Category: News

India is not just depending on the foreign tourist arrivals, close to 24 million Indians travelled last year. “In 2017, 1.8 million trips were made by Indians within the country and which will go up to 2 million in 2018 and we want this number to increase dramatically, its not just about international arrivals but also Indians visiting India,” Tourism Minister K J Alphons said while interacting to the travel/tour operators in a Q&A session at the ITB Berlin. The minister also stressed on the growing use of new technologies and methodologies in tourism, especially social media. Alphons also spoke ... Read more

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm, is the youngest Indian billionaire. At the age of 39, he owns $1.7 billion net worth with his innovative idea of digital cashless transaction through mobile app. Paytm gradually gained its reach and popularity, after the Union Ministry’s announcement of demonetisation with Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes leaving a chaos in emergency transactions among the citizens. Paytm used the simple solution of QR code to transact money between the seller and the buyer, that doesn’t even require a physical device like that of a swipe machine. In a period of 6 months Paytm reached ... Read more

Air India to conduct direct flight from Delhi to Tel Aviv in Israel from 22nd March onwards. “The flight schedule would be extended to three times a week,” said the airline authorities. Air India had planned to execute the service earlier, but later got abandoned, as other neighbouring counties refused to share their airspace for flying to Israel. Meanwhile, decisions changed officially after Israel Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu told the reporters that Saudi Arabia had issued their acceptance for the national carrier to fly over their airspace while en-routing to Israel. Air Indian flights in general needs the airspace of ... Read more

The Emirates A380 aircraft was piloted by Captain Patricia Bischoff from Canada and First Officer Rebecca Lougheed from the UK with cabin crew led by the purser Weronica Formela from Poland. In addition to the flight crew, an all-woman team worked on all ‘above wing’ and ‘below wing’ activities in the lead up to flight departure. This included women in roles spanning customer service in the airport such as the Passenger Duty Service Manager; ramp operations monitored by the Ramp Duty Controller and Ramp Operations Team Leader; technical services carried out by Licensed Aircraft Engineers and Technicians; and a myriad ... Read more

The government of Sri Lanka has issued a ban on popular social media platforms, as a precaution to stop the dissemination of information regarding the ongoing religious violence. According to the official reports, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Viber are blocked. The communal riot between Muslims and Buddhist began on Monday, followed by a 10-day emergency declared by the government. Meanwhile, with respect to the situation, Deputy Minister for National Policies, Harsha de Silva tweeted “Enough! Please stop. Don’t escalate this incident to a race riot. Police, you better follow instructions and enforce the damn law.” “We can only develop as ... Read more

It’s that time of the year for the travel and tourism industry players and professionals from every nook and corner of the world to hurry to the German capital of Berlin to participate in their dream get-together organised by Messe Berlin GmbH. The platform for this meeting is none other than the much talked about Internationale Tourismus-Börse Berlin (ITB Berlin), world’s largest tourism trade fair. As usual, this year too the event is attracting hundreds of thousands of exhibitors and participants. Around 10,000 tourism companies from 186 countries and regions are represented on an area covering 160,000-sq-m at the Messe ... Read more

According to a proposal put forward by the Dubai Airports, it would soon allow the transit passengers to Dubai to leave the airport to experience the city in no time. “Dubai Airports proposes “Microcosm of Dubai” as part of @Dubai10X Initiative overseen by Dubai Future Foundation… In Dubai transit time will become tourism as passengers are encouraged to leave the airport to experience the city,” tweeted the Dubai Media Office through their official twitter handle. Around 4.5 million passengers transit through the Dubai International Airport every month, reaching more than 50 million a year. Of these, an estimated 46 million ... Read more

A containership owned and operated by Maersk international was caught on fire at the Arabian Sea near Lakshadweep. The fleet had an attendance of over 27 crew members with over 13 Indians on board. The news had been set out by an India Coast Guard, who has initiated the secondary rescue mission. The giant container ship named ‘Maersk Honam’ was affected by the tragic event, while en route to Suez from Singapore. Meanwhile, reports came as the flame occurred after an explosion, that broke fire towards the vessel’s bridge, followed by ‘MV Als Cicero’ reaching the spot rescuing 23 crew ... Read more

Malaika Arora is Bollywood actress, performer, fitness, yoga enthusiast, and  what not! She has been making waves in the country and across the globe with her yoga pictures. Malaika is now joining a line-up of over 35 international and local experts at XYoga Dubai on March 16-17, at Dubai’s Kite Beach. More than 60 classes will be conducted at different zones, with the opening day featuring a mass yoga session at 8am. The registration to  over 60 complimentary classes & workshops designed can be accessed at www.xyogadubai.com. With 60 classes, 25 yoga styles and 35 yogis, the organisers are expecting over ... Read more

India, all set to host this year’s World Environment Day on 5th June 2018. The decision was announced by Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and climate change, along with the United Nations Environment Programme Chief Erik Solheim. ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ was the theme adopted this year, with an aim to reduce the use of plastic, that cause harm to humans as well as marine life. The event also joins hands with governments, industry, communities, and individuals for the achievement of the particular single goal. “India on our part is excited to host the World Environment Day this year. ... Read more

With an aim to familiarize Abu Dhabi tourism to the travel partners and tour planners in Kerala, the Department of Culture and Tourism has conducted a training workshop in Kerala’s capital city Thiruvananthapuram. The training workshop, conducted in association with Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), was lead by Bejan Dinshaw, Country Manager of DCT Abu Dhabi at Fortune South Park hotel in the city. The training started by showing the official video of Abu Dhabi, which was followed by a detailed description by Dinshaw about the destination, culture, tourism opportunities and packages the country offers. “Within five years Abu ... Read more

Dubai Airports concluded the Month of Innovation on a high note by winning two awards at the Aeronnovation Summit, which was organised by the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) as part of its strategy to support innovation in the country’s aviation sector. Dubai Airports won the awards under two categories – Improving Aviation Security for its security related platform AMIN, and Improving Passenger Experience for its Airport Community App. AMIN helps maintain security of the airport by using software and systems to centralise all security data to assist airport security professionals in analysing and processes information. The Airport Community ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: SeeSaudi Saudi has long been known as a conservative nation with little or no interest in opening its doors to the foreign visitors. Gone are those days and the nation, as part of its Vision 2030 plan, is all up for major social reforms. And, as part of it, Saudi is finally welcoming globetrotters from across the world to touch, feel and experience the unexplored land. It will start issuing the tourist visas from April 1. Camel Race The electronic passes will be given to ‘all nationals whose countries allow their citizens to visit’ in a bid to ... Read more

The tourism sector’s role and responsibility in contributing to sustainable development on a global scale was the central message delivered at the opening of the 2018 edition of the ITB Berlin travel trade show by Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Speaking in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, tourism ministers from around the world and the leaders of the tourism sector, Pololikashvili stressed how tourism not only needs to consolidate current growth rates, but “to grow better”. Grand Finale of the opening ceremony In 2017, international tourist numbers grew a record 7 per cent to ... Read more

Ahead of Women’s Day, Air India has operated a flight on the Kolkata-Dimapur-Kolkata sector today with an all-women cockpit and cabin crew as part of its celebration of International Women’s Day. The flight AI709, an Airbus 319, was operated by Captain Akanksha Verma and Captain Satovisa Banerjee in the cockpit while the cabin crew comprised D Bhutia, MG Mohanraj, T Ghosh and Yatili Kath. The flight was flagged off by Air India’s General Manager, Personnel, Navneet Sidhu along with other senior officials at the city airport — rolling out the events planned by Air India Eastern Region to commemorate the ... Read more