Category: News

Well-known for its state-of-the-art passenger-friendly amenities, the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, came fist in the quarterly ACI-ASQ Arrival Survey. The airport is operated by Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), In the survey conducted by Airports Council International’s Airport Service Quality survey for arrivals during April-June 2018, Bengaluru Airport gained 4.67 points (out of five). Abu Dhabi International Airport was second with 4.53 points, while Toronto Pearson International Airport was third with 4.44 points. First-of-this-kind, the survey focuses on the experience of arriving passengers – helping airports measure, benchmark and enhance service quality levels. Bengaluru Airport is the only Indian airport ... Read more

Colombo, Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said his government is considering easing the air traffic system including visas for tourists to enhance the island’s tourism industry. Speaking at the Hotel Show Colombo 2018 in the capital of Colombo on 21st July, Wickremesinghe said that easing visa regulations would be a brave step for the swiftly developing tourism industry in the country. He reiterated the importance of increasing the number of tourists visiting the country, as tourism becoming one of the major contributors of revenue for the island country. Tourism will be the future of Sri Lanka, in ... Read more

Jog Falls Unlike the monsoon seasons earlier, this year the tourism sector of Karnataka is experiencing a boom, instead of shortfall in the number of tourists. Incessant rains these days have revived the rivers and waterfalls, which lure a number of tourists during this off season. “Earlier, June and July were considered off-season. Now there is a change in the trend. People like to travel during monsoon. Our properties, especially opposite Jog Falls have seen 90-95 percent booking during this time, which is unlikely,” said Kumar Pushkar, Managing Director, Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC). Other than Jog Falls, Madikeri ... Read more

S K Mishra, Chairman, ITRHD with Amit Khare, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting “Conservation of rural heritage will help to promote tourism and development in rural India,” said Amit Khare, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. He was speaking at the inauguration function of the seventh Annual General Body Meeting of the Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development (ITRHD). He lauded the conservation efforts of ITRHD, which is devoted to the preservation of Indian heritage and culture in rural India. Khare highlighted the ITRHD’s conservation works of 17th -19th century village of terracotta temples in Maluti, Jharkhand. He said such conservation efforts will help not ... Read more

  Tourism Minister Kadakpalli Surendran inaugurated the amenities and safety measures implemented at the Kovalam Beach under the ‘Safe Tourism Programme’ on 21st July 2018. The works at the beach were completed as per the Kovalam Master Plan announced last month. As per the master plan a number things have been done on the beach to make it safe and beautiful. The works carried out under the programme include, installation of surveillance cameras, solar lamps, police aid posts, beautification of walkways, electrification in required areas, safety warning signs etc. The tourism industry is looking forward to the forthcoming tourism season ... Read more

Rock Beach Seven beaches in Puducherry will have a face-lift with an estimated cost of Rs  44.07 crore. It was informed in the Assembly by the Health and Tourism Minister Malladi Krishna Rao. The works are about to complete in March 2019. He further stated that the development of the heritage area in Puducherry was in progress at an estimated cost of Rs 80 crore and would be completed by December 2018. Promenade Beach Works are going on to develop two temples and a spiritual park at Thirunallar in Karaikal. The Kirumampakkam lake would be developed as a tourist destination ... Read more

Giving a much needed relief to the tourism sector, the GST Council has slashed the rates as per the demands of the industry. The GST of those hotels which has tariff rates upto Rs 7500 is reduced to 18 per cent. For hotels with the tariff rate of Rs 7500 plus, the GST will remain as 28 per cent. The council also decided that GST for hotels to be charged on the actual price that the customer pays and not on the declared tariffs. The GST Council in its 28th meeting, chaired by interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal, has decided ... Read more

Navjot Singh Sidhu, Tourism and cultural affairs minister of Punjab has finalised a plan to develop Virasat-e-Khalsa, a museum of the Sikhs. The proposal was announced on 20th July, which will make the Virasat a ‘strategic tourist spot’ in the state. It also propose to improve the basic amenities and infrastructure at Anandpur Sahib, the birthplace of Khalsa. “Since Virasat-e-Khalsa is attracting a number of tourists every year, it is high time to develop tented accommodation, budget hotels, food courts and souvenir shops in its vicinity,” said Sidhu, who was presiding over a meeting of Anandpur Sahib Foundation. “The Union ... Read more

