Category: Top Stories

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is offering 5 nights/6 days ‘Shri Ramayana Yatra-Sri Lanka Ex Delhi’ tour package at a starting price of Rs 47,600. The tour dates of the package are June 12, August 25, September 18, October 2, November 20 and December 15, 2018. According to the official website of IRCTC Tourism, the destinations covered under this package are Negombo, Kandy, Nuwara Ellya and Colombo. The trip provided by SriLankan airlines, will start from Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. The flight will leave at 6:35 pm from Delhi and will reach Colombo at 10:10 pm. On ... Read more

Wayanad is unique for its lush greenery and serene environment. Considered as one of the best tourist spots in Kerala and South India, it attracts a great number of tourists every year. However, the flow of visitors to the destination is less compared to the other famous spots in Kerala. So, the Tourism Department is preparing a tourist master plan which will improve the tourism sector of Wayanad and will lead to its overall expansion. The master plan is set in a way that will supply the needs of the destination till 2050. The first step of the master plan ... Read more

Kenya is all set to benefit from a new visa regime by South Africa that is aimed at increasing intra-Africa travel. South Africa has announced it will start issuing visas on arrival for travellers from selected countries, including Kenya. The two countries have been involved in critical dialogues that developed into a diplomatic row. Kenya even threatened to introduce a new travel rule requiring South African passport holders to apply for a visa prior to traveling or transiting through the country after the latter refused to reciprocate. South African Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom has, however, said his country is in ... Read more

So, Macau tourism gets a cute face-lift. Mak Mak, the black-faced spoonbill with shades of red, yellow and blue, has been officially declared mascot of Macao Tourism after winning a contest which had more than 110 entries. Mak Mak will now be the face of Macau and will be responsible to promote Macau globally, tempting tourists to discover and know the city made of Chinese and European cultures and traditions. The aim of the contest was to find a mascot that uniquely represents Macau. Mak Mak was designed by Tou Chon Wai whose design was inspired by city’s historic whitewashed Guia ... Read more

Greece was awarded as the leading tourism destination in the Mediterranean and southeastern Europe for 2018 by SACEN International during a special ceremony recently held in Belgrade, Serbia. Hailed as the “Oscars of Tourism”, during the last 17 years the awards are given to countries and enterprises active in the field of tourism in the Mediterranean and southeastern Europe. The winners are selected in seven categories: Tourism destination; business tourism; cultural tourism; tour operator; gastronomy tourism; best enterprise in the catering sector; tourism personality of the year in the Mediterranean and southeastern Europe. Greece’s award was received by the head ... Read more

IRCTC comes up with a striking escapade for everyone on this summer. The IRCTC tourism is offering a 6D/7N air package which will have the beautiful destinations Chandigarh, Shimla and Manali. The trip that starts on May 26th will include stays at deluxe hotels, breakfast, dinner and return airfare on Air India, as reported by IRCTC Tourism on their website. The starting fare of package is priced at Rs 32,937 per person. This rate is for triple occupancy, and the rates of double and single occupancy are priced at Rs 34,710 and Rs 45,660 per person respectively. Kufri, Shimla The ... Read more

The Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mumbai and New Delhi, recently organised the 6th edition of Indian wedding Symposium and B2B session 2018 exclusively for the Indian market. Top 8 wedding planners from South and West of India and 10 wedding planners with 1 media from North and East of India were hosted in Thailand from April 23-27, 2018. The itinerary included the scenic route of Phuket-Khao Lak-Krabi-Bangkok. During the trip, the group visited numerous beautiful hotels in these destinations to evaluate their potential as ideal venues for grand Indian weddings. The trip concluded in Bangkok with a Wedding Planners’ Symposium ... Read more

Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd announced it will be investing Rs 850 crore in the next three years for expanding its footprint in the country. The company has earmarked a total of Rs 1,700 crore for adding 1,500 rooms, which are currently under construction and expected to be completed by financial year 2021 and spent half of the total budget. “The total capital that will be deployed in these 1,500 rooms will about Rs 1,700 crore. Of this roughly half of it has already been deployed and another half of it will be deployed near completion by FY21. All the 1500 rooms ... Read more

As a part of expansion and attracting more tourists to Kingdom of Bahrain, Gulf Air, flag carrier of Bahrain is set to undergo rebranding and the new brand identity was unveiled at the VIP event marking the beginning of Gateway Gulf Investor Forum Bahrain 2018. Gulf Air launched the worldwide exclusive premiere of its outdoor 3D projection #yearofchange video at one of the topmost projections in the world, on the Four Seasons Hotel, Bahrain Bay. The video will soon be displayed across the airline’s network. The event was carried out under the backing of Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, ... Read more

SriLankan Airlines  said its traffic went up 48 per cent from Delhi and 24 per cent from Mumbai “mainly daily due to the capacity additions effected from these stations,” said Chinthaka Weerasinghe, Manager – North & Eastern India, SriLankan Airlines. The airline has introduced two daily flights from Delhi and Mumbai stations to Colombo last year. “It is genuine leisure traffic which is largely point to point filling up our aircraft from North and West. The load factors are in the range of 85 to 90 per cent from these regions,” he said. Overall, India is the top source market for tourism ... Read more

Cusco Three weekly non-stop flights have been announced by LATAM Airlines Peru which will connect Santiago, Chile and Cusco, Peru. Airbus A319 aircraft will be operating the route which will have a capacity to fly 144 passengers, with a total of 45,051 seats offered in a year. The service beginning on August 15th will have services on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. The tickets are already on sale. The LATAM Airlines Peru flight (LA2366) will depart from Santiago on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday at 15:35 (local time), and will arrive at Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport at 17:00 the same day. ... Read more

The Telangana state government has constituted Manair River Front Development Corporation Limited for development of the river front along the shores of Lower Manair Dam (LMD) reservoir at Karimnagar. A Haritha hotel and convention centre on the shores of LMD reservoir is also proposed along with the project. The hotel would serve as an added advantage to encourage tourism by providing accommodation facilities. The Haritha hotel and the convention centre would be constructed at a cost of Rs 15 crore with Additional Central Assistance funds from the Union government. The foundation stone for the project would be laid by Minister ... Read more

The first ibis Styles will be opened at Sultanate of Oman as AccorHotels has signed agreement with the Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran). The hotel which will be opening by 2020 will have 280 standard rooms with design and facilities that symbolize ibis Styles. This will be the first internationally branded economy hotel in the OCEC master development (Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre), giving a strong foothold for AccorHotels in Oman. OCEC is Oman’s largest and only dedicated meeting, conference, incentive and exhibition destination with superior design and state of the art convention infrastructure. The ibis Styles all-inclusive breakfast package ... Read more

  Concorde flights were a popular name till the start of 21st century. This supersonic passenger airline which commenced the operations in 1976 had to terminate its service in 2003 as it never had enough travellers to make a commercial impact. British Airways and Air France were the two airlines which had a try with the supersonic giants. The love for Concorde may be ignited again as Boom, a Denver-based start-up, is planning to give another try with a 55-seat jet and will be having a long-range cruising speed of Mach 2.2 (1,451mph/2,335km/h). The company hopes to have lower operating ... Read more

By launching direct service between Václav Havel Airport, Prague and Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), American Airlines has brought USA and Czech Republic closer. The daily flights will be operating throughout the summer season, providing more than 2,800 seats per week between the two cities. The flights are operated using Boeing 767-300 aircraft and is the first airline to connect the Czech Republic and the state of Pennsylvania with a direct flight. The business class offers 28 fully lie-flat, aisle accessible seats arranged in one-two-one configuration. The class is equipped with personal Samsung Galaxy tablets loaded with the latest movies, TV ... Read more