Category: Top Stories

Gujarat government to relocate the Crocodiles in the ponds near the Patel statue – Statue of Unity, for enabling the implementation of a sea plane project  for the tourists. There are around 500 reptiles in two ponds on the statue premises. It is reported that the forest department has removed 15 so far. The crocodiles are likely to be released at the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam reservoir. The Airports Authority of India and the Department of Civil Aviation had prepared a feasibility report about the seaplane service in the run-up to the inauguration of the Statue of Unity. “We are ... Read more

When the nation is celebrating its 70th Republic day on Sunday, 26th January 2019, Indian Railways is all set to showcase their tableau with the theme “Mohan se Mahatma”. The tableau illustrates an evolutionary journey of Mahatma Gandhi and Indian Railways. Indian Railways Tableau depicts the “transformation of Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi to Mahatma Gandhi”. The incident in 1893, when the young Mohan Das was thrown out of a “European only” compartment at Pietermaritzburg railway station in South Africa, acted as a catalyst for him to practice ‘Satyagrah’. He later emerged as ‘Mahatma’ for this nation. The front portion ... Read more

Mandovi Bridge Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways will inaugurate the newly built, 5.1 km long, four-lane, cable stayed bridge over river Mandovi in Goa on Sunday, 27th January 2019. The bridge will support and sustain burgeoning traffic in Panjim. It will facilitate routing of Mumbai bound traffic coming in from Bangalore via Ponda route and Old Goa towards NH-17, bypassing the main Panjim City. It will also help overcome the bottlenecks caused at Panaji KTC Circle, and Panaji Entrance as the same route is currently being used by local traffic as well as NH-17 Highway bound ... Read more

A workshop on ‘Andhra Pradesh: Building a Global Tourism Destination’ was organized at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi by Centre for Strategy and Leadership (CSL) in association with Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA), Government of Andhra Pradesh. Amaravati is aimed to become a world class capital and a tourism hub as envisaged by the Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. The Amaravati Tourism City is planned in proximity to the historic Undavalli caves along the river Krishna water front with the objective of boosting leisure, business, eco, health as well as religious tourism. APCRDA is the nodal agency which is developing ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: Brenna Holeman Those who like to have some time to spend with Giraffes, visit Giraffe Manor in Nairobi in Kenya. The Giraffe Manor is owned by The Safari Collection and is an exclusive boutique hotel, set in 12 acres of private land within 140 acres of indigenous forest in the Langata suburb of Nairobi. As one of Nairobi’s most iconic buildings, Giraffe Manor has extraordinary appeal that heeds back to the 1930s when European visitors first flocked to East Africa to enjoy safaris. With its stately fascia, elegant interior, verdant green gardens, sunny terraces and delightful courtyards, guests ... Read more

Kenya Airways plans to launch flights from Nairobi to Rome, Italy and Geneva, Switzerland on its Boeing 787 Dream-liner four times a week starting in June this year. Kenya Airways previously operated to Rome and with the resumption of flights plus the addition of Geneva; this will bring the destinations Kenya Airways serves in Europe to 5. With this route, Kenya Airways will offer excellent connections from these two cities to its 43 destinations in Africa for business, diplomatic missions, and tourism. “The addition of flights to Rome and Geneva will be welcomed by both our leisure and business customers. ... Read more

Indian railway extends 22 pairs of train services running on Indian Railways system. It was announced by Piyush Goyal, Minister or Railways and Coal, in Rail Bhavan on Wednesday. These extensions will provide additional connectivity between various places in the country. Vinod Kumar Yadav, Chairman, Railway Board; Girish Pillai, Member Traffic, Railway Board and other senior officers were present on the occasion. Speaking of the occasion, the minister said, the extension of train services will reduce additional lie-over time of the trains across various Zones of Indian Railways. “The first successful experiment of extension was introduced on Gatimaan Express, which ... Read more

