Category: Round Up

Helped by the initiatives taken by the government for the sector, the Foreign exchange earnings (FEEs) from tourism reported 20.8 per cent growth to USD 27.7 billion in 2017. The introduction of  e- visa facility under three categories of tourist, medical and business for the citizens of 163 countries was one of the major innovative decisions made by the government, the survey noted. The launch of global media campaign for 2017-18 on various channels, launch of ‘The Heritage Trail’ to promote the world heritage sites in India, launch of international media campaign on various international TV channels,’Paryatan Parv’ celebrations across ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: socialmediaweek.org Nigeria, commonly know as ‘Giant of Africa’ with larger population and economy, currently plans to introduce Virtual Reality in marketing their destinations. Most of the countries have already come up with this technology, as such it helps to generate more attention from the stakeholders as well as the travellers. Virtual Reality uses various algorithms that stimulate more realistic visual extravaganza for the users. The terminology Virtual Tourism thus comes into play with video montages, still images, and 3D effects including music, background score and voice over. Photo Courtesy: techcabal.com Managing Director of Sky View communications, which is ... Read more

The 4th International Young Chef Olympiad (YCO) 2018, supported by Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, organised by International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM), kick starts on Sunday at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium in Delhi. The season 4 of the world’s biggest culinary Olympiad will be concluded on February 2 with different rounds being held at Delhi, Pune, Bangalore and the grand finale will be held in Kolkata. YCO 2018 assures to be a much greater event in scale and grandeur. With over 50 countries participating at the culinary extravaganza, YCO 2018 will definitely attract eyeballs. Kenyan student Vivian Asiyo Aketch and her Lecturer Chef David Kariuki at the ... Read more

Visit Malaysia Year 2020 promotion campaign was officially launched in conjunction with ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2018 at Chiang Mai, Thailand. Malaysia’s Minister of Tourism and Culture, YB Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz launched the Visit Malaysia 2020 promotion campaign for the first time at the ASEAN Tourism Forum. He also took the opportunity to unveil the official logo of Visit Malaysia 2020, a colourful portrayal of Malaysia’s treasured flora and fauna. The event was held during a business lunch hosted for international tourism trade buyers and media attending the forum at the Chiang Mai International Convention Centre (CMECC). “These next ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: Getty Images The President of Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte has always been in the limelight for the wrong words or usages. This time it has gone to an extent where he called tourists to his country saying virgins are waiting for them. He was referring to the purported Islamic State recruitment method of promising Islamist militants scores of virgins in the afterlife. Duterte, who is in India as part of the 2018 India-ASEAN Commemorative Summit, was speaking at the Philippines-India Business Forum in New Delhi on the eve of the Indian Republic Day celebrations. Telling delegates about his Muslim ... Read more

Actress Parineeti Chopra, the first Indian woman ambassador of the ‘Friend of Australia’ (FOA) advocacy panel by Tourism Australia, has released a series of videos that narrate her holiday experiences in the Australian states. The actress shared her experience in the country in the form of a song. Parineeti released the videos on January 26, the day where India’s Republic Day and Australia Day are celebrated. Adding a personal touch to the video, the actress has sung the background score with lyrics that summarise the vibe of the places she visited. “I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Australia and the ... Read more

    After the very successful phase I workshop on underwater photography held at Thiruvananthapuram earlier in January, Bond Safari Kovalam is coming to Ernakulam with their second workshop. Here is your unique chance to meet and interact with the experts. The second workshop on underwater photography conducted by Bond Safari will be an eye opener for you. The workshop will be held on February 22 at Hotel Ibis, Ernakulam. The workshop organized for photographers and enthusiasts will be your first step towards shooting that perfect picture underwater. The speakers include Anup J Kattukaran, Dr. Capt Shanthanu, Subin J Kalarikkal, Shibin Sebastian ... Read more

