Category: Top Three Stories

The Yoga Ambassadors from almost 20 countries have arrived in the Kerala’s state capital, Thiruvananthapuram on June 13. The yoga team was first received by the ATTOI officials from the Trivandrum International airport. On their arrival at The Leela Raviz Kovalam, the delegates were given a traditional welcome by the hotel.

Kerala Tourism has launched a video to greet Islam followers on the occasion of Eid-ul-fitr. The video is aiming to attract travellers to Kerala during the festive season by projecting the festive theme, cuisine and ambiance. The video highlights life of an Islam devotee family on a day during the holy month of Ramadan. The video titled Eid Mubarak lasts for 90 seconds. The video can be watched from the following link: It depicts how a day in holy Ramadan starts for a devotee. Formal prayers, preparation of food, breaking the fast etc are pictured in a very beautiful way. Kerala ... Read more

During the Masula Beach Festival at Manginapudi, Finance Minister Y Ramakrishnudu said the potential of rural and temple tourism was yet to be tapped in the state. “The tourism sector will be able to contribute in a big way to the State’s economy. The immediate plans are to prepare a tourism development plan and giving a boost to temple and rural tourism across the State,” said the Minister. In response to a request by Law Minister K Ravindra to develop the Manginapudi beach, ₹20 crore for completing the 5 km road that connects Machilipatnam with the beach has been sanctioned ... Read more

Emirates announced that it will reinstate two weekly flights between Luanda and Dubai, increasing capacity to five flights per week between the two cities, starting from 1 July 2018. Customers can look forward to a daily service starting from the winter schedule. These additional flights will give passengers more travel choices and address the growing demand for connectivity on Emirates’ global network, especially to destinations in Asia, USA and Europe. The flights will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER with eight seats in First Class, 42 in Business Class and 310 in Economy Class, with 360 seats on offer in ... Read more

It will be easy for the passengers to select their food on their next travel in Indian Railway, without fear of overcharging. A new App – ‘Menu on Rails’ – was launched by Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways & Coal, developed by IRCTC for creating awareness to the Railway Passengers for the items served to them on their Rail Journey. This Mobile App will be available on Android and iOS platforms. Website version is also available for users. Main features of the Mobile APP: Displays menu served on all type of trains For Mail/Exp trains, food items are covered in ... Read more

  There has been speculations about the safety of travellers to Kerala due to the recent Nipah outbreak. Though the state government has assured many times that it is safe to travel anywhere in Kerala except the four northern districts in the state where Nipah has hit, many has raised concerns about travelling. Today, eliminating all the confusions, the Health and Family Welfare Department, Ministry of Kerala has issued a notification regarding withdrawal of the advisory to the travelers to abstain from travelling to Kerala. The said advisory was issued on 22nd and 25th May on the outbreak of Nipah ... Read more

In a first of its kind, tab-operated automatic vending machines (AVMs) have been installed by IRCTC in Coimbatore – Bengaluru Uday Express which was flagged off on June 8, from Coimbatore Junction by Minister of State for Railways – Rajen Gohain. The AVM’s current inventory includes tea/coffee, aerated drinks, canned juices, and chips packets. According to the release, the functioning of the AVM includes choosing an item from the list, which is then added to the cart and once the payment is done it automatically drops off the dispenser. Hot beverages like tea/coffee pour out of the spout of the ... Read more

Tourism Ireland is planning to increase the number of the Chinese visitors to the island of Ireland to 175,000 by 2025. This will represent a 150 per cent increase over 2017 in the next eight years. Around 70,000 Chinese visitors visited Ireland in 2017, which include the Republic of Ireland and Britain’s Northern Ireland. “China is the largest outbound travel market in the world and one that Tourism Ireland is committed to growing over the coming years,” said James Kenny, Tourism Ireland’s Manager China. “The introduction of the new direct flight from Beijing (to Dublin) next week is a major game-changer and ... Read more

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said only six per cent of foreign tourists in India are from the SCO countries, which could easily be “doubled” as he underlined the need to boost tourism among members of the grouping. He was speaking at the restricted session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit. Modi opined that increasing awareness of the shared cultures can help boost the number of tourists. “India’s foreign tourism from the SCO countries just constitute for 6 per cent, which could easily be doubled. Increasing awareness of our shared cultures can help boost this number. We will organise a SCO ... Read more

To promote adventure tourism in the hills, the tourism department of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) is planning to develop Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. Necessary steps will be taken to make these places more than just a tourist destination. Travellers to Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong will now have a host of adventurous activities at these destinations. GTA is now working to develop infrastructure in the hills and will soon be offering tourists with facilities like hill biking, paragliding, rafting and cycling. Besides promoting adventure tourism, major steps will be taken to make travellers aware of homestay facilities in these regions. The authorities ... Read more

Air India has announced that it has revised the excess baggage charges by Rs 100 per kg to Rs 500 for domestic travels from June 11, 2018. As of now, the airline charges Rs 400 per kg for excess baggage. The revised charges are applicable on all flights operated by Air India, except those of its regional arm, Alliance Air. “It has been decided to revise the excess baggage rate in the domestic sector to Rs 500 per kg per coupon on all travels commencing on or after June 11 from Rs 400 per kg,” the airline said in a ... Read more

Qatar Airways said it will soon move an application to launch a full-service airline in India for domestic operations. The proposed airline would be fully financed by Qatar’s sovereign fund and would have Indians heading the board, said AkbarAl Baker, CEO of the Airlines. “We will move the application soon. I don’t know really by when because it (the process) takes time,” he said. Set up in 2005, Qatar Investment Authority manages the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar and its assets under management are estimated at USD 335 billion. It was in March 2017 that Baker first mentioned about ... Read more

Seychelles Tourism Board, alongwith Travstarz Global Group, B2B Venture by CTRIP, DMC for Seychelles, has concluded a 3-city roadshow covering Ludhiana, Indore and Baroda. Seychelles Tourism was represented by Aswini Krishna and Shakambri Soni while Travstarz was represented by Hema Manghnani, Ramanpreet Singh and Vani Singh. “We are looking at creating more destination awareness among the Tier-II and III cities in India with a focus on increasing the number of passengers to Seychelles. We realised early on in our journey that high end travellers are no longer limited to the main metros and a testimony to the same is the ... Read more

Planet Ocean Foundation and OceanLove, supported by Uday Samudra Hotels & Resorts and Bond Ocean Safari Kovalam, is organizing an Ocean Conference on 8th June 2018 at 3 pm. The event will be conducted at Uday Samudra Hotel in Kovalam, Thriuvananthapuram. “We have a host of eminent people and subject matter experts from various reputed institutions, NGOs and organizations speaking on a wide range of subjects related to the oceans at this conference. They will emphasis how important the oceans are for sustaining life. Be part of this worldwide campaign,” said Jackson Peter, Managing Director, Bond Ocean Safari Kovalam. K R ... Read more

On a very positive note, the Vistara airlines has banned consumption of gutka (tobacco) on board its aircraft, possibly becoming the first Indian airline to do so. “At @airvistara, we take the environment seriously. The 50 per cent on board disposable plastics reduction and low emissions aircraft are just a start. Cleanliness at all times is part of our mantra. We have also banned chewing tobacco or ‘gutka’ consumption on board and at our facilities,” Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Strategy & Chief Commercial Officer, Vistara, tweeted announcing the ban. On May 27, an air traveller had tweeted (from handle @LaliGanguli) to ... Read more