Fortune Park Hotels has opened its 47th hotel, ‘Fortune Select Forest Hill, Solan’. Owned by Forest Hill Resort, the property is located amid a forest and on a hill that offers a wide range of guest services and facilities to today’s traveller. Set in the Solan Valley, the hotel is located 300 km from Delhi and 50 km from Chandigarh and can be reached in less than 20 km of hilly drive. “We are extremely delighted to partner with the Owning Board of Forest Hill Resort. This is a crown jewel in the brand’s collection of hotels in leisure destinations. We ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: The National As per a recent report in China Daily, China’s performance the tourism has boosted the travel and tourism sector in the Asia-Pacific region in recent years. Number of overnight stay travellers in China had gone up 2.5 per cent during 2017, compared with 2016, reaching 60.7 million.  Meanwhile, around 140 million outbound trips are recorded during 2018, depicting an increase of 11 million from 2017. It said that international visitors bound for China accounted for nearly 20 per cent of all travellers and 8.4 per cent of the tourism revenue generated in the Asia-Pacific region. It ... Read more

Preferences of Chinese tourists have been undergoing changes and more destinations are in their preferred lists, other than Paris and Eiffel Tower, said a tourism official from France. “Chinese tourists prefer to travel in smaller groups or alone. As per records around 48 per cent of Chinese tourists have been to Paris at least once during the past five years. Currently they prefer to visit lesser-known destinations and experiencing local culture as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre no longer enough,” said Christophe Decloux, managing director of Paris Region Tourism Board. China is the third biggest tourist source country for ... Read more

MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index has published a survey on the dining and shopping (GDCI: Indulgences) spending patterns of tourists in various cities around the world. Bangkok was ranked third on the list of the Top Global Cities for Dining and sixth on the list of Top Global Cities for Shopping. The GDCI: Indulgences survey is a part of the MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index (GDCI). It ranks cities that tourists visited in the past one year. In 2018, the result indicated that Bangkok was the #1 Global Destination for the third consecutive year with Phuket and Pattaya ranked 12th ... Read more

Giving stimulus to the tourism industry, Visakhapatnam port to receive a cruise liner from Trincomalee (Sri Lanka) carrying around 100 foreign tourists. The seven starred cruiser – Silver Discoverer- will reach the port on Thursday morning for a dawn-to-dusk halt. “It will be a special day to remember for all of us. The arrival of such a big cruise liner will also give impetus to our plan to construct a world-class cruise terminal between the Visakha Container Terminal Private Ltd and Channel Berth,” said P L Haranadh, Visakhapatnam Port Deputy Chairman. The proposed cruise terminal will be built with cost ... Read more

Matera is a historical destination, which is not much popular among tourists in Italy. It is a city on a rocky outcrop in the region of Basilicata, in southern Italy. It includes the Sassi area, a complex of cave dwellings carved into the mountainside. Claimed as the third-oldest continually inhabited settlement in the world (after Aleppo and Jericho), the southern Italian city has been home to someone for at least 9000 years. Matera Town In 1950, the impoverished city was declared the “shame of Italy” by the country’s prime minister of the day, a pronouncement that culminated in the eviction ... Read more

The big day has arrived! Now, more than ever, is a great time to experience fabulous new entertainment in all four Walt Disney World Resort theme parks, including the new experiences debuted on January 18. Mickey & Minnie’s surprise celebration at Magic Kingdom Park Mickey & Minnie’s Surprise Celebration honors those true originals, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, with new entertainment, merchandise and specialty food and beverages at Magic Kingdom Park. Mickey and Minnie will greet guests together at Town Square Theater, and guests can dance with their favorite Disney pals during the “Move It! Shake It! MousekeDance It! Street ... Read more

Singapore’s low-cost airlines, Scoot, is all set to strengthen its presence in India with the addition of new services to Coimbatore, Trivandrum and Visakhapatnam. Scoot will be the only airline operating direct non-stop flights from Trivandrum and Visakhapatnam to Singapore. Flights from Trivandrum to Singapore will commence on May 7, 2019, and flights from Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam will start from October 27, 2019, subject to regulatory approval. In India, Scoot already operates seven existing routes from Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Lucknow, and Tiruchirappalli. To commemorate the new routes, Scoot has introduced a major limited-time sale on flights from all ... Read more