Orchid Island Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau launches ‘2018 Year of Bay Tourism’ to promote tourism on 10 offshore islands. The 10 offshore islands are: Turtle Island, Green Island, Orchid Island, Xiaoliuqiu, Qimei Island, Yuwongdao (Xiyu), Jibei Island, Lieyu Island, Beigan Island and Dongju Island. Turtle Island “Taiwan is an island country, but never before has the country systematically promoted tourism on its offshore islands with government involvement at the national level until now. Under the “Year of Bay Tourism” campaign, the central and local governments have collaborated with local industry operators, such as travel agencies and hotels, and worked out activities ... Read more

Picture Courtesy: Youtube Dubai received the highest accolade of the day at the ceremony, the CIFFT Grand Prix Award, for the World Best Tourism Film in 2017. This was awarded to the #BeMyGuest film starring Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, the eleventh time that the campaign video has been recognised at an international award ceremony this year. In March, the film won the Gold Award in the ‘City’ category of ITB Berlin’s “Golden City Gate” awards; followed by two top awards in May at the International Tourism Film Festival, “Tourfilm Riga” – the Grand Prix, as well as first prize ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: Dubai Tourism Chinese arrivals to GCC predicted to go up by 21 per cent to 2.5 million visitors by 2021, according to the data released ahead of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2018. The ATM is scheduled to be held at Dubai World Trade Centre from April 22 to 25, 2018. Currently, GCC attracts 1.9 per cent of China’s total tourist outbound market. The upward trend is expected to continue as 154 million Chinese tourists are expected to travel abroad in 2018, followed by 244 million in 2022, according to a release issued by ATM. F ATM exhibition ... Read more

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) and Huawei Consumer Business Group (CBG) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to unite their efforts in positioning Dubai as the destination of choice for tourists from Middle East, Africa, and China. The MoU was signed by Issam Kazim, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM) and Gene Jiao, President of HUAWEI CBG, Middle East & Africa to support the strategic tie up between DTCM and Huawei CBG to various activities. Under the terms of the MoU, HUAWEI will work with DTCM to create awareness of ... Read more

Emirates to launch non-stop Dubai-Newark (Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)) service with a second daily flight from 1rst June 2018, adding to its existing daily flight which operates with a stop in Athens, Greece. The new non-stop service will be operated with an Emirates Boeing 777-300ER, offering 8 suites in First Class, 42 seats in Business, 306 in Economy Class, and 19 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity. Flight EK223 will depart Dubai at 3 am and arrive in Newark at 9 am. The return flight EK224 departs Newark at 11.50 am, arriving in Dubai at 8.20 am the next day.  ... Read more

According to the Central Statistics Office, the total number of trips to Ireland in 2017 was 9,932,100, an increase of 3.6 per cent over 2016. There was an increase of 7.2 per cent in the number of overseas trips made by Irish residents in 2017 to 7.9 million. Trips by residents of Great Britain decreased by 5.0 per cent in 2017 to 3,728,900 while trips by residents of European Countries other than Great Britain (Other Europe) increased by 5.5 per cent to 3,482,400. “The fall in value of sterling since Brexit referendum has made holidays here more expensive for British ... Read more

A new government order has released with the updated, simplified procedures for availing tatkal passport. According to the order those who are above 18 years applying for tatkal passports should submit any two documents from the list including ration card, voters id, PAN, student id, driving license, birth certificate, passport, pension order, government employee id, along with the Aadhaar card. Out of the three documents submitted to avail tatkal passports, PAN card and voter id were mandatory till now. “Ration card has found a place in the documents in the new list, which is going to be a welcome move ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: J&K Tourism The Government of India has sanctioned Rs 7.37 crore tourism projects for the development of tourism infrastructure on Kishtwar- Sinthan Top circuit, in Jammu and Kashmir. “Rs 5.89 crore have been released in the first instance for taking up various components envisaged in the tourism project at Sinthan Top, Dedpath and Mughal Maidan,” said Minister of State for Tourism, Priya Sethi in the Assembly. However, the works on some components were delayed due to litigation and non-issuance of forest clearance. She said the government was vigorously pursuing the court case to get the stay vacated, while tenders ... Read more