Category: Top Three Stories

Hainan Airlines flight HU7607 took off from Beijing and landed at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport at 11:00 am on October 13 Beijing time, marking the successful completion of the maiden commercial voyage of the first Airbus A350 aircraft owned by Hainan Airlines Holding Co., Ltd.  The carrier is opening a new era of services operated by the A350, witnessed by over 300 passengers. The A350-900 provides passengers with a new standard of travel experience with its leading modern cabins. The business class comes equipped with the Staggered seat layout for enhancing passenger privacy and the classic Straight-Line design. In addition, ... Read more

Etihad Airways Engineering, the largest commercial aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services provider in the Middle East, received two prestigious honours at the Aviation Business Awards 2018 held in Dubai on October 9, 2018. The ‘Unsung Hero of the Year’ and ‘Engineering Innovation of the Year’ awards recognise the company’s achievements in the past 12 months, by a panel of aviation industry experts. ‘Unsung Hero of the Year’ was awarded to Etihad Airways Engineering’s Technical Sales, which recognised the multi-cultural team for playing a key role in enabling the UAE’s vision to become a global aerospace hub and Customer Service ... Read more

Emirates is offering travellers in Lebanon special Business class companion fares to 15 destinations across its network. The offers are valid for bookings until 31 October 2018, for travel until 20 December 2018. The special fares are available for two to eight people booking and flying together in Business Class. Fares from Lebanon start from USD 3626 per person to Phuket, to New York for USD 3660 per person, to Kuala Lumpur and Sydney for USD 3765 per person. In addition to great fares, all Emirates Business Class travellers can enjoy lounge access in Dubai, a generous 40kg baggage allowance, ... Read more

Sardar Vallabhbhai Pattel statue (Photo Courtesy: Indian Express) Vijay Rupani, Chief Minister Gujarat has invited all other states of the country to construct ‘state houses’ at Kevadia Colony, where the 182 meters tall Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel statue, probably world’s tallest statue, is under construction. Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) officials said land has been assigned about land along with the statue for the states to construct guesthouses and canteens same as the different state bhavans in New Delhi. As per the J N Singh, Gujarat State Secretary, letters from the Chief Minister were sent to all states last week ... Read more

Photo from WTTC Global Summit 2018 WTTC’s Tourism for Tomorrow (T4T) Awards is the world’s top accolade in sustainable tourism; they recognize the highest ethical standards in the sector and are respected by industry leaders, governments and international media alike. The Awards are aimed at recognizing best practice in sustainable tourism within the industry globally, based upon the principles of environmentally friendly operations; support for the protection of cultural and natural heritage; and direct benefits to the social and economic well-being of local people in travel destinations around the world. The Tourism for Tomorrow Awards have five categories that have ... Read more

Photo for representative purpose only Comingone Ymbon, Fisheries Minister of Meghalaya, inaugurated the first Aqua Park of the state at Photjaud-War, South West Khasi Hills District on Thursday, 11th October 2018 Speaking on the inaugural function, Ymbon said that the park built at a cost of Rs 26 lakhs, would help in boosting tourism and development of the state and enhance its economy. “Aqua Culture Mission-II will be launched soon in the state and it will help to increase the fish production of,” said the Minister Meghalaya is estimated to have annual demand of 27000 metric tonnes of fish, however ... Read more

The picturesque Wayanad is all set to be more beautiful, with the hill station going to be made waste-free soon. The district administration, in association with three-tier local administrative bodies, is planning to make the destination waste-free. An action plan has been prepared by three-tier local bodies to declare Wayanad a complete waste-free district from January 1. The action plan suggests conducting ward-level waste-free declaration on October 21, followed by Grama panchayat-level and district-level waste-free declarations on November 14 and December 31 respectively. A coordination committee has been appointed to implement the project, with grama panchayat association president as the chairman of the ... Read more

