Category: Top Stories

We have heard of all kinds of tourism by now. And, this time its not just a fancy affair, tourism for some of the most brilliant minds across the world. Kozhikode is all set to tap the potential of becoming a quiz tourism centre as it is about to host one of the biggest quiz festivals in the world in June. The eight-day festival organised by Quiz Kerala, the first registered quiz society in Kerala, as part of the 16th edition of the annual World Quizzing Championship organised by the London-based International Quizzing Association (IQA) would commence on June 2. ... Read more

The long-haul flights have been a headache for travellers, as it is tiring and time-consuming for international business travellers. Space X, the American aerospace manufacturer, owned and operated by Elon Musk has found a solution. The company would introduce rocket technology in long-haul flights within the next 10 years. Gwynne Shotwell, the company’s chief operating officer spoke at the TED show in Vancouver, stating that the company also aims to fly to Mars within 10 years. About 100 passengers in one stretch can be filled inside a Big Falcon Rocket, that can commute travellers from London to Shanghai within half ... Read more

Diageo, a British multinational alcoholic beverage company headquartered in London, is all set to invest about £150 million to create state of the art Scotch whisky visitor experience, at Edinburgh in Scotland. The company itself owns the major alcoholic beverage brands in the industry namely Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Baileys and Guinness. The project further aims to attract over millions of Scotch whisky fans across the world through the new tourism project. The project additionally aims to introduce the craftsmanship of the brand through visitor experience programmes. Diageo’s famous distilleries in the country include Lagavulin, Talisker, Glen Ord, Oban, Dalwhinnie, Blair ... Read more

Around 700,000 British nationals visit Australia every year and, with the strong AngloAustralian relations further post-Brexit, it is expected that the number of British tourists will be more in the coming years. With this in mind, the Australian government has made it easy for the British nationals visiting the country. If you are British and wish to visit Australia, you don’t have to send your passport to the Australian High Commission anymore. All visas issued to British citizens going to Australia are issued electronically. If you have a British passport, just go to the electronic passport reader and pass through the ... Read more

You don’t need to be a royalty to enter the Palace hotel opening in Palm Jumeirah, Dubai. The Emerald Palace Kempinski Dubai will resemble the European palaces of the past with its marvelous atrium, towering marble columns and crystal chandeliers. Located on the Palm’s West Crescent, the 100,000 sq m beach resort has 389 rooms and suites, eight top restaurants and bars, a 3,000 sq m spa, a state-of the-art gym and yoga studio, a 500m private beach and an 80-seat private cinema. The hotel will also have eight world-class restaurants and bars. The Mix, the first UAE restaurant by three Michelin-starred ... Read more

Ola said it will add 10,000 electric three-wheelers to its fleet over the next 12 months as part of a plan to promote the use of electric vehicles. Ola plans to have 1 million electric vehicles on offer by 2021, said Ola in a statement. The company also said that it will work with various state governments, vehicle manufacturers and battery companies to meet its target. Ola will introduce the electric three-wheelers in three cities. Ola operates in 110 Indian cities and has over a million driver partners. Last May, Ola launched a pilot project to test a fleet of electric vehicles ... Read more

The Central Railway (CR) is planning to open a revolving restaurant in Matheran, Mumbai. The CR is also getting in touch with IRCTC to come up with ways to attract more tourists to the hill station. THe authorities are also planning to come up with a steam engine ride up the Matheran hill. The CR looks at improving the number of tourists on the 21-km-long Neral-Matheran stretch. “We are looking at having a revolving restaurant at Matheran. We want to attract as many tourists as possible. We shall be running a ceremonial run of the steam engine with two coaches attached ... Read more

India, along with 170 other nations, have signed an agreement to reduce carbon emission from the shipping industry. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), from its part, will do all the efforts to switch the container ships from running on renewable sources of energy, rather than fossil fuels. IMO predicts that it will reduce the greenhouse gas emission by around 50 to 100 per cent in 2050. The shipping industry for the first time came forward to reduce climatic change in associated with the Paris Agreement. Meanwhile, studies show that the increase in international trade among the countries is the main ... Read more

