Category: Top Stories

Yoga Ambassadors Tour would enhance the growth of tourism in Kerala, said Tourism Minister Kadakampalli Surender in the Kerala Legislative Assembly today.  While answering the queries of MLAs – Prathibha Hari, A N Shamsheer, C K Hareendran, and U R Pradeep- the minister stated that the Tourism ministry has taken all the necessary steps to facilitate the Yoga Ambassador Tour Programme, which is to be conducted on June 14 2018. The tourism ministry targets 50 per cent increase in the number of domestic tourists and 100 per cent increase in foreign tourists by the end of 2021. Propaganda are already ... Read more

Foreign tourists may soon be able to claim Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds at airports at the time of exit. It is said that the Revenue Department is working on a mechanism to refund taxes paid by them on local purchases. Initially, only purchases made by tourists from big retailers would be eligible for GST refund at airports when the tourist is leaving the country, an official told PTI. In several countries VAT or GST is refunded to the tourists for purchases made beyond a prescribed threshold. The Department is working out a mechanism which will ensure refund of GST ... Read more

The Madhogarh-Mahendragarh- Narnaul-Rewari heritage circuit in south Haryana would soon be developed as a global tourism destination under the central government’s Swadesh Darshan Scheme, said Haryana Tourism Minister Ram Bilas Sharma. The minister also said that a sum of Rs 100 crore would be spent on developing the circuit. The state tourism minister had discussed the matter with Union Minister of State for Tourism K J Alphons in Delhi recently. He is also planning to meet officials of the tourism department today at Madhogarh Fort to discuss the roadmap for the project. The fort is located on top of Madhogarh Hill in ... Read more

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) India Regional Office is inviting bids from professional and well-connected marketing representative agencies, with strong in-market knowledge and travel trade networks to promote Destination Singapore and help grow visitor-ship from South India to Singapore. The appointment will be for one year, commencing September/October 2018, with an option to extend for an additional year. To receive the tender documents, please email to mumbai@stb.gov.sg and quote reference number: STB/MUMD/18-19/LT2 Quotations will be accepted by email only. The tender closes on Monday, 18th June at 1500hours (3.00 PM) India Standard Time. Any enquiries regarding the specifications are to ... Read more

In a way to boost the tourism sector, Lao tourism industry is planning to upgrade the working standards of staff working in tourism sector so that they will be able challenge their ASEAN counterparts and international platforms. The plan was revealed by a Lao delegation from the Mass Media, Culture and Tourism Institute while attending the Regional Workshop for the Development of ASEAN Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Tourism Professionals (MRA-TP) Work Plan 2018-2022. The workshop was conducted at Bangkok from May 31st to June 1st. The workshop had attendees from other ASEAN member states, the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN-Australian Development Cooperation ... Read more

Odisha’s Chandrabhaga beach on the Konark coast is the first beach in Asia to get the Blue Flag certification — the tag given to environment-friendly and clean beaches, equipped with amenities of international standards for tourists. It was awarded as an honour on World Environment Day on June 5. Twelve more beaches in the country are to be developed into plastic-free zones with international amenities. These beaches are being developed by the Society for Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM), an Environment Ministry’s body working for the management of coastal areas, in accordance with the Blue Flag standards. These 12 beaches include – Shivrajpur (Dwarka) Gujarat, ... Read more

The century-old boathouse at the end of the Parvathy Puthanar  at Vallakkadavu in Thiruvananthapuram to feature a biodiversity museum, established by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB). Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the museum on June 5 to coincide with the World Environment Day. A major highlight of the museum will be the Science on a Sphere (SOS) spherical projection system, the first-of-its-kind in the State, which has been developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in US.It will provide real-time data of climatic parameters, and will also act as an educational tool that projects their correlation with biodiversity. The ... Read more

