Category: News

Musandam in Oman – Norway of the Middle East

Musandam is a mountainous peninsula in Oman, projecting into the Strait of Hormuz, separated from the rest of the country by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Its serrated coastline features fjord like inlets called ‘khors,’ and its waters are home to dolphins and other marine life. Dhow cruises are a popular activity. Khasab is the capital of the Musandam governorate. The main thing that makes this area special is the collocation of sea and mountains. Excursions in boats and traditional ships will give the visitors unforgettable enjoyment. Musandam has something for everyone who visits there – let it be off ... Read more

Vasantholsavam – the spring festival is back in Thiruvananthapuram

Vasantholsavam – the spring festival is back in Thiruvananthapuram. A nine-day long flower show, organized by the tourism department will kick off on January 11 2019. Other than flower show, the event will feature an exhibition-cum-sale of agricultural produce, rare herbs and medicinal plants, and food festivals. It was announced by the Tourism Minister, Kadakampally Surendran. The event will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on January 11 in front of the Kanakakkunnu Palace. Tourism Minister will chair the function. The expense of the event will be met by sponsorship and ticket sale.  It is decided that ten per ... Read more

Malaysia ranked 3rd in the most visited Asian country in 2018

Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia According to statistics from World Travel Monitor by worldwide tourism consultancy IPK International, the tourism industry has registered continuous growth in international trips all over the world in 2018. As per the report that international outbound trips grew by 6 per cent worldwide in the first eight months of the year, with Asia and South America recording the highest increase. According to travel booking portal Agoda, Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia are the third most-booked city and country in Asia. Japan is the top most-booked country, and Thailand bagged the second position. Bangkok and Tokyo are in first ... Read more

Glion Institute offers new online courses in hospitality management

Glion Institute of Higher Education, a hospitality management institution in Switzerland, is offering a new set of online certificate courses starting from March 2019. The new courses occur four times per year with a span of two weeks. The course includes videos, readings, discussions, peer-reviewed assignments, quizzes, and a final exam. The Online courses are : • Maximising Spa Profitability and Excellence in Spa Operations are taught by Glion faculty member Mariana Palmeiro and leading spa and wellness expert Dr Mary Tabacchi on the financial and organisational aspects of spa management, a particular growth area in the hospitality industry. • Revenue ... Read more

Women Passengers can have Pink Taxi service at Bengaluru Airport

Photo Courtesy: BIAL twitter Safety of women travellers have always been a main subject of discussions in the media recently. To ensure safe and hassle-free journey for women travellers, the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) has launched a fleet of ten ‘women only’ cabs, in association with Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL). As Bengaluru airport is at a fair distance away from the main city, it is expected that the service will be helpful to women travellers, especially at night. The Pink Cabs will be a 24 hour service from the airport. The cabs will be equipped with GPRS ... Read more

Wayanad tourism destinations to go green

A R Ajayakumar, Wayanad District Collector, convened a meeting of the task force of ‘Haritha Keralam Mission’, to declare all tourism destinations in the district plastic-free. “As decided in the meeting, District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) will be directed to ban plastic in all tourism destinations in the district,” said the Collector after the meeting. In order to propagate the ban of plastic, a three-day vehicle rally would be organized from January 13 to 16 with the title ‘Haritha Yanam.’ The meeting also decided to organize two district-level workshops on January 21 and 27 with an effort to restore 16 ... Read more

Tourism stakeholders in North Kerala launches Malabar Tourism Society

With an aim to promote the Northern part of Kerala, the travel and tourism stakeholders have come together to form Malabar Tourism Society. The organization, which is scheduled to be launched on January 12, 2019, aims to develop the tourism in Malabar (North Kerala) region and promote six districts of Northern Kerala collectively by forming a dedicated Malabar circuit. Malabar Tourism Society will be officially launched by Kerala Tourism Minister, Kadakampilly Surendran at the Alhind Convention Centre, CAlicut Tower in Kozhikode at 5 pm. “MTS brings all tourism-related service providers under one umbrella to work for the development of tourism in ... Read more

Crooked Forest- an unsolved mystery in Poland

The Crooked Forest is one of the weirdest and interesting places in Poland that not many people actually know about. If you want to experience something completely different you should definitely consider a trip to the Crooked Forest. It is a great place for taking pictures and if you are into creepy places don’t hold back and visit it at night. The Crooked Forest consists of 400 pines planted there around 1930 when the area was a German territory. It is full of oddly-shaped trees that look like something really bad happened to them. It is generally believed that the ... Read more

