Category: India

Chennai beaches including Marina and Elliot’s are all ready for a makeover with the financial aid extended by the Central government to promote beach tourism in the state. The development activities are expected to be completed by September 2018. Marina and Besant Nagar beaches would be getting retrofitting parks. The works for the same will start this month. The Central government has allocated Rs 12.5 crore for Marina and Rs 8.5 crore for the Besant Nagar beach. Access to Chennai and Elliot’s beaches will improve once the makeover is complete. The authorities are planning to develop beach approach facility for ... Read more

The 33rd IATO convention held in Odisha The four-day 34th annual convention of Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) will be held at Hotel Novotel in Visakhapatnam from September 6 to 9. Tourism Minister KJ Alphons would inaugurate the convention on September 6.  The association will also organize  ‘IATO Run for Responsible Tourism’ on September 7 at 6 AM, starting from Beach Road, followed by panel discussions regarding tourism promotion in the State and domestic markets. “IATO meet was being organised for the first time in the State. About 1,100 tour operators would take part in the convention wherein latest developments ... Read more

Rajasthan Department of Tourism, in association with Federation of Hospitality and Tourism of Rajasthan (FHTR), is planning to organize ‘Rajasthan Domestic Travel Mart’ 2018. The three-day event is scheduled to be held at the B.M. Birla Auditorium in Jaipur on July 20 and 22. The DoT and FHTR Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Additional Director Tourism, Sanjay Pande and Bhim Singh, President, FHTR, at an event held at Hotel ITC Rajputana, Sheraton, Jaipur in the presence of Nihal Chand Goel, Chief Secretary of Rajasthan. “The primary objective of ‘Rajasthan Domestic Travel Mart’ is to exclusively focus on the domestic tourists from ... Read more

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) said it is planning to promote Maharashtra as the preferred destination for Medical and Wellness tourism at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2018, which will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre from 22-25 April 2018. MTDC will showcase the essence of the state and its spectacular touristic attractions and discuss strategic partnerships with tourism professionals and potential investors at ATM “I am delighted to be a part of the Arabian Travel Market 2018 that will provide MTDC a platform to showcase the potential of medical tourism in Maharashtra. While the segment is largely untapped and caters ... Read more

A special pilgrimage train for senior citizens, under the Baristha Nagarika Tirtha Yatra Yojana, has been flagged off from Sambalpur station by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The train will take senior citizens to Shirdi, Nasik and Trimbakeshwar during the seven-day tour. As many as 998 senior citizens from 10 districts of the western region of the state boarded the train after the flag off , which was performed through video conferencing. People in the age group of 60-75 years are eligible to avail the benefit of the plan. Senior citizens from below poverty line (BPL) categories are given 100 per cent ... Read more

More than 13 lakh online tickets are booked through the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) portal – www.irctc.co.in – the e-ticketing outlet of the national carrier. About 2 crore people travel by Indian Railways every day. The national carrier is always upgrading the system so as to ease the booking processes and provide better services. A traveller is allowed to book tickets in advance up to 120 days through the IRCTC portal. “The date of journey (for the originating station of the train) will not be counted in 120-day limitation,” said Minister of State of Railways Rajen Gohain. The ... Read more

Bengaluru, nicknamed as the silicon valley of India, is all geared up for hosting India’s first Moto Art Show, a unique exhibition devoted to motorcycle enthusiasts in showcasing art through stories. The art exhibition named as the “First of Its Name” is ongoing at Peeple tree Art Gallery in Bengaluru till 28th April. The exhibition consists of Paintings, illustrations, metal sculptors using bike parts, film, and performance. “This is the first time such an event is happening in India with so much motorcycle art in one place. We will have around 80 unique pieces of art for sale. There’s something ... Read more