According to the recent statistics, it is reported that some 5.2 million foreign travellers visited Iran in the Iranian calendar year 1396, which ended on March 20. “A survey of the inbound tourists indicates their satisfaction of cultural scene (atmosphere) in the country. The number of international travellers can surge in the event of reinforcing tourism infrastructure and its associated facilities along with offering fresh packages and routes,” said Mohammad Moheb-Khodai, the deputy director of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism. Iran’s outbound passengers at 9 million, of which nearly half were pilgrims. Around 5.5 million travellers visited Iran in 1395, fetching ... Read more

Government of Andhra Pradesh is planning to develop the historic Kondaveedu fort close to the new state capital Amaravati, into a hill station with a resort. The authorities are expecting a significant increase in the tourist footfalls in the coming years and are launching the developmental activities soon. A host of projects would be taken up by the tourism, endowments, archaeology, roads and buildings and electricity departments. As part of the project, the roads and buildings department would first lay a ghat road atop the 14th century fort at an estimated cost of Rs 12 crore. The department has already taken up various ... Read more

Air Odisha is introducing two more destinations in Gujarat at lowest fares starting from Rs 1420 and Rs 1699 between Ahmedabad to Bhavanagar and Bhavnagar to Surat respectively. The fights will be operation from April 16. With the two new routes under the Under the Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme, ‘Air Odisha ‘is now having operations in five cities -Ahmedabad, Mundra, Diu, Bhavnagar, and Surat. “On the maiden flight between the sectors, there will be some prominent guest who shall be flying with Air Odisha including Bhupendra Singh Chudasama Minister of Civil Aviation and Education, Gujarat, Jitu Bhai Vaghani – BJP ... Read more

SpiceJet has announced it will launch daily direct flight between Delhi and Adampur (Jalandhar) from May, its sixth destination under the UDAN scheme. The airline was awarded Adampur under under the first round of UDAN. “With the introduction of the daily direct flight services on the Delhi-Adampur-Delhi route, SpiceJet earmarks its sixth destination under the Regional Connectivity Scheme. Passengers from Adampur can now conveniently travel to a host of other cities both on SpiceJet’s domestic as well as international network via multiple onward connections from Delhi,” a SpiceJet release said. With the addition of Adampur-Delhi UDAN route, SpiceJet will operate ... Read more

Civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu has expressed his interest in creating an entertainment park at the upcoming greenfield international airport in Mopa so as to attract more global tourists to the site. “As much as 234 acres of land (at the Mopa airport site) has been allotted for commercial development. We should explore the possibility of developing a huge entertainment park here so that it can be a tourist attraction,” the minister said. He also suggested that the park could either be developed under a public private partnership (PPP) model, or outsourced. The minister was speaking to reporters after inspecting the airport ... Read more

The Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism – (DCT Abu Dhabi) said it has successfully concluded a roadshow taking in three major cities in China. The roadshow, which took in Beijing, Nanjing and Guangzhou, aims to help raise awareness about the emirate as a holiday destination for Chinese travellers. Statistics show that in the first two months of 2018, 86,400 Chinese visited the Emirate, with February alone accounting for a 83.6 per cent increase. The Department is targeting 600,000 Chinese hotel guests a year by 2021. Several tourist attractions and hotels across the emirate have already received the China Tourism Academy’s Welcome Chinese ... Read more

Deccan Odyssey, the Luxury train service offered by Indian Railways and Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), has introduced new ‘Companion Free’ offer for the bookings from 30th April onwards. According to the new offer, anyone can enjoy 8 days 7 nights trip for a cost of Rs 3, 06,250 rather than the original cost of Rs 6,12,500. The travel itinerary named as the Maharashtra Splendour (7N/8D) includes Mumbai, Nashik, Aurangabad, Ajanta, Kolhapur, Goa, Sindhudurg and Mumbai on 29th September – 3rd November, and 24th November – 22nd December. The luxurious journey of Maharashtra Splendour explores the authentic western states of ... Read more