Category: Top Three Stories

International Tiger Day, also known as Global Tiger Day, is celebrated annually on July 29 to raise awareness for tiger conservation. It was formed in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia with the goal to bring worldwide attention to the dwindling numbers of tigers and their plight. This is the eighth annual International Tiger Day. The primary goal behind International Tiger Day is to promote a global environment to protect the natural habitats of tigers and support for issues pertaining to conservation of tigers. India has a leading role to play in tiger conservation as the nation ... Read more

A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Lombok today, which killed at least  10 people and injured 40 plus in the tourist island.  The quake struck at a depth of 7 kilometers (4.4 miles) at 6:47 am local time (2247 GMT Saturday), the United States Geological Survey said. The quake struck 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Lombok’s main city Mataram, the USGS said, far from the main tourist spots on the south and west of the island. Lombok in southeastern Indonesia is a popular tourist destination, and lies around 100 km east of the resort island of Bali. Island ... Read more

Travellers with Indian passports will no longer require an Airport Transit Visa while transiting through the international zone of any airport in France. “I’m pleased to announce that, with effect from July 23, 2018, holders of Indian passports will no longer require an Airport Transit Visa (ATV) while transiting through the international zone of any airport in France,” tweeted Alexandre Ziegler, Ambassador of France to India. An airport transit visa is applicable for those who are just transiting the Schengen territory and who will not leave the transit area of the airport. However, hotel accommodations are only available outside the ... Read more

  Association of Tourism Trade Organization of India (ATTOI) has been pursuing its relief activities in the flood affected Kuttanad. Recently ATTOI has distributed drinking water to the relief camps in Kuttanad. As a follow-up action, ATTOI team have visited the flooded areas and the relief camps for the second time. This time Kainakari and the other innermost areas of Kuttanad have been visited. Kerala Institute of Tourism and Travel Studies (KITTS), Taj Group, Confederation of Accredited Tour Operators (CATO) and Association of Tourism Professionals (ATP) have also take part in the relief operations of ATTOI. PK Aneesh Kumar, President, ... Read more

After ‘Shoot the Rain’ and ‘Madhu Memorial Cricket Tournament’, tourism fraternity in Kerala is coming up with another sports event. Munnar Destination Makers (MDM) is organising a badminton tournament, in memorial of Sudheesh, who was the Manager of Munnar Cook Maker Resort and Executive member of MDM. The event will be held at the Ace Badminton Academy near East Farm, Adimali on 4th and 5th August 2018. The title sponsor of the badminton tournament is Blanket Hotel, Munnar whereas Uniqloth and Spice Country are sponsoring a cash award of Rs 20,000 and an ever rolling trophy for the winners. Sudheesh was a vibrant ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: Wake’N’Bite Happy news for the ‘Biryani’ lovers of Thiruvananthapuram. Celebrate the friendship day with stomach full of biryani in a festive mood packed with lots of fun. Uday Saumdra Beach Hotel, Kovalam is providing the opportunity to foodies to eat as much as biryani they can, by competing in the ‘Clash of Foodies’ to be held on 5th August 2018, the World Friendship Day. The competition will be arranged at the ‘Courtyard’ restaurant in the hotel. Six pre-registered teams of six members each can take part in the event. The team has the choice of selecting veg or ... Read more

India, being one of the best source markets for Egypt, has contributed to the Egyptian tourism with over 30 per cent growth in the tourist arrivals in 2017. Realising the potential of its source market and draw more tourists to the country, Egypt Tourism is conducting roadshows in Indian cities to promote its cultural, Christian pilgrimage and MICE offering. Christian pilgrimage is one of the important focus areas of Egypt Tourism and they are focussing mainly on Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kochi for promoting this. The tourism department is organising roadshows in Mumbai, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.  Egypt Tourism has conducted four-city ... Read more

ixigo has plans to roll out ‘Tara’, a voice-enabled travel assistant, for its customers by the year end. “Among the 500 million user base which will come online in the next three years, we expect 100 million across India to be interacting using voice as a medium in the same duration. And this is one of the reasons we are planning to enter the segment,” said Aloke Bajpai, CEO and Co-founder, ixigo. Tara will be initially available in English and Hindi, and in regional languages later on. On getting the accent 100 per cent correct, the company is working on ... Read more

Anup Kumar Nayak, The Project Tiger’s Additional Director General, has sent an advisory to the states to stop tourism in tiger reserves during the monsoon season. The advisory was the second reminder for the one issued in 2015, directing the closure of tiger reserve during monsoon (July-September). “This directive and a subsequent reminder on July 12, 2017 have not yielded any response from most states, I am to reiterate that the 2015 directive should be followed in letter and spirit in the interest of tiger conservation,” Nayak’s advisory reads. Nayak is also Member Secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority ... Read more

IAS officer of 2009 batch, Suhas Diwase has been appointed as the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation Managing Director. He is also bearing the office of Maharashtra State Warehousing Corporation, as Chairman and Managing Director. Master’s degree holder in Horticulture, Diwase has done  his Public Administration from The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore.

Malaysian tourism sector is in a revival mode after the slow pace in inbound tourists during the first four months of the year. The fortifying factor was the increased number of Chinese tourists during the last two months of the first half of the year. The information was revealed in the report of Maybank Investment Bank Research. The report says drop in the total visitor arrivals for the first four months was due to shortfall in the main sources of tourists, Singapore and Indonesia.  This deficit was offset by the vigorous growth in Chinese visitors’ arrivals, which is expected to ... Read more

KJ Alphons, Union Tourism Minister for State said on Monday that the government is planning to launch a campaign for promoting Kumbh Mela across the country with a tag line ‘Chalo Kumbh Chalo’. The campaign may include releasing advertisements at major international airports of the country and organising the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2019 in Varanasi to lure the Pravasi Bharatiya delegates. The 49 day event, which happens at Allahabad will begin on 15th January 2019, “The government is also planning to have a designated area for flag hoisting for around 192 countries expected to visit Kumbh Mela. Moreover, identification and ... Read more

Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica As per a statement released by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), the island country’s tourism industry is in a path of growth. The JTB said, Jamaica celebrated an overall market growth of 5.4 per cent for the first six months of the year. Stopover tourist arrivals marked 1.25 million (5.9 per cent more than last year) and cruise arrivals were around one million (4.8 per cent more than last year) The tourism industry earned around USD 1.459 billion from stopover arrivals and USD 100.6 million from cruise tourists. The total revenue from tourism during the ... Read more

Thomas Cook India, the famous travel service provider, announced on 24th July that they have signed an agreement with Seoul Tourism to promote Seoul as a leisure destination for travellers from India. According to the agreement, programmes will be formulated by both parties to propagate Seoul as an exciting leisure destination among various Indian travellers from all walks of life including families, honeymooners, culture seekers and so on. “In a continued effort to bring new destinations and experiences to the Indian travellers, we are pleased to partner with Seoul Tourism to promote the beautiful and culturally rich global city,” said ... Read more

Anjnapura Dam, Shikaripur, Shimoga District, Karnataka The Anjanapura dam garden in the Shikaripur Taluk of Shimoga to become one the favourite tourist attractions of Karnataka in the coming days. The dam was declared a public tourist place only recently.  The State government had sanctioned Rs 6 crore to develop a garden in the vicinity of the dam area. Cement sculptures of Dollu Kunitha artistes at Anjanapura dam garden (Photo Courtesy: Hindu) The garden will be set up on a 6.5 acre land and has extensive lawns, a music fountain, pergola, walking path and fruit-bearing trees. The Esur freedom struggle – ... Read more