even during peak seasons. It may be noted that Indian Railways is in the process of redevelopment of more than 600 stations. While doing ... Read more

The Centre has decided to develop three railway stations in Kerala as world-class railway stations, informed Union Minister of State for Tourism and Information Technology, Alphons KJ has said. The minister has announced the decision through his Facebook page today. Kottayam, Palakkad and Kozhikode railway stations will be raised to world-class standard, said the minister. The government has allocated Rs 20 crore  for this purpose. The decision was taken following the discussions held with Union Minister for Railways, Piyush Goyal.