Category: News

To promote adventure tourism in the hills, the tourism department of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) is planning to develop Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. Necessary steps will be taken to make these places more than just a tourist destination. Travellers to Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong will now have a host of adventurous activities at these destinations. GTA is now working to develop infrastructure in the hills and will soon be offering tourists with facilities like hill biking, paragliding, rafting and cycling. Besides promoting adventure tourism, major steps will be taken to make travellers aware of homestay facilities in these regions. The authorities ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: GoingBeyond The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and Airbnb is planning to create 1,500 tourism entrepreneurs in the state. The Tourism Entrepreneurship Accelerator Programme aims to attract a larger global audience and boost tourism in Maharashtra. “After signing an agreement for Tourism Entrepreneurship Accelerator Programme with Airbnb last year we already have 500 hosts enrolled on the community-driven hospitality company’s platform generating regular income. We are targeting to create 1,500 entrepreneurs in villages through the programme this year,” said Maharashtra Tourism Minister Jaykumar Rawal told reporters here. The programme aims to make every home under this programme a micro-information centre, ... Read more

Air India has announced that it has revised the excess baggage charges by Rs 100 per kg to Rs 500 for domestic travels from June 11, 2018. As of now, the airline charges Rs 400 per kg for excess baggage. The revised charges are applicable on all flights operated by Air India, except those of its regional arm, Alliance Air. “It has been decided to revise the excess baggage rate in the domestic sector to Rs 500 per kg per coupon on all travels commencing on or after June 11 from Rs 400 per kg,” the airline said in a ... Read more

Qatar Airways said it will soon move an application to launch a full-service airline in India for domestic operations. The proposed airline would be fully financed by Qatar’s sovereign fund and would have Indians heading the board, said AkbarAl Baker, CEO of the Airlines. “We will move the application soon. I don’t know really by when because it (the process) takes time,” he said. Set up in 2005, Qatar Investment Authority manages the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar and its assets under management are estimated at USD 335 billion. It was in March 2017 that Baker first mentioned about ... Read more

Seychelles Tourism Board, alongwith Travstarz Global Group, B2B Venture by CTRIP, DMC for Seychelles, has concluded a 3-city roadshow covering Ludhiana, Indore and Baroda. Seychelles Tourism was represented by Aswini Krishna and Shakambri Soni while Travstarz was represented by Hema Manghnani, Ramanpreet Singh and Vani Singh. “We are looking at creating more destination awareness among the Tier-II and III cities in India with a focus on increasing the number of passengers to Seychelles. We realised early on in our journey that high end travellers are no longer limited to the main metros and a testimony to the same is the ... Read more

Planet Ocean Foundation and OceanLove, supported by Uday Samudra Hotels & Resorts and Bond Ocean Safari Kovalam, is organizing an Ocean Conference on 8th June 2018 at 3 pm. The event will be conducted at Uday Samudra Hotel in Kovalam, Thriuvananthapuram. “We have a host of eminent people and subject matter experts from various reputed institutions, NGOs and organizations speaking on a wide range of subjects related to the oceans at this conference. They will emphasis how important the oceans are for sustaining life. Be part of this worldwide campaign,” said Jackson Peter, Managing Director, Bond Ocean Safari Kovalam. K R ... Read more

On a very positive note, the Vistara airlines has banned consumption of gutka (tobacco) on board its aircraft, possibly becoming the first Indian airline to do so. “At @airvistara, we take the environment seriously. The 50 per cent on board disposable plastics reduction and low emissions aircraft are just a start. Cleanliness at all times is part of our mantra. We have also banned chewing tobacco or ‘gutka’ consumption on board and at our facilities,” Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Strategy & Chief Commercial Officer, Vistara, tweeted announcing the ban. On May 27, an air traveller had tweeted (from handle @LaliGanguli) to ... Read more

The Mumbai international airport has broke its own world record of handling most flight movements in 24 hours. The airport, which is the busiest single runway airport in the world, handled 1,003 flights in a single days. The previous record held by the Mumbai airport handled landing and departure of 980 flights in February this year. London’s Gatwick airport is the distant second on the list with over 800 flight movements per day. The sudden upsurge in the number of flights operating from the Mumbai airport could be attributed to a storm on Monday. Many flights were spilled over to Tuesday ... Read more

Owing to the growing awareness through the Internet and various activations, young Indians are in the forefront to curb carbon footprint by opting for a sustainable holiday. The Cox & Kings study reveals a whopping 87 per cent of the respondents feel strongly about saving the environment. The study also highlights the deciding parameters for accommodation, adventure type, the rise of voluntourism, transport and travel logistics for the young Indian travellers. It was based on the survey carried out in key cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and Thiruvananthapuram among 5,000 youth aged between 20-35 years. About 74 per ... Read more