Ola said it will add 10,000 electric three-wheelers to its fleet over the next 12 months as part of a plan to promote the use of electric vehicles. Ola plans to have 1 million electric vehicles on offer by 2021, said Ola in a statement. The company also said that it will work with various state governments, vehicle manufacturers and battery companies to meet its target. Ola will introduce the electric three-wheelers in three cities. Ola operates in 110 Indian cities and has over a million driver partners. Last May, Ola launched a pilot project to test a fleet of electric vehicles ... Read more

The Central Railway (CR) is planning to open a revolving restaurant in Matheran, Mumbai. The CR is also getting in touch with IRCTC to come up with ways to attract more tourists to the hill station. THe authorities are also planning to come up with a steam engine ride up the Matheran hill. The CR looks at improving the number of tourists on the 21-km-long Neral-Matheran stretch. “We are looking at having a revolving restaurant at Matheran. We want to attract as many tourists as possible. We shall be running a ceremonial run of the steam engine with two coaches attached ... Read more

Now, you don’t need to go to the zoo to see the animals. You will soon be able to view animals at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Vandalur through live streaming on the Internet. Enclosures housing animals such as lion, chimpanzee, lion-tailed macaque and Indian Gaur will be streamed live when they are in the display area. After working hours, the animals will be in enclosures that will not be covered. The zoo officials have also announced a night stay package for visitors at the guest house on the zoo campus. Visitors can book online stay at the zoo for a ... Read more

If you are anyways planning to drive down to Chennai airport today or tomorrow  anytime between 2 and 5 pm, you will have to follow a new traffic route to reach the domestic and international terminals. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is carrying out a trial run to open the central arm of a vehicular bridge on the airport premises. The authorities would put up a signage so that passengers are not confused. After the trial run for two days AAI will implement the new traffic arrangement permanently in about two weeks’ time. As per the new traffic arrangement, passengers ... Read more

Government of Andhra Pradesh is planning to develop the historic Kondaveedu fort close to the new state capital Amaravati, into a hill station with a resort. The authorities are expecting a significant increase in the tourist footfalls in the coming years and are launching the developmental activities soon. A host of projects would be taken up by the tourism, endowments, archaeology, roads and buildings and electricity departments. As part of the project, the roads and buildings department would first lay a ghat road atop the 14th century fort at an estimated cost of Rs 12 crore. The department has already taken up various ... Read more

Air Odisha is introducing two more destinations in Gujarat at lowest fares starting from Rs 1420 and Rs 1699 between Ahmedabad to Bhavanagar and Bhavnagar to Surat respectively. The fights will be operation from April 16. With the two new routes under the Under the Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme, ‘Air Odisha ‘is now having operations in five cities -Ahmedabad, Mundra, Diu, Bhavnagar, and Surat. “On the maiden flight between the sectors, there will be some prominent guest who shall be flying with Air Odisha including Bhupendra Singh Chudasama Minister of Civil Aviation and Education, Gujarat, Jitu Bhai Vaghani – BJP ... Read more

SpiceJet has announced it will launch daily direct flight between Delhi and Adampur (Jalandhar) from May, its sixth destination under the UDAN scheme. The airline was awarded Adampur under under the first round of UDAN. “With the introduction of the daily direct flight services on the Delhi-Adampur-Delhi route, SpiceJet earmarks its sixth destination under the Regional Connectivity Scheme. Passengers from Adampur can now conveniently travel to a host of other cities both on SpiceJet’s domestic as well as international network via multiple onward connections from Delhi,” a SpiceJet release said. With the addition of Adampur-Delhi UDAN route, SpiceJet will operate ... Read more

Air India resumes its direct flight linking industrial town of Durgapur in West Bengal with Delhi after a gap of nearly 22 months. The flight AI-756, with a 122-seater Airbus A319 aircraft, will leave Durgapur at 08:25 am and arrive at Delhi at 10:35 am. The return flight will take off from Delhi at 05:50 am and land at Durgapur at 07:50 am. Air India is offering attractive fares for this flight, which will operate four days a week, both ways. AI was the first airline to start operation from Durgapur in May 2015 but it withdrew the flight on June 17, ... Read more