Category: Top Stories

Kodagu, devastated by the recent floods, is visited by a lot of people and which made the Kodagu district administration ordering a crackdown on ‘disaster tourism’. The incessant rains during the second week of August resulted in landslips and floods which claimed the live at least 20 people in the district. Earlier this month, the district administration had directed all hotels, homestays and resorts in Kodagu not to accept bookings till August 31. Many curious people – both locals and outsiders – are visiting some of the disaster-hit areas in and around Madikeri. Some of the worst affected areas like Jodapala, Madenada ... Read more

Just two months after its grand opening, Morpheus Hotel at Macau’s legendary City of Dreams resort has been hailed as one of the “World’s Greatest Places 2018” by TIME magazine, as the only Macau entry on the list. This sought-after accolade is part of a new annual list culled from nominations by TIME editors and experts around the world to recognize 100 new and emerging destinations and locations that are breaking new ground, leading industry trends and offering guests an experience that is truly unique. To create the list, TIME solicited nominations across a variety of categories — including museums, ... Read more

The 11th annual GoTopless Day takes place in cities across the US, Canada and worldwide today in commemoration of Women Equality Day—the passing of the 19th amendment. “As long as men are allowed to be topless in public, women should have the same constitutional right,” said Maitreya Rael, international spiritual leader of the Raelian Movement, who inspired the creation of the GoTopless women’s organization back in 2007. “This would seem to be a pretty straightforward argument,” said Nadine Gary, president of GoTopless and Raelian Guide, “but in high courts, topless activists are being confronted with the judges’ claims that ‘morality’ ... Read more

An order to ban night stay at high-altitude meadows and limiting the number of tourists, by the Uttarakhand High Court will adversely affect the adventure tourism in the state, experts say. It is expected that one lakh people engaged in trekking and mountaineering expeditions will be jobless, besides the loss of revenues to the state. .”Tourism, especially adventure tourism, is the only bread earner for the hill inmates and a court order like this is indirectly asking tourists not to come to the state,” said Jayendra Singh Rana,  President of Garhwal Himalayan Trekking and Mountaineering Association. “The judgment will deprive ... Read more

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation aims at promoting tourism in Buddhist hotspots of the states with the help of Buddhist Monks. MTDC is going to seek help of monks from 15 neighbouring Buddhist countries. Thhese monks will propagate Buddhism’s traditional and historical facets, in the state in the form of caves, stupas, gumphas and viharas, among other artefacts. The state’s ministry of tourism has organised the 6th International Buddhist Conclave 2018 in Aurangabad on Thursday.  Buddhist delegates with monks from 15 nations were present at the conclave, where monks and Buddhist delegates have an opportunity to interact with the tourism operators ... Read more

India’s first engine-less train will roll on the tracks from September this year for trial run. The Train-18 is a semi-high speed self-propelled trains like Metro trains and can run at a speed of 160 kmph. All new luxurious T-18 coaches will be replacing existing Shatabdi coaches and coaches of intercity trains. As per reports , Mumbai may get the first set of T-18 coaches. The coaches may be maintained at the Virar car shed. The trial is likely to be conducted on the Delhi-Agra-Bhopal stretch. Train 18 is coming with a number of unique features than the traditional trains ... Read more

Jatayu Earth Centre will be open to public from today onwards, said a press statement issued by the authorities. The ticket charge per person is Rs. 400. The tickets are being booked through the website www.jatayuearthscenter.com. “There is a great response to online ticket booking,” said the statement. The entry to the Earth Centre is only through online booking so as to restrict the crowd. On the ‘Uthradam’ day (first day of Onam), the JEC is dedicating the World’s largest bird sculpture as well as the Swiss made hi-tech cable car to the people. The inauguration which was scheduled on August ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: Seamedu Kerala has always been a favourite destination for students of foreign countries for their higher studies. Renowned universities and comparatively cheaper fees structure and cost of living makes Kerala a preferred place for higher education for foreign students. Kerala government is planning to utilize this positive atmosphere prevailing in the education sector, by promoting a unique concept of ‘Education Tourism’. By this programme, the government plan to provide education of international standards to the students, while they could enjoy the benefits of tourism. The concept is yet to get consensus from the universities; however, the Kerala Infrastructure ... Read more