India aims at 200,000 km of National Highways

As per the press release issued on 8th January 2018, the government aims at enhancing  the length of National Highways in the country to 200,000 kms. Currently the country have around 131,326 km of national highways. In addition to this about 53,031 km of state roads has been declared as new NHs in principal. The total length of National Highways in the country was 91,287 km as on March 31, 2014. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation the 58 kms, four laned,  Solapur – Tuljapur – Osmanabad section of  NH-211 (New NH-52) in Solapur in Maharashtra ... Read more

Manipur hosts the 4th edition of Women’s Polo Intentional Tournament

Manipur Tourism organizes the 4th edition of Manipur Statehood Day Women’s Polo Tournament from January 17 to 21 at Mapal Kangjabung in association with All Manipur Polo Association. Besides the Indian teams, international teams from the USA, Canada, Argentina and Kenya will take part in this year’s edition of the tournament, stated an official from Manipur Tourism. “We are very proud to be the presenting as sponsor of the only international women’s polo tournament in India, in the birthplace of modern polo,” said Nidhi Kesarwani, Tourism Secretary, Manipur. The tournament is initiated by the Manipur Government and the final match ... Read more

India backed Sittwe port in Myanmar soon to be operational

Sittwe Port, Myanmar Infrastructure development works at Sittwe Port in Myanmar, constructed with India’s assistance, is getting ready for operation. It was informed by the Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Chemical & Fertilizer Mansukh L Mandaviya. The Minister said that the construction of Sittwe Port is part of the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project. Its objective is to create a multi-modal sea, river and road transport corridor for shipment of cargo from the eastern ports of India to Myanmar through Sittwe port as well as to North-Eastern part of India via Myanmar. Once fully operational, the ... Read more

Cruise tourism in India shows a positive swing

In the year 2017-18, a total of 139 Cruise ships carrying 1,62,660 passengers visited India at six major ports namely Mumbai Port, Mormugao Port, New Mangalore Port, Cochin Port, Chennai Port and Kolkata Port. Major ports of the country namely, Mumbai Port, Mormugao Port, New Mangalore Port, Cochin Port and Chennai Port have been developed to attract cruise ships with dedicated terminals and other related infrastructure for berthing of cruise vessels and embarking and disembarking of cruise passengers. The Ministry of Shipping has brought out a Vision Document with a view to develop India as a Cruise shipping destination. The ... Read more

How Kenya marked 31.26 per cent growth in tourism revenue

Kenya’s tourism revenue crossed USD 1.55 billion during the year 2018, which is 31.26 per cent more than that of 2017 amounts. Najib Balala, cabinet secretary in the ministry of tourism and wildlife, said international visitor arrivals also increased by 37 per cent, counting around 2.02 million in 2018. “Kenya’s tourism performance for the year 2018 has seen a substantial improvement compared to 2017 in both tourism arrivals, domestic tourism performance and earnings,” said Balala who was presenting the tourism sector performance report 2018 to President Uhuru Kenyatta in Mombasa. He said that domestic tourism bed occupancy increased from 3.64 ... Read more

South Sulawesi introduces new tourism logo

South Sulawesi, the province on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, famous for its picturesque landscapes, beaches and islands and hanging graves, will have a new logo for tourism. Photo Courtesy: The Jakarta Post The new logo was introduced by the governor Nurdin Abdullah, expressing hope that it could serve as a familiar icon among local and international communities. The logo was chosen from the tourism identity rebranding competition held by the local administration in search of a fresh look for its tourism program.  The selected logo was created by Rahmat Zulfikar, a contestant in the competition “We appreciate what ... Read more

Major hoteliers eye on Mexican tourism sector

Major hoteliers operating in Mexico is planning to open around 350 new properties in the country by the year 2022, to exploit the favourite condition prevailing in the tourism sector. City Express Hotels, which mainly targets business travelers, will lead the way by opening 80 new properties over the next three years. Business travel specialist, City Express Hotels will open 80 new properties over the next three years. “We see a challenging economic outlook but we are maintaining the positive idea of continuing to position ourselves in the center of cities” said Jose Luis Carrete, while talking to the local ... Read more