Category: Top Three Stories

Avani to open new hotel in Laos

Avani Hotels & Resorts Avani Hotels & Resorts launches its first hotel in the historic town of Luang Prabang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northern Laos. The 53-room hotel is located on a narrow peninsula at the joining of the Nam Khan and Mekong Rivers. Currently known as the Azerai Hotel, the rebrand will be completed in March 2018. The French neo-classical architectural design resembles the style of the grand villas found in Luang Prabang. The hotel is situated on the doorstep of the famous night market where guests will find locally made appliqué blankets, Hmong batik fabrics, lamps, ... Read more

Crowne Plaza opens new hotel in London

Crowne Plaza London – Albert Embankment Crowne Plaza London – Albert Embankment, the first luxury hotel in the Albert Embankment area, is all set to launch in May 2018. Located on the South Bank of the River Thames, this new hotel is symbolic of the new brand platform from Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resort that launched earlier in 2017 called ‘We’re All Business, Mostly’. Created by ADS Design and RPW Design, Crowne Plaza London – Albert Embankment offers breath-taking views over The Thames, including the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye. The sky terrace on the 14th floor offers ... Read more

Heavy snow: ‘Do not Travel’ warning in UK

The Met Department of the UK has issued ‘do not travel’ warnings as heavy snow storms hits different parts of the country. Drivers in Scotland and Northern England had been urged not to travel, as snow storms hit parts of the UK for a third day. “Snow showers will be heaviest and most frequent across western Scotland where a further 10-20 cm is likely to build up above 200-300 m with 30 cm possible over the very highest routes. The high ground of Northern Ireland and Northern England will also see 10-15 cm building up,” says the official statement. At ... Read more

Display the stars: Govt asks hotels

Crowne Plaza, Kochi Ministry of Tourism, Govt. of India, issues fresh guidelines with aim to streamline hotel classification, to make them simple, transparent and time-bound. Liquor shops and stores on the premises of a hotel other than bars will not be considered for classification under star hotels “with alcohol” category, to remove any ambiguity. Besides, all hotels will now have to mandatorily display their classification status prominently at the reception and on their websites under a separate icon on the opening page, which will display the order of classification issued by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. Unlike previously, ... Read more

Zambian co hits back at Trump

A private tour company in Zambia lashes out at the US president Donald Trump’s controversial remarks about their country by releasing a new campaign.         photo courtesy:yahoo.com Trump opened this controversial statement about African countries as “****Hole countries” during an office meeting about immigration at the oval office in White House. In a fitting reply to this remark, the Zambian tour company, used the same words coined by Trump in their latest campaign, which is creating waves across social media platforms. The company titled its campaign as ‘Visit ****Hole Zambia’ with the tagline, “where the only stars ... Read more

Madavoorpara gets a facelift; Kerala to double tourism earnings

  Madavoorpara. Photo-Courtesy: Praveen-Kattayikonam Kerala State Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran inaugurates the Rs. 7 crore historic Madavoorpara tourism project, on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram. “Madavoorppara would become a major tourist centre in the district once the Rs. 7 crore development work by Uralungal Labour Cooperative Society completes. The project is expected to be completed in a-year-and-a-half,” says the minister. The 300-ft-high natural wonder at Chenkottukonam would be having cottages, adventure zone, amphitheatre, cafeteria, walkways, and green huts.  The cave temple at ‘Madavoorpara’ is believed to have been built around the 8th century A.D. The site, at present, has a children’s ... Read more

IIHM to open country’s first tourism university

Web Desk International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM) Kolkata, will open the country’s one and only tourism university. IIHM is investing over Rs. 150 crore in setting up the University out of which Rs. 70 crore has already been invested towards setting up the infrastructure and state-of-art facilities in Salt Lake Electronic Complex Sector 5. IIHM Campus in Kolkatta Named as the IIHM University and is registered under the West Bengal Private University Act, the new institution is a joint venture between IIHM and Institute of Advanced Management (IAM). “Our vision is to co-create one of the finest Tourism Universities ... Read more

“Allow bikinis, tourism will flourish in Maharashtra”

Web Desk Photo Courtesy: India.com In what can be called as a historical statement, the Deputy Speaker of the Goa Assembly and BJP MLA Michael Lobo states that the state of Maharashtra is falling short of tourist revenues because it does not allow bikinis in its territory. Lobo made this statement while speaking at one of the events held to mark the Opinion Poll day, where he justifies that bikinis are allowed in Goa because of the Opinion Poll of 1967. At a time when Goa was liberated from the Portuguese rule in 1961, a historic referendum was held in ... Read more

GST council may discuss LITC in tourism tomorrow

Web Desk The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, in its 24th meeting on January 18, is likely to make changes in the GST Law to facilitate the release of locked input tax credit in tourism and hotel industry. The council is meeting to hold discussions over Narendra Modi’s mission for having a digital-based economy, with a focus on incentivisation of digital payment of taxes under the GST regime. The industry bodies have been mentioning that the lack of input tax credit (ITC) under the GST has impacted the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) segment with cancellations and postponement ... Read more

One crore foreigners visited India in 2017; earns USD 27 bn

Union minister for tourism Alphons Kannanthanam stated that the Tourism Industry has generated USD 27 billion in revenue. Around 10 million foreign tourists (FTA) visited the country in 2017. “The tourism sector was doing well with 15.2 per cent more increase in foreign tourist arrival,” says the minister. The foreign exchange earnings went up to 20.2 per cent. “Income from tourism from foreign tourist arrival alone has been 27 billion dollars and if we convert in terms of rupee it would come approximately to 1,75000 crores rupees,” Kannanthanam adds. The tourism sector is contributing 6.88 per cent to the country’s ... Read more

Australia to Prohibit Uluru climbing by 2019

Web Desk photo courtesy: youtube.com Uluru, a 3.6 km long large sandstone rock formation, adorns the exquisite beauty of Australia. Located at the southern part of Northern Territory in Central Australia, Uluru dwells inside The Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park. With most of its base buried underneath the red soil, Uluru is a crest of 348m (1,142 ft) above sea level with a total girth of 9.4 km. photo courtesy: australia.com Uluru turns red during dawn and sunset. However, hikers to Uluru are greeted with a bad news. The inhabitants of Uluru, the Anandu tribe, have been requesting to ... Read more

Cuba expects 5 mn tourists in 2018

Web Desk Photo Courtesy: Cubatravel Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean, is all set to achieve new record in tourism by receiving five million foreign visitors this year. “2018 will be the year of the five million tourists. It will also be a year of major investments,” says Manuel Marrero, Minister for Tourism. The government’s 2030 tourism development plan foresees building 224 new hotels and expanding another 32 establishments with high occupancy rates, to boost visitor numbers. Cuba’s tourism industry currently offers 68,000 hotel rooms, and the plan calls for raising that figure to 103,000. In 2017, around 4.7 ... Read more

Kanchenjunga Winter Tourism Festival: Sikkim Calling

Kanchenjunga Winter Tourism Festival 2017 will be held at Pelling in West Sikkim.

From eyes to heart, the health secrets of carrot

Beta carotene is used for the production of Vitamin A, which in turn boosts eye health.

Walking through the heart of Lisbon

Lisbon, the coastal capital city of Portugal is one of the most visited cities in southern Europe