Category: News

30th National Road Safety Week, will be launched  in New Delhi on Monday, 4th February 2019. The event will take place at Gandhi Smriti and Darshan, Rajghat, New Delhi. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari and Union Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways Mansukh L Mandaviya will inaugurate the event. A host of school children, NGOs, and stakeholders in road safety from Government and industry will attend the function. From previous year’s programme Various programmes will be held during the Road Safety Week, including ... Read more

As per reports, more than 30 million visitors came to Japan in 2018, part of a prolonged tourism boom that has brought around USD 41 billion a year to regions across the country. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promised to bring 40 million overseas visitors to Japan by 2020. Though boom in tourism has brought fortune for the country, the residents are worried about the rising prices, unruly behaviour of the tourist and other disturbances come along with more overseas visitors. In some places the revenue earned from tourism is critical. Some 40 per cent of visitors go to the Kansai ... Read more

GoAir will launch direct flights on Kannur–Abu Dhabi–Kannur route effective March 1, 2019. The airline will operate four direct flight services per week between the destinations with bookings now open at an all-inclusive one way fare starting from Rs 6099. This sector will further strengthen the airline’s growing international network to the Gulf and travellers will now have the opportunity to experience affordable travel experience that GoAir is acknowledged with. “Commercial and cultural links between India and UAE are flourishing and GoAir is committed to contribute in facilitating and enhancing the growth of trade and the strong demand for tourism. ... Read more

Paytm has forayed into hotel bookings and announced the acquisition of NightStay, a luxury hotel-booking platform that offers deals on last-minute bookings. Paytm, owned by One97 Communications, is set to invest Rs 500 crore to scale up its operations and expand the hotel-booking portfolio. Further, Paytm is in plans to leverage its deal with Noida-based NightStay to bolster its new move. NightStay co-founder and CEO Nasr Khan will be leading the newly launched hotel-booking category at Paytm. With the latest development, customers could access more than 50,000 daily room nights from hand-picked hotels. It has also initially tied up with ... Read more

Uber app has introduced UberBoat in Mumbai. Through the Uber app, riders/passengers can book their speedboats from the Gateway of India to Elephanta Islands and further to Mandwa Jetty and vice versa. Sanjay Bhatia, Chairman, of the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) has launched the Uber Water Taxi App in collaboration with Maharashtra Maritime Board and UBER. MbPT is foreseeing the Mumbai city’s Eastern Water Front as Sea Transport and Tourism Hub. In this direction, MbPT has completed projects like Domestic Cruise Terminal, Mumbai-Goa Cruises Services, Floating Restaurants in Mumbai Harbour and Ro-Pax Terminal so far. Launch of Uber water taxi ... Read more

Doordarshan has launched a unique launched travelogue programme “Rag Rag Mein Ganga”. Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Road Transport & Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari and Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Information & Broadcasting and Youth Affairs & Sports, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore (Retd.) today  launched the new show. The travelogue series “Rag Rag Mein Ganga” has been made by Doordarshan in collaboration with National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG). The 21 episode series, covering River Ganga’s journey from Gomukh to Gangasagar, has been shot using state-of-the-art techniques including Drone Cameras and Go-Pro Cameras in ... Read more

Recently people are interested to visit slums and areas where poor people dwell. The practice is getting popularity in Africa, where the organizers of such visits name it as ‘slum tourism’ or ‘poverty tourism’. However, most of the residents are against this practice as it is affecting their dignity. Some have already protested and said they feel like wildlife. Kibera Slum, Kenya Slum tourism actually dates back more than 150 years, when the upper Victorian class travelled from London to the east of the city to see how the lower class lived. It is said that slum tourism in Africa ... Read more

There will not be any proposal for new casinos in Goa, as per the new tourism master plan, said Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar in the legislative assembly “All stakeholders involved in the tourism industry would be consulted, before finalizing the master plan, which incidentally has been criticized by stakeholders as well as Opposition members,” said the tourism minister in a written reply on a question regarding new casinos. “The tourism master plan was prepared after various consultative sessions with several concerned stakeholders, obtaining views and comments from the elected representatives, local authorities as well as the general public,” added the ... Read more

The Spice Village hotel by CGH Earth has bagged the Outlook Traveller’s Outstanding Property award at the Indian Responsible Tourism Awards 2019, held at Shangri-La Hotel, Delhi, today. Spice Village is a tribal village set in a spice garden at Periyar in Thekkady. Spice Village is modelled on the dwellings of the native Manan tribe of this region. Launched in 1991, Spice Village was the first theme resort to come up in Thekkady town. Spice Village has in place dry/wet waste management; efficient microbial composting, food waste composting; effluent treatment plant; solar panels for hot water requirements in the resort; recycling ... Read more

The Kerala Travel Mart Society has appointed Shine K S as the Chief Executive Officer. Shine will replace Mathew Philip, who is serving his last day today as the CEO of the KTM Society. “The Society has experienced 17 years of true professionalism and exemplary service from Mathew Philip,” said Jose Pradeep, Secretary, KTM. Shine will join office from February 1, 2019. Shine was working as the Deputy Director of Tourism, Government of Kerala.

Photo Courtesy: Prasanna Venkatesh The Kerala Budget presented in the Assembly today by Finance Minister Thomas Issac has earmarked Rs 372 crore for the Kerala Tourism. Out of the total budget allocated for tourism, Rs 82 crore will be earmarked for tourism marketing. “The most important aspect regarding the growth of tourism industry is effective marketing. Entrepreneurship has increased because of the marketing efforts carried out under the leadership of the government. We need to strengthen the tourism marketing considering the damages of Nipah and the devastating floods and harthals have made on the industry,” said the minister presenting the budget. ... Read more

The Amaravathi Township project Amaravathi model townships to come up in Kochi, said Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac during his Budget presentation today. Amaravathi Township, the main project of Urban Development Authority in Mangalagiri, was started with the vision of making the capital of Andhra Pradesh like Singapore. It collaborated with Singapore house construction corporation – Sarbana International (Sesma International) and is planning to construct 2, 3 bed room and duplex flats in 50 acres. The township will contain under ground current wires, gas supply by pipes and fiber optic communication lines. The Andhra Pradesh government is also planning to develop ... Read more

The Kerala state Finance Minister Thomas Issac has presented the Kerala Budget 2019 at the Assembly today. And, in his budgetary speech, he said that the the largest heritage conservation project in India, the Muziris Heritage Project, will be completed by 2021. Muziris is an ancient port town in Kerala, which still holds a kind of beauty that is filled with history and culture. And through the project, we get ready to travel back in time for centuries. What this old port town dishes out to us along with history and culture, are the remnants of its past glory, still ... Read more

Kerala budget presentation begins at the Assembly. Finance Minister Thomas Issac has presented the fourth budget of the present government and the tenth of his. The finance minister, in his budget, has said that the Wayanad coffee will be branded under the name ‘Malabar’. The budget presentation also says that Wayanad will be declared as a special zone for horticulture. Issac also suggested giving bank loans for planting trees in Wayanad  in the budget.  

Ministry of Tourism has appointed Association of Buddhist Tour Operators (ABTO) as Advisor in National Tourism Advisory Council (NTAC). The ministry had nominated the association to the council for preserving heritage monuments and promoting Buddhist tourism in the country. “ABTO is a platform for all tourism service providers and others stakeholders engaged in the promotion of Buddhist pilgrimage tourism in India, Nepal and other Asian countries. Our association has been working hard to promote, protect and preserve Buddhist monuments and pilgrimage sites around the Buddhist circuit on national and international level for the last four years. We are trying to ... Read more