Category: India

Next time when you board a train in Kashmir, you would be awestruck watching the snowcapped mountains and the rural landscapes through the glass ceilings. With an aim to woo tourists, the Indian Railways is planning to introduce glass roof-top coaches on the Kashmir rail line. The vistadome coach, announced in June last year, has already arrived and will be introduced in May. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is introducing the see-through glass coaches in association with J&K tourism department. “The 40-seater coach would provide an enjoyable experience to passengers, officials said. The vistadome coaches in Kashmir have ... Read more

Uttarakhand and Bali has entered into a deal to boost tourism, culture, e-governance, human resource, capacity building, environment and health. A five-point Letter of Intent to this effect was signed by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and Governor of Bali I Made Mangku Pastika today. “With cooperation in field of tourism, culture, environment and health, Uttarakhand and the Indonesian province of Bali will come closer to each other. Bali is an important tourist destination and with this agreement, the flow of tourists in both India and Indonesia will increase. I hope more Indonesian tourists will now visit Uttarakhand,” said Rawat ... Read more

The Amer Fort in Rajasthan, which has been selected as one of the 10 iconic sites from India, stands just second to Taj as far as tourist arrivals are concerned, said the state Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. She was speaking at the inaugural session of the 10th edition of the Great India Travel Bazaar (GITB) at Hotel Lalit in Jaipur. Rajasthan Tourism strongly believes in partnerships, she said while appreciating the partners in eco-tourism, music tourism, and desert tourism in the state. The Chief Minister also said that heritage tourism is one of the most important areas of Rajasthan Tourism. “Rajasthan would be able to ... Read more

Sarovar Hotels & Resorts has launched Sarovar Premiere Jaipur, an upscale full service hotel featuring 80 guest rooms and suites. The hotel is conveniently located close to the airport, railway station, Vidhan Sabha and famous tourist attractions in the Pink city. Sarovar Premiere Jaipur offers two dining options Terrazo, the multi-cuisine restaurant with an indoor and outdoor seating overlooking the garden, and an open rooftop restaurant. The Lattice, an elegant bar located at Lobby Level,  overlooking the swimming pool, is one of the best places in the hotel to spend some quality time. The new hotel also features a fitness centre, ... Read more

Rajasthan Department of Tourism has bagged two Times Travel Awards 2018 for ‘Best Marketing Initiative – Domestic Tourism’ and Brand Equity Marketing Magazine Award for ‘Best Print Media Creatives’. State’s tourism department’s additional director Gunjeet Kaur received the award at an event in Delhi. The award from Best Print Media Creatives was given to Rajasthan tourism by Brand Equity, the marketing and advertising magazine of Economic Times, at a ceremony in Mumbai. The award was received by additional director of state’s tourism department, Sanjay Pandey. The tourist arrivals to the state was increased by 10.50 per cent to 45.91 million visits ... Read more

Aimed at creating a healthy environment for campuses and communities, Puducherry has released a Green Protocol, which will serve as a guide for universities, colleges, schools, industries, tourism sector, hotels, hospitals and other organisations to carry forward the stated missions of the programme. Chief Minister V Narayanasamy released the protocol in the presence of Minister for Environment M. Kandasamy and Pondicherry University Vice-Chancellor Gurmeet Singh. The Comprehensive Green Protocol (CGP), which has been formulated to become a touchstone of sustainable development for the Union Territory, condenses into a booklet the knowledge shared among a consortium of experts from various organisations such as the ... Read more

The 12-member inter-ministerial committee, set up to “frame guidelines describing circumstances and occasions on which the national anthem is to be played or sung”, is likely to suggest that cinema halls should not play the national anthem before screening a film. The committee, headed by Special Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Brij Raj Sharma, is likely to suggest that the playing of 52-second long anthem before screening will interrupt the screening of the film, and create disorder and confusion instead of adding dignity to it. The panel, set up on December 5, 2017, was given six months’ time to come up with statutory ... Read more