The Delhi government has decided to hire a ‘social media agency’ to project Delhi as a tourist-friendly destination on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The tourism department of the capital state has prepared a plan under which it will undertake several initiatives – one of them is hiring of a professional social media agency. The department has plans to hire an agency by September 2018. The work of this agency would be to brand Delhi as a tourist friendly destination on social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Delhi has several tourist destinations which include monuments, ... Read more

IndiGo has bagged six accolades at the BIAL Pinnacle Awards 2018, organized by  BIAL (Bangalore International Airport Ltd), held in Bengaluru last week. The six awards spread across prestigious categories including, On-time Airline of the Year – Domestic’, ‘Passenger Airline of the Year – International Low Cost’, ‘Customer Choice Airline of the Year – Domestic’, ‘Passenger Airline of the Year – Domestic Low Cost’, ‘Transformational Process Idea’ and ‘Airline with best growing network – Domestic’. “We feel absolutely honored to be recognized by BIAL across six prestigious categories of customer service. This is a recognition for all the unrelenting effort that the ... Read more

E-visa services for the foreign tourists have been launched by Ethiopian immigration authorities and Ethiopian Airlines. The new online visa application and issuance came to effect by June 1st. This online system will help the foreign tourists to apply and process their visa on a single page, with the option to pay and get their visa entry online. The applicants will receive and e-mail authorizing their travel to Ethiopia, once the application is approved. The visa will be stamped on their passport upon arrival in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia had prolific revenue of around $3.5 billion from tourism last year. Most ... Read more

In a move to attract Indian tourists, Tourism Australia has made association with eight airlines as part of the ‘Great Australian Airfare Sale’, with all airlines offering tickets at great discounts. Air India, Jet Airways, Qantas Airways, Singapore Airlines, Air Asia, Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways and Scoot are the eight airlines joined in the endeavor. Travellers can make use of booking offer till 21st of this month, with the travel validity till June 30, 2019. The return fares start from Rs 23,000 on a budget airline for connecting flights, and will go up to Rs 55,000 for direct flights. Australia’s ... Read more

In a way to promote sustainable tourism that helps the local communities, seven travel companies with similar interests have associated to form Japan Alliance of Responsible Travel Agencies (JARTA). The initiative will be launched in Kyoto on June 28th. The purpose of JARTA is to design tours and sell destinations that belong to Japan’s traditional ‘Golden Route’, simultaneously aiding the local areas and the people in a great way. As per Masaru Takayama, President of Kyoto-based Spirit of Japan Travel, the association is special as most of the travel agencies wish to work independently. The members of JARTA include Spirit ... Read more

Many state governments and tourism departments’ try unique ways to promote tourism. However, in an exciting way to promote a route as a destination for tourists, Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma embarked on a 9km trek on Tuesday from Chandigre village in West Garo Hills to Daribokgre village on the foothills of Nokrek in East Garo Hills. According to a statement issued by chief minister’s office, the CM had asked the officials to mark the trekking course from the foothills of Nokrek and design plans for promoting and marketing the destination to entice tourists. Conrad had interaction with the ... Read more

In a move to attract international tourists and boost the tourism prospective of Odisha, the state government plans to offer special tour packages to players, delegates and tourists during the men’s hockey world cup which is scheduled to be in November. The tourism department has been given the responsibility for framing the tour packages, which would be different from the ones that are being currently offered to the tourists. The idea was suggested by government’s core committee after reviewing the preparations made for hosting the world cup. The reports suggest that the packages will be designed in such a way ... Read more

Ireland has registered more than 7.3 per cent growth during the January-April period, around 191,100 additional overseas arrivals when compared with the first four months of 2017. “North America continues to perform extremely well – with arrivals up +13.6 per cent, an extra 61,100 US and Canadian visitors. We’ve also seen excellent results from Mainland Europe, up over +12 per cent on January-April last year, with particularly strong performances from Germany (+24.3 per cent) and Italy (+21.9 per cent). Tourism Ireland has prioritised Mainland Europe and North America, as markets which offer a strong return on investment, in terms of holiday ... Read more