Category: India

The Kerala state Tourism department has announced Rs 25 lakh cash prize for the winners of Champions Boat League tournament. “The boat races in the state will be promoted as a major attraction for International tourists visiting the state,” said Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism. The Champions Boat League is organized with the intention to generate more excitement to this sporting event and for the promotion of boat races, he added. “Promoting boat races will attract more international and domestic tourists to the state,” said the minister. Kadakampally also said that the past glory of the boat races has got ... Read more

Friends of Assam and Seven Sisters (FASS) is organizing a panel discussion on “Saving the Rhinos – A Campaign for Conservation of Wild-life Population from Extinction” at Nehru Centre, cultural Wing of The High Commission on Friday, 10, August 2018. Destruction of wild life and environment has become pervasive in most of the countries and remedial actions to be taken for their conservation. In Assam, large-scale poaching and killings are going on along in Kaziranga with the destruction of the animals’ habitats resulting in man- animal conflicts. The purpose of this event is to assist Govt. of Assam to find ... Read more

Representative Photo The Horticulture Department of Tamil Nadu is conducting a flower and vegetable show at Eco Park near Five Falls in  Courtallam. The event was inaugurated on 29th July 2018. There are different kinds of artistic decorations made of flowers, condiments, vegetables etc., at the show. A Taj Mahal made of aromatic condiments; a tractor, Indian gaur and dancers, all made of flowers are among a few of the eye catching exhibit items at the flower show. Kadambur Raju, Minister for Information and Publicity; Vellamandi N  Natarajan, Minister for Tourism; V M Rajalakshmi, Minister for Adi Dravidar and Tribal ... Read more

Food lovers will soon to have the spicy flavours for ‘bongu biriyani’ and ‘bongu chicken’ (dishes made in bamboo logs), in Kadapa and Tirupati. As an initiative by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC), Chefs from both private and public sector restaurants in the districts had a training programme to cook ‘bongu biryani’ and ‘bongu chicken’, delicious dishes popular in local Andhra Pradesh. The event took place at the State Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition (SIHMCTAN), in Tirupati. “Bongu Biryani is prepared by stuffing rice and chicken mixed with required spices in a bamboo log, ... Read more

Tourism Minister KJ Alphons has said that the tourism ministry is very keen to attract more Chinese travellers and is hopeful of boosting their arrivals to 14.4 million in five years. The ministry has introduced a slew of measures which includes promotional events and Mandarin-speaking guides. The minister also informed that the ministry would be setting up its first office at Beijing soon. It also has plans to organize roadshows in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou from August 28 to September 1. “We should aim for 10 per cent of the 144 million Chinese tourists. This can be achieved in five ... 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

“Tourists who do not respect the culture of Goa and create nuisance by littering on the beaches or taking narcotic drugs are not welcome in the state”, said Manohar Ajgaonkar, Tourism Minister of Goa. He was talking in the Legislative Assembly on 26th July 2018.The minister also said that existing laws were not strong enough to confront the nuisance created by hawkers on the beaches in the state According to Ajgoankar there is a difference between a drunk Goan and a tourist who is drunk. “Goans will walk straight on the road while tourists walk shaking their body,” said the minister. Speaking on other issues at the beach like stray animals, ... Read more

‘Rajasthan Domestic Travel Mart’ (RDTM) held in Jaipur from July 20 to 22 was considered a landmark event and the organizers claim it was a huge success. The event was organized by the Federation of Hospitality and Tourism of Rajasthan (FHTR) with the support of different stakeholders. Though Rajasthan has been a major attraction for both domestic and international tourists, recently states like Kerala and Madhya Pradesh have been getting more attention, and the organizers of the event hope to reverse this situation. Lalit Panwar, Vice Chancellor of the state Skill Development University, noted that human resource development was a ... Read more

Photo Credits: gotnewswire India has been becoming a favourite destination for medical tourism in recent years. Advanced medical facilities, highly skilled doctors and comparatively low cost of treatment make India an ideal place for medical tourism.  The total number of visitors during the year 2017 was 4.95 lakh, as stated by KJ Alphons, Minister of State for Tourism. He was replying to queries in the Lok Sabha. People visited India for medical purposes during 2015 and 2016 were 2.34 lakh and 4.27 lakh respectively. Bangladesh and Afghanistan are at top places in the number of foreign tourist arrivals for medical ... 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.

As tourism is becoming a major revenue earner in most of the countries, a degree in travel and tourism would be one of the most attractive courses in days to come. Vishwakarma University, Pune is offering a Bachelor’s Degree in Travel and Tourism – Bachelor of Arts in Travel and Tourism. The three-year full-time degree programme is for students who passed XII in any stream. The University also offers Master Degree in Tourism, which can be availed by students with a bachelor degree in any streams. Travel and Tourism post-graduates may go for a Doctorate, if they could score 55 ... Read more

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha have deployed tourist police. “Fourteen states have deployed tourist police in one form or the other,” informed Union Tourism Minister KJ Alphons. Listing out the measures taken by his ministry to ensure the safety of tourists, Alphons said it had launched a 24×7 Multi-Lingual Tourist Info-Helpline (toll-free number 1800111363, short code 1363) in 12 languages (Hindi, English and 10 international languages) in February, 2016. The helpline was launched to provide support to the tourists in terms of information relating ... 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

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is preparing to exhibit never seen before artefacts, including rare coins, pottery and clay utensils for the public. Archaeological Museums display objects on rotation basis which facilitates visitors to know about all important objects of different historical periods in totality. Four museums are being set up in Colonial buildings in Red Fort in which original antiquities will also be showcased. Work is going on to figure out a schedule and display a map for the antiquities Four museums at the Red Fort will be opening up for public in August 2018. The first museum will ... Read more