Category: India

Central Railways is planning to implement a buyback policy for plastic bottles along with installing plastic bottle crushing machines at major stations as Maharashtra is all set to implement a statewide plastic ban from June 23. One of the biggest challenges the railways face is that of plastic containers, including bottles, entering Maharashtra from other States. Within Maharashtra, the government is proposing to have plastic bottles with a buyback price printed on it. The Railways is considering to extend the buyback policy only for approved manufacturers of the railways and on bottles that print the buyback price. The railway officials would be meeting the ... Read more

Budget carrier IndiGo will commence flight services to Hubli from Goa and Kochi from June 2018, using an ATR plane. The launch of these services to Hubli from 28 June, which will be the airline’s 52nd destination, is aimed at consolidating IndiGo’s position further in the southern India market. The Gurugram-headquartered low cost carrier will also operate additional flights between Hubli-Chennai, Hubli- Bengaluru and Hubli- Ahmedabad with Airbus A320, starting July 1. IndiGo currently operates 1,086 flights per day to to 50 destinations including eight international ones with a fleet of 160 planes, which includes regional jets ATR. The carrier has already ... Read more

The Kerala Tourism Facebook page got first place in a ranking done by Facebook based on total engagement with tourists that included reactions, shares and comments on the page between the 1 January and 31 December, 2017 time frame. The Kerala Tourism page pushed the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department’s Facebook page to the second place. The Kerala Tourism Facebook page had garnered 1.5 million likes to emerge as the top page. The Gujarat Tourism Facebook page was ranked third. Facebook recently released the data on the top-ranked Facebook pages of government bodies, ministries and political parties in India. P ... Read more

Trujet has been awarded 20 new routes through the Udan scheme initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which will take Trujet’s expansion to Western and Eastern States. The airline now connects 14 major destinations in South and West India with a connectivity between 3 tier cities and their nearest metropolitans. As per the new scheme, Trujet will connect Kandla, Porbandar, Keshod, Jaisalmer, Jalgaon and Nasik from Ahmedabad and Burnpur, Cooch Behar, Tezu, and Rupsi from Guwahati. “Trujet is now reaching a new level to serve passenger with a whole new approach. We have inducted the 5 th ATR 72-600 aircraft to ... Read more

For the first time, an International Rail Coach Expo (IRCE) to focus on Rail Coaches and train sets, is being held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, from 17th to 19th May, 2018. Many reputed rail car and equipment builders will be showcasing their technology and products to be held at the ICF RPF Parade Grounds, Chennai. It will be a unique platform to bring different suppliers under one roof and create synergy for “Make in India”. The expo is being hosted by Integral Coach Factory, popularly known as ICF, under the Ministry of Railways, in coordination with CII (Confederation of Indian ... Read more

Lords Hotels & Resorts has announced its plans to launch its fifth hotel in Nepal at Nepalgunj. The new hotel, Kalptaru Lords Inn, is a seven-storied premium property, which has seventy-seven rooms including five premium suites and one presidential suite. Kalptaru Lords Inn will commence operations under the Lords Hotels & Resorts brand by the end of May 2018. Lords Hotels & Resorts presently operates Mirage Lords Inn in Kathmandu and is scheduled to launch a resort in Budhanilkantha and two other hotel properties in Birjung and in Bhaktapur. “It is with pleasure that we inform about our new sign up of ... Read more

Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) has recently organised a destination showcase for Maldives in Mumbai, India, branded as Maldivian Night. More than 200 travel professionals from the two countries attended this exclusive event, hosted at the Four Seasons, Mumbai. Maldivian Night was conducted as a business networking event, where Maldivian hoteliers and Travel agents had the opportunity to meet with more than 150 prominent travel agents and tour operators from India. Around eight Maldivian companies took part in the business networking event. The event was concluded with an entertainment evening, to promote and feature Maldives Travel Awards. ... Read more

