Category: Top Three Stories

Sony has introduced world’s first 48MP sensor that will debut in September this year with a unit price of 3,000 yen ($27 or a little over Rs 1,800) each. The stacked CMOS image sensor “IMX586” features a pixel count of 48 effective megapixels and an ultra-compact pixel size of 0.8-micron pixels, the company said in a blog post. “These days, high-end smartphone models require even greater imaging quality from their cameras. The new Sony sensor features 48 effective megapixels — a pixel count which rivals that of high-performance SLR cameras, making it possible to capture beautiful, high-resolution images even with ... Read more

As per the first six months’ reports of 2018 by the Immigration Department of Nepal, almost one lakh Indians visited the Himalayan Nation, out of the total 5,20,000 foreign tourists. Chinese came second with 71,379 visitors, while US became third 43,816 visitors during the six months. The total number of foreign visitors during this period shows an increase of 13 per cent, when compared to the same period in the previous year. Other foreigners who visited Nepal were from South Asia and European countries, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden etc. “The number of foreign ... Read more

Bernadette Romulo Puyat, Secretary, Philippines Tourism  As per the statistics of the Philippines Department of Tourism (DOT), foreign visitor arrivals reached an all-time high of 3.7 million for the first half of 2018. In a statement, the DOT said inbound tourists from January to June this year rose by 10.4 per cent when compared to the 3.3 million arrivals recorded in the same period in 2017. Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat said “Our continuous marketing promotions, belligerent actions to create new air routes and develop new tourism products, travel facilitation, and confidence in tourism investments boosted the industry and resulted ... Read more

At a time when most of the states are taking the help of private channels and medium to promote their destination, Meghalaya is all set to tie up with the national channel Doordarshan to promote tourist places and cultural centres in the state. Following the unrest in the city last month over the Sweepers’ Lane issue, the state highly need a promotion about the destination at different levels. “We lost many tourists in June due to the unrest and we want to make up for the losses,” said Metbah Lyngdoh, Tourism Minister. The minister, along with Chief Minister Conrad Sangma ... Read more

Pachmarhi – Pandava Caves This year’s monsoon season has been in favour of the tourism industry of Madhya Pradesh. As per Hariranjan Rao, Principal Secretary, Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation (MPSTDC), there has been an increase of 15 per cent in hotel bookings in this season. Other than the favourite Pachmarhi, tourists are opting for other destinations like Raneh falls in Chhatarpur, Patalpani and Mandu in Indore etc. “Most of the hotels remain packed at weekends since the beginning of the monsoon the average occupancy of MPSTDC properties shown about 65 per cent,” said Rao. Rane Falls Earlier, the ... Read more

Inland Waterways Authority of India is planning to construct a Rs 169.59 crore multi-modal terminal (MMT) at Varanasi. The MMT built under Jal Marg Vikas project is set to be completed by November 2018, which would be a major landmark for the project. The construction of the Rs 280. 90 crore MMT at Sahibganj is to be completed by May 2019, and the one at Haldia, being constructed at a cost of Rs 517.36 crore, is scheduled to be completed by December 2019. Jal Marg Vikas is a Rs 5,369 crore World Bank aided project on National Waterway 1 (River ... Read more

S K Mishra, Chairman, ITRHD with Amit Khare, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting “Conservation of rural heritage will help to promote tourism and development in rural India,” said Amit Khare, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. He was speaking at the inauguration function of the seventh Annual General Body Meeting of the Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development (ITRHD). He lauded the conservation efforts of ITRHD, which is devoted to the preservation of Indian heritage and culture in rural India. Khare highlighted the ITRHD’s conservation works of 17th -19th century village of terracotta temples in Maluti, Jharkhand. He said such conservation efforts will help not ... Read more