IndiGo will start direct flight from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata from August 1. Flight (A320) will depart from Kolkata and reach Bhubaneswar at 12.20 am on a daily basis and will depart from Bhubaneswar at 5.25 am. “We will also start direct flights between Bhubaneswar and Ahmedabad within few days. We have also written to IndiGo and Air Asia for starting operations between Bhubaneswar and Pune,” said Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) Director Suresh Chandra Hota. BPIA announced that it will start another direct flight from Bhubaneswar to Ahmedabad. Since there are no slots available at Pune airport, they have requested the two ... Read more

Picture for representation purpose only The Phase 1 of International Conventional Centre Complex (ICCC), near Akkulam lake and Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram, by K Raheja Corporation’s Chalet Hotels is all set to start post monsoon. The Rs 900-crore business hub, features a marina, a 150-room four-star hotel and a 1,500-seater convention centre in phase 1. This will have a built-up area of 16,503 sq mt. The second phase comes with an additional 1,500-seater convention centre, two hotels (one five-star and another four-star), a wellness resort, retail area, commercial space, food courts and amphitheatre, among others, according to the concept diagrams. All the hotels will have ... Read more

The West Bengal government is renovating around 25 state-owned tourist lodges to make them three-star properties. It is a significant move from the affordability archetype for tourist accommodation run by the former government to one of ensuring luxury.   The estimated cost of the project is Rs 100 crore. “The room tariff will likely to increase when these lodges reopen in three months,” said Atri Bhattacharya, principal secretary in the Department of Tourism. The move is aiming at expanding clientele in the state-owned lodges. Currently, the tourists looking for luxury prefer to stay in expensive private hotels. Though there will ... Read more

Cochin Port’s new cruise terminal will come up at the Ernakulam Wharf by February 2020. The cruise terminal, to be built at a cost of Rs 25.72 crore, will have the facilities to handle 5,000 tourists. The 2,253-sq metre terminal will feature passenger and crew lounges, immigration counters, tourist information counter and duty free shopping. The estimated cost of construction of the terminal is Rs 25.72 crore and of this Rs 21.41 crore had been sanctioned as grant by the Union Tourism Ministry, said a release. Being one of the prime cruise tourism destinations in the country, Cochin Port had been ... Read more

Aiming at making the tourist destinations in the district clean and presentable, the District Magistrate, East Khasi Hills has issued an order prohibiting the use of polythene bags with a thickness of less than 40 microns in the district. The objective is to restraint the spread of plastic wastes in all tourist destinations in the district. This order comes into force with immediate effect. The order has been issued in the light of reports received from different sectors that indiscriminate disposal of used plastic in various forms is profusely taking place in tourist spots within the district. Accumulation of plastic ... Read more

Volcano eruptions are always been the center of attraction for tourists in the Hawaii Islands. However the recent eruption of the Kilauea volcano has caused slowdown in the tourist inflow in the region. This is followed by the mandatory evacuation and strict advisory of the authorities at the volcano eruption site. The risk of going to the volcano eruption site has come in to attention of the authorities this week when lava flowing into the ocean caused an explosion that sent a hot rock crashing through a touring boat’s roof. Though there were no causalities, tourists had minor injuries and ... Read more

Air Tanzania is all set to introduce direct flight connectivity between Mumbai and Julius Nyerere by year end. The airline is planning to begin its international operations through this service, said Baraka H Luvanda, High Commissioner of the United Republic of Tanzania. The flight, proposed to operate thrice a week,  is waiting for permissions from the government to complete the formalities of launching its first international route. “This new flight will not only assist the tourism industry, but will also be helpful for other industries to speed up their businesses in both countries,” he said. Around 40,000 Indians visit Tanzania annually ... Read more