Mombasa Elephant Tusks The Port City of Mombasa on Tuesday witnessed the unveiling of a luxury double-decker bus for sightseeing at the historical Elephant Tusks. The inauguration comes at a time when Mombasa is preparing to host the Global Skal Congress, a meeting for tourism executives from all over the world at Pride Inn Paradise Beach Resort, Convention Centre and Spa next month. The bus painted in colours of the Kenyan national flag. Mombasa Sightseeing Limited, the owners of the bus, said that they were delighted at starting the new service in the Port city of Mombasa which is a ... Read more

Revv Co-founders -Anupam Agarwal and Karan Jain Revv, the car sharing platform is coming to Kochi. It is as per their plan to expand their services to four new cities making their presence in 15 cities of the country. Three other are Ahmedabad, Mangalore and Kolkata. The company is already operating other Metro cities already. The company also plan to start operations in another five cities by the end of 2018. The fleet of vehicles will also be increased in accordance with the expansion programme. There are also plans to have new one-way intercity routes. The expansion programmes expected to ... Read more

The Italian Embassy in Bahrain has opened a new visa application centre in Manama in partnership with VFS Global on Tuesday. (09 October, 2018). In a joint statement, VFS Global and the Embassy said the new centre will provide greater seamlessness to visa application processing and residents in Bahrain need not submit their Schengen visa applications at the Embassy. “We are very pleased to start a new chapter of cooperation with VFS Global, providing a state-of-the-art service in collecting applications for short-stay Visas for travel to Italy and Malta as their main destinations in the Schengen area. We are confident ... Read more

The country’s busiest airport in Delhi, the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), will go plastic-free by 2019. The airport has already started saying no to plastic for grocery bags, food packaging, bottles, straws, containers, cups and cutlery. Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has said the initiative is in line with India’s pledge to eliminate all single-use plastic in the country by 2022. DIAL has started awareness campaigns, enhancing waste management systems and promoting the use of eco-friendly sustainable alternatives progressively. Single-use plastics, often also referred to as disposable plastics, are commonly used in packaging and include items intended to be used only ... Read more

Renowned tourism destination and World Heritage Site of Assam, Manas National Park, was opened for tourists on Wednesday, 10th October 2018. The national park was inaugurated by Kampa Borgoyari , Deputy Chief of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). A huge gathering was present on the occasion. To the amusement of the visitors traditional art forms like Bihu dance, Zikir, Bodo dance and Naam Prasang were performed on the inauguration. A huge procession was taken out on the occasion. The colourful procession was participated by a large number of local people, elephants, members of different organizations and artistes. “This year we are ... Read more

The national passenger carrier Air India said it will launch direct flight services from Bengaluru to London with effect from November 17, 2018. “The non stop flight will fulfill the long standing demand of IT professionals and health tourism in the region,” the airline said in a statement. According to Air India, the service will be operated by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The aircraft will fly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Bengaluru and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from London. Air India has also offered special introductory two-way fare of Rs 1,29,500 for business class travel and Rs 35,220 for ... Read more

Oman’s Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has commenced its multi-city roadshow on October 7, beginning with Qatar’s capital Doha. The Tourism Ministry is also conducting mobile promotional workshops during the five-city roadshow. The workshops, set to take place in Kuwait, Jeddah, Riyadh and Dubai as well. The roadshows and workshops will be attended by Omani tourism companies including Oman Air and SalamAir. The ministry has coordinated with its representative offices to invite about 100 tourist companies and institutions, in addition to the local media in the host countries. Introductory and promotional presentations will be made about tourism potential, services and products in the ... Read more

Islamic Travel Mart (ITM), India’s premier B2B marketplace and meeting point for all stakeholders in Islamic tourism, is scheduled to be held from October 13-14, 2018 at the World Trade Centre, Mumbai. Leading travel professionals and organisations from the Haj, Umrah, Ziyarat, Halal and mainstream travel sectors are coming together to promote the development of travel and tourism to the Haj and Umrah circuit, as well to other Islamic pilgrimage destinations across the globe. The objective of Islamic Travel Mart is to create a platform for greater interaction and networking between the suppliers and buyers of Haj, Umrah, Ziyarat and Halal Travel, ... Read more