  Tourism Minister Kadakpalli Surendran inaugurated the amenities and safety measures implemented at the Kovalam Beach under the ‘Safe Tourism Programme’ on 21st July 2018. The works at the beach were completed as per the Kovalam Master Plan announced last month. As per the master plan a number things have been done on the beach to make it safe and beautiful. The works carried out under the programme include, installation of surveillance cameras, solar lamps, police aid posts, beautification of walkways, electrification in required areas, safety warning signs etc. The tourism industry is looking forward to the forthcoming tourism season ... Read more

Rock Beach Seven beaches in Puducherry will have a face-lift with an estimated cost of Rs  44.07 crore. It was informed in the Assembly by the Health and Tourism Minister Malladi Krishna Rao. The works are about to complete in March 2019. He further stated that the development of the heritage area in Puducherry was in progress at an estimated cost of Rs 80 crore and would be completed by December 2018. Promenade Beach Works are going on to develop two temples and a spiritual park at Thirunallar in Karaikal. The Kirumampakkam lake would be developed as a tourist destination ... Read more

The 14th Liwa Date Festival has commenced on 19th July at Al Dhafra Region in Abu Dhabi. The festival, which celebrates the UAE’s iconic and traditional date fruit, will conclude on 28th July. The festival is expected to welcome visitors in large numbers from across the UAE and nearby countries.  Becoming a leading leading events in Al Dhafra Region of Abu Dhabi, last year’s edition attracted more than 70,000 visitors. Held under the patronage of Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs and organised by the Cultural Programmes and Heritage Festivals Committee, the ... Read more

Aiming at making the tourist destinations in the district clean and presentable, the District Magistrate, East Khasi Hills has issued an order prohibiting the use of polythene bags with a thickness of less than 40 microns in the district. The objective is to restraint the spread of plastic wastes in all tourist destinations in the district. This order comes into force with immediate effect. The order has been issued in the light of reports received from different sectors that indiscriminate disposal of used plastic in various forms is profusely taking place in tourist spots within the district. Accumulation of plastic ... Read more

Air Tanzania is all set to introduce direct flight connectivity between Mumbai and Julius Nyerere by year end. The airline is planning to begin its international operations through this service, said Baraka H Luvanda, High Commissioner of the United Republic of Tanzania. The flight, proposed to operate thrice a week,  is waiting for permissions from the government to complete the formalities of launching its first international route. “This new flight will not only assist the tourism industry, but will also be helpful for other industries to speed up their businesses in both countries,” he said. Around 40,000 Indians visit Tanzania annually ... Read more

Tourist footfalls to Mongolia has increased in the first half of the year, registering 9.7 per cent increase from the previous year, according to a data released by the National Statistical Office of Mongolia. Around 238,100 tourists visited the East Asian country between January and June, compared to 217,000 visits during the same period last year. Neighbors China and Russia together contributed the most of the foreign tourists, accounting for 38.7 per cent and 24 per cent respectively. Declaring 2018 tourism year, landlocked Mongolia has been striving to develop its tourism in a bid to diversify its mining-dependent economy, said ... Read more

WhatsApp has said its users in India will not be allowed to forward more than five chats at once. It also said that the company will remove the quick forward button that appears next to media messages, as part of its efforts to reduce circulation of fake messages on the platform that have even incited mob lynching incidents. In a blog post, WhatsApp noted that its users in India “forward more messages, photos, and videos, than any other country in the world”. The Facebook-owned company has over one billion users globally, of which over 200 million are in India. “Today, ... Read more

Dubrovnik- Croatia Croatia reached the finals of FIFA World Cup 2018 surprising all. And, after enjoying a stupendous support from fans across the world, now it has become favourite tourist destination for Chinese tourists. Reports are coming out that the flight bookings and hotel bookings are are surging with its popularity, which is likely to last until the National Day holiday. Qunar, the largest online travel agency in China, has also reported that the China to Croatia flight tickets has doubled since Croatia took part in the soccer finals. There are a number of attractions in Croatia, ranging from sites of historic architectural and ... Read more