State of Madhya Pradesh bagged the award for the Most Film Friendly State for its efforts towards easing filming in the State by creating a well-structured web site, film friendly infrastructure, offering incentives, maintaining databases, undertaking marketing and promotional initiatives. The Most Film Friendly State Award was announced today by the Chairman of the Jury, Ramesh Sippy. The Awards will be presented by Hon’ble President of India Ram Nath Kovind on May 3rd, 2018 during the presentation of the National Film Awards. Madhya Pradesh was unanimously selected from the 16 states participated. Madhya Pradesh also received positive feedback from established filmmakers ... Read more

Darjeeling’s much-famed toy train will soon be taking tourists to the many tea gardens across the hill stations. It has entered into an agreement with the West Bengal Tourism for offering the new rides. The main objective of this initiative is to offer tourists with an immersive experience of Darjeeling’s tea gardens through toy train tours, in style as that of the Palace on Wheels of the Indian Railways. The trains will also halt at tea gardens and let tourists stay a day or two at tea estates of their choice, which will help interested travellers to learn about tea ... Read more

Air Deccan has launched Mumbai – Kolhapur flights, which is scheduled to formally begin services from April 22 under the regional connectivity scheme Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN). Air Deccan officials said that they have already started operations and have opened flight bookings offering a promotional fare of Rs 1299 for the 90-minute flight. The airline has also resumed operations to Nashik and Jalgaon which had briefly stopped following maintenance issues with its Beechcraft 1900 D aircrafts. The flight to Kolhapur will take off from Mumbai at 1.15 pm and depart from Kolhapur at 3.05 pm on Sundays, Tuesdays ... Read more

The Walhe village in Purandhar Tehsil, located 56 km away from Pune, will soon be added to the list of tourist destinations. Walhe, with a Rs 5.6 crore development sanctioned by the Maharastra government, will have a samadhi dedicated to sage Valmiki, also known as adi kavi, who has penned the Ramayana. The place is also famous for seven pots hills (Sat Ranjan). According to Indian mythology, Valmiki, in his earlier birth as Ratnakar, used to rob the travellers in the Walhe area to earn his livelihood. After committing each sin, he used to drop a stone in these pots. After meeting ... Read more

Noting that forest fires normally occur in April every year causing huge damage to the environment, the National Green Tribunal has directed the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to finalise the National Policy on Forest Fire within two weeks. The ministry told the green panel that all the states have complied with the direction of the tribunal and submitted their response to the Draft National Policy on Forest Fire. After receiving suggestion from all the states, the ministry was re-examining the draft policy and had fixed a workshop schedule to enable all stakeholders to participate in the effective ... Read more

Germany welcomed 8, 52,224 visitor overnights in 2017 registering a 13.8 per cent growth over 2016. Owing to this steady growth, the German National Tourist Office (GNTO) in India forecasts a 5-8 per cent growth in tourist arrivals this year. With experiential travel becoming the most sought after genre in leisure travel, GNTO is promoting ”Culinary Germany-More to explore” as its core global marketing theme this year. ”Food forms an integral part of any traveler’s itinerary. ‘Experiencing the local flavors helps enhance the flavor of any holiday and makes for everlasting impressions. With over 5,000 beers from 1,300 breweries, 300 types of bread, ... Read more

With summer vacations fast approaching, most Indians are planning to head to long-haul international destinations with booking going up by 25 per cent compared to last year, said a report published by online travel company MakeMyTrip. About 50 per cent of the bookings are made by travellers in the 25-35 age group, says the report. “Long-haul destinations have registered higher growth this year compared to short-haul ones, with a significant 25 percent growth in the number of trips year-on-year,” said Mohit Gupta, chief operating officer, MakeMyTrip. There has also been a significant increase in the number of people travelling this summer with ... Read more

April 18 is observed as International Day For Monuments and Sites, also called World Heritage Day. As of 2018, India has 28 cultural heritages, 7 natural heritages and one mixed heritage as per the UNESCO list. Have a look at the seven natural sites of India listed in the UNESCO World Heritage List… Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area  Tirthan Valley Located in the western part of the Himalayan Mountains in Himachal Pradesh, the Great Himalayan National Park is characterized by high alpine peaks, alpine meadows and riverine forests. Established in 1984 and was formally notified as a national park in ... Read more