Category: Round Up

The Jammu and Kashmir government has ordered to constitute an official panel to screen and identify new tourism projects in the state under the Prime Minister’s Development Package. (PMDP). The members of the committee include administrative secretary forest, environment & ecology department, administrative secretary, tourism department and tourism directors for Kashmir and Jammu divisions. As per the order issued by the general administration department (GAD), the committee shall be headed by the administrative secretary, planning, development and monitoring department. An official spokesperson said in Jammu on Tuesday that the State Administrative Council (SAC) under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal ... Read more

Gulf carrier Oman Air stated on Tuesday that it is in discussions with the Indian government for increasing the weekly seat entitlement to enable expansion of its services in the rapidly growing aviation market. The Oman’s flagship carrier, which has completed 25 years into the business, at present, operates 161 flights per week to eleven Indian cities, utilising the 27,000 seats allocated to airlines from each country. Oman is seeking an increase in seats and access to Ahmedabad and Kolkata, which will boost its Indian presence. Seat entitlements and access to destinations are negotiated between respective governments. “We are working with ... Read more

Emirates has announced plans to introduce the gigantic A380 on routes from Glasgow to Dubai, although on a temporary basis. This will be the first time the double-decker aircraft will have serviced any Scottish airport for commercial flights. A daily A380 service will replace the twice daily Boeing 777 service from April 16 to May 31, while Dubai International Airport’s southern runway is closed for upgrade works. The single runway operation during this period means airlines are required to reduce and adjust their operating schedules. Standing over 24 meters high and with a wing span of nearly 80 meters, the A380 ... Read more

If you are one of the passengers who relay on the water vending machines at the railway stations, you have to pay Rs 1 extra for a glass of water. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has also proposed to increase the prices to fill up one bottle by Rs 1. The railway board has also approved the proposals for the new costs at the WVMs. Earlier a 300 ml glass of water was priced at Re 1 but the passengers will now have to pay Rs 2 for same. Half litre of water was priced at Rs ... Read more

    Ministry of Tourism, Kenya,  is to establish five regional tourism councils in January next year,  as part of the Tourism Recovery Strategy and for product diversification. “The proposed five tourism council blocs include Rift Valley, the Lake Region, the Northern Region, Nairobi and the Coast and they will partner with the Kenya Tourism Board in promotion and marketing of the country’s vast tourist attractions,” said Najib Balala, Tourism Cabinet Secretary. Drift Valley, Kenya The move is expected to facilitate product diversification and intensify marketing of Kenya as an ideal tourist destination.  Kenya’s vast tourist attractions have already put ... Read more

Booking of Railway reserved tickets through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) mobile app can be made using various payment modes enabled by Government or private banks through Multiple Payment Providers. Presently, there are five Multiple Payment Providers integrated on IRCTC mobile app. The Government payment gateways that are enabled for booking tickets through IRCTC mobile app are netbanking, debit cards, credit cards and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM). All these payment gateways are provided by five Multiple Payment Providers integrated on IRCTC Mobile App. IRCTC has issued guidelines for integration of the payment providers ... Read more

Tourism minister inaugurates the ALEX center Local farmers of Jamaica has earned around USD 39 million from the Agri-Linkages Exchange (ALEX) pilot project of the Tourism Ministry. The project has assisted 400 local farmers with the marketing of approximately 360,000 kg of agricultural products. ALEX, which is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Tourism and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), is the first online platform of its kind in the country. It brings hoteliers in direct contact with the farmers and could avoid unwanted middlemen and thus retain more of the economic benefits to the local people. The ... Read more

Thailand-based low-cost carrier (LCC), NokScoot has announced its plans to launch four weekly direct flights connecting New Delhi and Bangkok from December 19, 2018. It has also announced a special promotional one-way Economy Class fare starting from Rs 7,200 (USD 99), inclusive of taxes and surcharges. The special promotional fares are available from December 07 to 31, 2018 for travel between December 19, 2018 to March 30, 2019. The new services will be operated with Boeing 777-200 wide-bodied, twin-aisle jets. Configured with a total of 415 seats, the Boeing 777 offers an unprecedented LCC level of comfort to customers with ... Read more