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) India Regional Office is inviting bids from professional and well-connected marketing representative agencies, with strong in-market knowledge and travel trade networks to promote Destination Singapore and help grow visitor-ship from South India to Singapore. The appointment will be for one year, commencing September/October 2018, with an option to extend for an additional year. To receive the tender documents, please email to mumbai@stb.gov.sg and quote reference number: STB/MUMD/18-19/LT2 Quotations will be accepted by email only. The tender closes on Monday, 18th June at 1500hours (3.00 PM) India Standard Time. Any enquiries regarding the specifications are to ... Read more

In a way to boost the tourism sector, Lao tourism industry is planning to upgrade the working standards of staff working in tourism sector so that they will be able challenge their ASEAN counterparts and international platforms. The plan was revealed by a Lao delegation from the Mass Media, Culture and Tourism Institute while attending the Regional Workshop for the Development of ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Tourism Professionals (MRA-TP) Work Plan 2018-2022. The workshop was conducted at Bangkok from May 31st to June 1st. The workshop had attendees from other ASEAN member states, the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN-Australian Development Cooperation ... Read more

Ministry of Railways’ PSU IRCTC has launched its trial run of environment friendly bagasse based food packaging on 8 select Shatabdis and Rajdhanis originating from New Delhi. Passengers in these trains will be served meals on eco-friendly disposable plates (compostable containers) instead of the polymer ones as part of the Railways’ drive to go green. IRCTC with this new initiative reaffirms its commitment to a cleaner and greener India and has taken a small step in this direction to achieve the same. Bagasse, the fibrous remains left behind after extracting sugarcane juice, is being used to make disposable cutlery and ... Read more

Emiratis have started tasting Tripura’s ‘Queen’ variety of pineapples for the first time from this week onwards. The Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has flagged off a tonne consignment to Dubai this Sunday on a SpiceJet aircraft via New Delhi. SpiceJet has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the state government-run Tripura Horticulture Corp and a Kolkata-based company to facilitate the exports. President Ramnath Kovind, who is expected to visit Tripura tomorrow would declare the ‘Queen’ variety of pineapple as the state fruit. The declaration of state fruit would be made at a civic reception organised by the state government in honour ... Read more

2018 പകുതിയിലേക്ക് കടക്കുമ്പോൾ ശ്രീലങ്കയിൽ ആദ്യ അഞ്ചുമാസം എത്തിയത് പത്തു ലക്ഷത്തിലേറെ വിദേശ സഞ്ചാരികൾ. ജനുവരി മുതൽ മെയ് വരെ ശ്രീലങ്കയിൽ എത്തിയത് 10,17,819 പേർ . പോയ വർഷത്തേക്കാൾ 14 .7 ശതമാനത്തിന്റെ വർധനയെന്നു ശ്രീലങ്ക ടൂറിസം പ്രൊമോഷൻ അതോറിറ്റി അറിയിച്ചു. കഴിഞ്ഞ മേയിൽ ശ്രീലങ്കയിൽ എത്തിയ വിദേശ സഞ്ചാരികളുടെ എണ്ണം 1,21,891 വിദേശ സഞ്ചാരികളാണ് വന്നതെങ്കിൽ ഇക്കൊല്ലം അത് 1,29,466 ആയുയർന്നു. 6.2 ശതമാനത്തിന്റെ വർധന. മെയ് മാസം മാത്രം ശ്രീലങ്കയിൽ എത്തിയ ഇന്ത്യൻ സഞ്ചാരികളുടെ എണ്ണം 42,073 ആണ്. കഴിഞ്ഞ മേയിൽ ഇത് 34,167 ആയിരുന്നു.ഇതടക്കം ആദ്യ അഞ്ചു മാസം ശ്രീലങ്കയിൽ എത്തിയ ഇന്ത്യക്കാരുടെ എണ്ണം 1,73,366 ആണ്.

Rajasthan’s proposal to create an eco-tourist circuit will soon be sanctioned by the Union Tourism Ministry under Swadesh Darshan scheme. As per reports, the tourism circuit is expected to have a projected investment of Rs 100 crore and the work will commence within one month. The proposal to Union Ministry includes developing three circuits comprising eco-tourism, desert and tribal tourism initiating new infrastructure works, aimed at expanding tourism prospects in the state. The eco-tourist circuit proposal demands to improve amenities in Sariska Tiger Reserve (Alwar), Raoli Tadgarh Sanctuary (Rajsamand), Mount Abu Sanctuary (Sirohi), Kailadevi Wildlife Sanctuary (Karauli), Kumbhalgarh Sanctuary (Rajsamand), ... Read more