Category: Asia

Photo Courtesy: The National As per a recent report in China Daily, China’s performance the tourism has boosted the travel and tourism sector in the Asia-Pacific region in recent years. Number of overnight stay travellers in China had gone up 2.5 per cent during 2017, compared with 2016, reaching 60.7 million.  Meanwhile, around 140 million outbound trips are recorded during 2018, depicting an increase of 11 million from 2017. It said that international visitors bound for China accounted for nearly 20 per cent of all travellers and 8.4 per cent of the tourism revenue generated in the Asia-Pacific region. It ... Read more

Ranoh Island, Batam Indonesian Tourism has identified Singapore as a tourism hub for the year 2019, as it seeks to benefit from 7,200 flights a week from and through the island state. It was revealed by Arief Yahya, the Tourism Minister. “I am saying that it is easier to fish in the neighbor’s pond that has already has a lot of fish. There are 11 million potential tourists, who we can encourage to come to Indonesia,” said Arief in Jakarta on Thursday. The initiative is stated in the Tourism Ministry’s program as part of the effort to achieve the targeted ... Read more

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced extension of the visa-on-arrival fee waiver for citizens of 20 countries until 30 April 2019. The decision was announced in the Royal Thai Government Gazette on 11 January, reasoning it as a measure to stimulate and promote tourism as well as to enhance the kingdom’s attractiveness among foreign visitors during the high travel season. “The extension of the stimulus visa-on-arrival measure came at a perfect time as Thailand is set to celebrate Chinese New Year in February and the Thai New Year (Songkran) in April,” said Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism ... Read more

Watching out what’s hidden in the small country of an area 796,096 sq.km? Your excitement would know no bounds after you landed in this land of beauty. Each part of Pakistan has an enriched speciality of beauty to which you will be spellbound. Your words would not quite enough to praise the scenes that this beautiful land casts in front of you. Attractive. Huh? You must be. The beauty that Pakistan is blessed with is quite unique. Nevertheless, if it’s not unique how an increased rate of tourism can be noticed? Actually, media casts a darkened and absolutely wrong picture ... Read more

Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia According to statistics from World Travel Monitor by worldwide tourism consultancy IPK International, the tourism industry has registered continuous growth in international trips all over the world in 2018. As per the report that international outbound trips grew by 6 per cent worldwide in the first eight months of the year, with Asia and South America recording the highest increase. According to travel booking portal Agoda, Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia are the third most-booked city and country in Asia. Japan is the top most-booked country, and Thailand bagged the second position. Bangkok and Tokyo are in first ... Read more

Sittwe Port, Myanmar Infrastructure development works at Sittwe Port in Myanmar, constructed with India’s assistance, is getting ready for operation. It was informed by the Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Chemical & Fertilizer Mansukh L Mandaviya. The Minister said that the construction of Sittwe Port is part of the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project. Its objective is to create a multi-modal sea, river and road transport corridor for shipment of cargo from the eastern ports of India to Myanmar through Sittwe port as well as to North-Eastern part of India via Myanmar. Once fully operational, the ... Read more

South Sulawesi, the province on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, famous for its picturesque landscapes, beaches and islands and hanging graves, will have a new logo for tourism. Photo Courtesy: The Jakarta Post The new logo was introduced by the governor Nurdin Abdullah, expressing hope that it could serve as a familiar icon among local and international communities. The logo was chosen from the tourism identity rebranding competition held by the local administration in search of a fresh look for its tourism program.  The selected logo was created by Rahmat Zulfikar, a contestant in the competition “We appreciate what ... Read more

Japan has introduces a ‘departure tax’ for those travel abroad via flight or ship. The tax came into being from Monday, 7th January 2018. Infants under 2 years of age and travellers who transit within 24 hours are exempted from the tax. 1000 yen (around USD 9) is the tax per individual. The purpose of the tax is to create new revenue, which will be utilized for improving the travel services and to provide travellers with better facilities, especially in rural areas. Legislation has passed in this regard in April 2018. As per government officials, the move is to increase ... Read more

National Palace Museum China has more than 30,000 scenic spots and tourist attractions, among which 259 have 5A-level ratings, the highest rating for Chinese tourist sites, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. However, the ministry also noted that during the first 10 months of 2018, over 200 tourist sites had been de-listed, demoted, or warned for poor management, poor service or a worsening environment. China has a tourism-rating classification system which rates a tourist attraction from A to 5A for its overall tourism quality. Top-level sites include the National Palace Museum, the Summer Palace, the West Lake in ... Read more

Bali island Indonesia has enacted a ban on single-use plastics such as shopping bags, styrofoam and straws in efforts to restrain pollution in its waters, reports a local daily. With this new policy, the government envisages 70 per cent reduction in Bali’s marine plastics by 2019, announced Bali governor Wayan Koster a day earlier. “This policy is aimed at producers, distributors, suppliers and business actors, including individuals, to suppress the use of single-use plastics,” said Koster. “They must substitute plastics with other materials,” added Koster. The policy, which has a six-month grace period, is already in force from 21st December. ... Read more

Japan Tourism is targeting LGBT tourists from abroad to take advantage of their tendency to spend more than average tourists. Tourism industry all over the world strive to attract LGBT travellers, who have considerable purchasing and spending power. It was opined by Shintaro Koizumi, chief executive of Out Japan Co., a Tokyo-based marketing firm conducting seminars and other programs to support corporate clients seeking to learn how to handle issues involving lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. As per statistics available, LGBT tourists spend about twice as much as average travellers, which encourage hotels and other accommodation facility providers in ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: CGTN A three-storey highway bridge is built near Taiyuan city in China. It is located in Tianlong Mountain, 1370 meters high in Shanxi province of north-western China. Bridge height is 350 meters. The total length of this bridge in the circle is 30 kilo meters in the mountain. Photo Courtesy: CGTN This highway bridge with box girder has 7,000 tonnes of steel. Its construction is almost complete. Soon it will be opened for general traffic. Several stages of the trial have been completed here. At present, this bridge has become a new hot spot for the locals, where ... Read more

Gua Damai Xtream Park Selangor, the state on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, has enlisted the top destinations of the state those would attract travellers in 2019. The venues range from a water theme park to a fruit farm and an outlet mall. According to the state’s tourism agency, these places and experiences have all emerged as coveted tourism destinations only recently. The Royal Klang Heritage Walk, Sky Mirror, Gua Damai Extreme Park, Bangi Wonderland, Tanjung Sepat, Selangor Fruits Valley and Mitsui Outlet Park KLIA are among the favourite list. The tourism department also envisages making the state’s ecotourism ... Read more

Hainan, China’s southern province plans to construct a scenic highway around the island in the first half of 2019 to boost tourism. It was informed by the provincial transport department. The new highway, which stretch around 1,040 kilo meters will link 12 cities and counties in Hainan. The highway will be built with consideration for plants and cultural landscapes protection.  According to the construction plan, the highway will provide tourists with ocean views on one-fifth of the dual-lane highway, along which a total of 46 tourism stations to be built. The highway will be construction with a number of high-tech ... Read more

Tanjug Lesung Beach Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahaya has given directive to stop promoting Tanjung Lesung and surrounding areas as tourist destinations for now, following the tsunami that hit areas close to the Sunda Straits, killing more than 280 people. The tsunami devastated the region’s tourism facilities, which is branded as one of the new Balis. “In this emergency situation, I have instructed that all promotional activities at the destinations affected by the disaster must be stopped,” said the minister in a press statement issued on Sunday. The minister also conveyed condolences on behalf of the ministry and its staff ... Read more