AirAsia has announced that its operations of the flights on the Chennai-Hyderabad sector would begin from December 21. Passengers can book tickets via the airliners’ mobile application and avail promotional fares from Rs 1,399 for flights between Chennai and Hyderabad and Rs 1,899 from Hyderabad to Chennai. The booking of tickets would go on till December 23 for travel from December 21 to February 4, 2020, a company statement said. “We are happy to launch a new route connecting Hyderabad and Chennai and are proud to have created a demand for air travel”, Sunil Bhaskaran, Managing Director and CEO, AirAsia India, ... Read more

The Jet Airways said it will withdraw services from nine airports in India and Gulf by February 2019 with an aim to drive better cost efficiencies. According to a Jet Airways spokesperson, the operations have been shut in Jorhat, Silchar, Imphal, Aizawl, Raipur, Sharjah Muscat, Madurai and Vizag. “The airline has undertaken comprehensive review of its network, whereby it will move capacity from uneconomical routes to more profitable ones, to more closely align the capacity offered with the demand characteristics of specific markets,” said the airline in a letter to the Travel Agents Association of India. Stating that the airline will redeploy aircraft to ... Read more

After Japan, India has started granting visa on arrival to South Korean nationals. The move is expected to boost tourist arrivals and business visitors to India. The facility to South Korean citizens include double entry visit for a period not exceeding 60 days for business, tourism, conference and medical purposes for entry through six designated international airports – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Around 2 lakh Indian visas are issued to South Korean nationals every year, of which 80 per cent are tourists. On an average, 600 South Korean nationals arrive in Delhi daily. Visa-on-arrival facility was earlier ... Read more

Union Tourism Secretary Rashmi Verma interacting with delegates in the 7th International Travel Mart, Tripura The government is taking several steps to boost the tourism potential of northeastern states and the Union Home Ministry is very supportive in this regard, Union Tourism Secretary Rashmi Verma said here on Friday. Verma was speaking at the 7th edition of the International Tourism Mart, in which 52 foreign delegates from 18 countries are taking part. “Compared to 2016, the flow of foreign tourists visiting the northeastern states increased by 16.7 per cent last year while the domestic tourists visiting the region increased by ... Read more

Emirates made a clean sweep this week with award wins across multiple countries – from Russia and Belgium to the UAE – a testament to the airline’s consistent delivery of industry-leading travel experiences for its diverse customer base, and its commitment to investing in innovative products that will ensure its customers fly better. Emirates was named ‘Best Airline in the World’ and ‘Best Airline in the Middle East’ at the prestigious 2018 ULTRAs. In a vote taken by over 500,000 readers of The Telegraph’s luxury travel magazines Ultratravel UK and Ultratravel Middle East, the awards recognise the world’s best providers ... Read more

Polin Waterparks’ latest Project, LetoLeto Water Park which is the largest water park of Russia in Tyumen city completed as a result of 3 years of great work. Polin has worked with local investment group Sibentel Holding on the facility. The burgeoning waterpark industry in Russia led Polin Waterparks (Turkey) to open an office in the country several years ago specifically to manage the development of these facilities and serve the waterpark industry in the region the best way possible. Now a leader in bringing waterpark attractions to the country, Polin’s previous installations include the Gorki Indoor Waterpark just outside ... Read more

From December 1 onwards passengers flying out of Delhi airport will have to pay more by paying some Rs 77 per ticket, with regulator AERA approving revision in service charges. Currently Rs 10 is levied on domestic tickets and Rs 45 on international tickets by the airport operator DIAL as passenger service fee. There are also revisions to certain aeronautical charges, according to an order issued by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA). The revised charges would be applicable from December 1. The hike in charges is expected to have a minimal impact on average domestic fares. As per the ... Read more