Iceland’s low fare transatlantic airline, WOW air, announces the launch of its flight operations in India from December 7, 2018 with incredibly low airfares. The airline is planning weekly direct flights between New Delhi and Keflavik airport in Iceland that will connect to multiple destinations in North America and Europe. “We are thrilled to launch our operations in India, a diverse country with tremendous potential. Our launch is in sync with India’s aviation growth story and we look forward to being part of it with our very affordable fares to North America and Europe on board brand new Airbus A330neos. ... Read more

Radisson Hotel Group, which has about 90 operational hotels in India, is eyeing religious destinations in the country and aims to reach 200 properties by 2020 in this market. “One of our core strategies is to grow in religious destinations. We are finding these destinations stable for us, such as Haridwar, Varanasi, Katra, Tirupati and we will plan in more destinations,” said Raj Rana, CEO, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group. In the India market, the group currently has a total of 140 hotels with 90 operational. This year, the group is set to launch the first Radisson Red property in India ... Read more

Rajesh Ramdas has joined Hyatt Regency Kathmandu as its general manager effective May 2. Rajesh has over 20-years of experience in the hospitality industry and have worked across various functions within rooms division. His most recent assignment was as general manager with Hyatt Regency Ludhiana. A hotel management graduate from Mangalore University, Rajesh commenced his career with The Leela Group as a management trainee in 1995, during which time he did an understudy in housekeeping. He was promoted to assistant manager of reservations and then transferred to the front office as lobby manager. Rajesh then joined the pre-opening team of ... Read more

The state government of Jammu and Kashmir has recently opened an alternate seven kilometre track to the Vaishno Devi shrine, atop a hillock overlooking Katra town in Reasi district of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). Tarakote Marg will be formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 19. N N Vohra, Governor of J&K, who is also the chairman of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVSB), took the new track during a visit to the shrine on Sunday and reviewed the preparedness for its operationalisation. The new route between Banganga and Adhkuwari is opened with an aim to decongest ... Read more

Privatisation of the maintenance of airport terminals was a plan initiated by the previous UPA government, which has faced a roadblock as the employee unions started protesting against the move. The current plan is to privatise at least eight government-owned airports — Chennai, Kolkata, Kochi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Guwahati. The civil aviation ministry is believed to be having discussions on designing the model on how the airports would be bid out and is likely the airports will be bid out for 30 years and the tariffs will be fixed upfront. Under the two models being examined, one is ... Read more

Relief for the Bangladesh tourists, as from May 20th they can walk-in and submit their applications at the Indian Visa Application Centers (IVACs) in Sylhet, Mymensingh and Barishal without prior appointment. The new move is to further relax, streamline and ease access for Bangladesh nationals to Indian visas as part of ongoing plans of Indian High Commission. The applications will be accepted at the centres from 8am-12pm. “These measures are aimed at easing access to the Indian visa and strengthening people-to-people contacts between India and Bangladesh,” the High Commission said. There is no change in the existing schemes for submission ... Read more

The India Meteorological Department has predicted thunderstorms across north-west India over the next 48 to 72 hours and as a result several trains and flights are also running late. A powerful dust storm and rain hit Delhi, grounding flights, uprooting trees and bringing traffic on the city’s roads to a grinding halt, days after an alert across north India for a massive storm. The alert says that thunderstorm accompanied with squall (wind speed reaching 50-70 kmph) are very likely at isolated places over Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand, Coastal Andhra ... Read more

Hyderabad has registered a 76 per cent rise in foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in 2017 owing to the rise in the number of meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) in the city. The city’s domestic tourist arrivals (DTAs) shot up by 16 per cent last year. According to Telangana tourism department, 2017 ended on a high note with as many as 2.47 lakh foreign tourists visiting mana sheher, against 1.63 lakh who travelled to Hyderabad in 2016. Domestic tourist arrivals rose from 2.33 crore in 2016 to 2.71 crore last year. Maximum tourist arrivals were recorded between September and December. The ... Read more