The flood waters have receded from most of the places, and, the Kerala government has taken up the massive task of cleaning houses and public places filled with slush left behind. The hospitality industry in Kerala, which is also hit largely by the floods, is joining hands with the government to help clean the houses. A team of 66 members from the Thekkady Destination Promotion Council (TDPC) has volunteered in Aranmula (Central Kerala) yesterday. The team, split into teams, cleaned 30 homes all by themselves and helped people clean 20 more houses. “Tear filled eyes and heartbreaking scenes were only ... Read more

Seychelles has welcomed over 13,500 visitors from India in 2017 making it the seventh largest source market for the destination. In the first half of 2018, over 8,000 Indians travelled to Seychelles showcasing a steady rise of 13.3 per cent from January to July 2018 vis-a-vis the same time period in 2017. This rise in numbers can be attributed to the India tourist office’s committed focus on promotion of the destination, interest and efforts from the hotels and DMCs to capture the Indian market, increased customer awareness due to innovative digital presence along with direct flights from Mumbai 5 times ... Read more

FLORIA Wonder Garden Good news for flower enthusiasts! Royal FLORIA Putrajaya 2018, the flower and garden festival of Malaysia is commencing on 25th August and will conclude on 2nd September 2018. The annual flower festival is happening at Precinct 4, Putrajaya in Malaysia. The Royal Floria Putrajaya is Malaysia’s largest flower and garden festival. It started in the year 2007 as a two-yearly event organised by Perbadanan Putrajaya. Later it has become an annual event from 2010. The event is hosted by Putrajaya Corporation (Perbadanan Putrajaya or PPj) in association with the Federal Territories Ministry, Ministry of Tourism & Culture, ... Read more

When Kerala was badly affected by rain and flood that the state has never experienced in history, we have seen lots of heroes arisen from nowhere to help the flood ridden people. Mesh Manoharan, from Chendamangalam near Kodungallur, which was one of the most affected places, was just one among the many victims of the flood. But, the trained scuba diver he is, Mesh gave it a thought to check on the water level and the situation around, took his kayak out in the river flowing behind his home and rescued 70 people from the flood affected area. Mesh is ... Read more

Portugal’s tourism industry is in a positive swing as per the statistics revealed by the department of tourism. As per the records Portugal’s tourism revenues shows an increase of 13.9 per cent during the first six months of year compared with the same period last year. The total revenue from tourism was 6.9 billion euros during this period. March recorded the highest increase in tourism revenue with 20.3 per cent.  May has 19.5 per cent and February shows 16.1 per cent increase, during the first half of the year. “Tourist revenues in Portugal are growing 5 times more than the ... Read more

Satish Dhawan Space Center Andhra Pradesh government ventures to redesign the concept of tourism in the state. The government is planning to explore the potential of industrial tourism, other than site seeing and adventures.  Sri City, the integrated business city in Chittoor and Nellore districts and the Satish Dhawan Space Center at Sriharikota are some of the places they have identified as industrial tourism spots. The objective behind the new idea is to generate interest in students and young entrepreneurs and help them enrich their awareness levels on industrial processes. At the same time, it will become a revenue earner ... Read more

Art work by Georg Lowit The 17th edition of Sculptour, the renowned art event of Belgium, has been commenced on 1st May and will conclude by 23rd September 2018. The annual art event is happening at Kluisbergen municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders. Sculptour is an art event aimed at professional artists from around the world to display their artworks. Several prominent sculptors from different countries have been taking part in this unique event.  It offers a big platform to the artists to draw the attention of a large amount of public who love contemporary arts. The focus ... Read more