Category: News

The Tourism Authority of Thailand will organise the longest fireworks display ever staged along Bangkok’s Chao Phraya River as part of celebrations to mark the arrival of the New Year at midnight on 31st December 2018. Called the “Amazing Thailand Countdown 2019”, the spectacular display will last a full five minutes and is expected to be witnessed by more than a million people in the proximity of the river and beyond. The Countdown festivities are jointly organised by the largest coalition of public and private sector organisations which are collaborating to stage a single, synchronized show that can become a ... Read more

Hainan, China’s southern province plans to construct a scenic highway around the island in the first half of 2019 to boost tourism. It was informed by the provincial transport department. The new highway, which stretch around 1,040 kilo meters will link 12 cities and counties in Hainan. The highway will be built with consideration for plants and cultural landscapes protection.  According to the construction plan, the highway will provide tourists with ocean views on one-fifth of the dual-lane highway, along which a total of 46 tourism stations to be built. The highway will be construction with a number of high-tech ... Read more

Oman tourism has established representation offices abroad to promote the nation’s tourism products abroad. These 14 offices of the Ministry of Tourism are targeting the most promising and competitive tourism markets of the world to Oman. These offices have been taking many significant moves to put Oman tourism on the world tourism map. They are introducing new tourism products among operators and tourists and trying to establish the Sultanate as an emerging destination. They have been organizing Meetings, conferences and exhibitions and offering incentives to attract tourists by various means, including cruise ships. Tourists in Jabal Shams, Oman These offices ... Read more

Etihad Airways is planning to introduce the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on its daily scheduled service from Abu Dhabi to Hong Kong, effective 31 March 2019. The two-class aircraft will replace the Airbus A330-200 aircraft currently operating the route The new 787-9 Dreamliner service to Hong Kong will feature the airline’s next-generation Business and Economy cabins, configured with 299 seats – 28 Business Studios and 271 Economy Smart Seats – a capacity increase of six seats in Business and 31 in Economy in each direction, and an increase in belly-hold cargo capacity of four tonnes. The flight EY 834 will depart from Abu ... Read more

How often have you arrived for a holiday get-together only to find yourself stressed-out due to the travel hassles you just endured while getting there? Endless airport and car rental lines, joining the crowded highway traffic – it all takes a toll. What if you didn’t have to tolerate such things, and could arrive perhaps in a better frame of mind than when you started the journey? Samson is re-defining holiday travel (and all travel for that matter) by allowing people to travel door-to-door, flying and driving on their own terms. The Switchblade flying sports car carries two people, gifts, ... Read more

Pakistan’s medical tourism sector has been losing clients from Afghanistan, as they are moving to India for treatment. It was acknowledged by the Ministry of Commerce in a written reply to a question from minority lawmaker Mahesh Kumar Malani regarding reasons for the decline in exports to Afghanistan over the past four years. The reason for the shift is reported to be due to the border management policy of Pakistan, increasing difficulties faced by Afghanis in getting Pakistani visa, compulsory police reports and security clearances and unnecessary security checks at border crossing point. Another bunch of factors listed by Pakistan’s ... Read more

Federation of Hotels and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) told ET that it is planning to approach the Competition Commission of India and the tourism ministry and that all four regional associations under FHRAI – North, South, East and West – are in line with its stance of nationwide protests if their demands are not met. Two weeks before FHRAI has warned of action against room aggregator OYO for large-scale breach of contracts, jeopardizing the safety of consumers and violation of laws. The move comes a week after the apex body issued a notice to online travel aggregators (OTAs) – ... Read more

As per a recent report by a parliamentary panel, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) introduced by the Center has a negative impact on the tourism sector of Jammu and Kashmir. The panel suggests reconsidering the indirect tax system in the tourism related activities of the state. The committee was headed by Rajya Sabha member Kanwar Deep Singh, who expressed concern at the declining tourism in the picturesque State, has asked the Government to hold talks with the countries which have issued advisories against travel to J&K. “It (GST) must be done in a cautious and phased manner in order ... Read more

Christmas is here and the New Year is just a week ahead, the hoteliers across Kerala is happy that there’s a slight surge in hotel bookings during this peak season. The hotel sector is expecting average occupancy of 70 per cent during this holiday season, Hotels in destinations such as Kovalam, Varkala, Kochi and Munnar are predicting even higher occupancy rates in the holiday season, while for New Year’s they expect to be full. Although foreign visitor arrivals remain weak since the Nipah outbreak and the devastating floods, 7 of every 10 visitors to the God’s own country during the holidays are ... Read more

Ghana is planning to have a 40 week long domestic tourism campaign to boost the tourism sector. It was announced by Catherine Afeku, Minister for Tourism Arts and Culture. The campaign named ‘Do Ghana’ is an initiative by culture tourism ambassador and culture advocate PaJohn Bentsifi Dadson and will focus boosting the domestic travel market and encouraging local people explore Ghana’s beautiful landscapes and scenery. The campaign will be officially launched in February 2019 and will run for 40 consecutive weeks. A social media campaign has been created and will be in collaboration with Bentsifi, Graphic Communications, GHOne TV and ... Read more

After conquering Kilimanjaro, 8-year-old Hyderabad boy climbs Australia’s highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko along with five other members, including his mother and sister. Samanyu Pothuraju has so far climbed 4 mountains, and is now gearing up up to climb Mount Fuji in Japan. The team donned Telangana handlooms while climbing Kosciuszko with an aim to promote handloom weavers in the state. The team to scale the 7,310 feet peak, by Raji Tammineni of Boots and Cramptons, included four women and the 8-yr-old Pothuraju. Earlier in 2017, Pothuraju claimed the world record after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 2,281 days, beating USA’s Montanna Kenney who accomplished the task in ... Read more

Tanjug Lesung Beach Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahaya has given directive to stop promoting Tanjung Lesung and surrounding areas as tourist destinations for now, following the tsunami that hit areas close to the Sunda Straits, killing more than 280 people. The tsunami devastated the region’s tourism facilities, which is branded as one of the new Balis. “In this emergency situation, I have instructed that all promotional activities at the destinations affected by the disaster must be stopped,” said the minister in a press statement issued on Sunday. The minister also conveyed condolences on behalf of the ministry and its staff ... Read more

Cambodia government envisages a new programme to facilitate cooperation between the government and members of the private sector to enhance tourism development. The government has formulated a Board on Tourism Marketing and Promotion, which seeks to strengthen the promotion of Cambodia as a tourism destination abroad. The new body is composed of 15 members and is chaired by Thong Khon, Minister of Tourism. Half of the members will be from government agencies and the other half from the private sector. Five year will be tenure of a member. Samdech Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia “The Board on Tourism Marketing ... Read more

The Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), launched a 50-day countdown for Unani Day 2019. During the next 50 days, the CCRUM and its regional institutes / centres would organize a host of activities and events as a run up to Unani Day which is celebrated on 11th February every year. The countdown activities would include marathons, writathon, quiz competitions, public health talks, daily health tips for the general public, workshops, etc. The 23 institutes of the CCRUM would start their functioning with a five-minute public talk on the role of Unani Medicine in the management of different ... Read more

GoAir, in partnership with Thailand Yacht Show & RendezVous 2019, is offering 50 per cent discount on flights to Phuket from India for yachting enthusiasts registering to visit the Thailand Yacht Show (TYS) 2019. Thailand Yacht Show, which is scheduled to take place from 10-13th January 2019, will be held at the award-winning Royal Phuket Marina. GoAir’s 50 per cent discount offer is especially for the Indian yachting enthusiasts and everyone who register from India at the Thailand Yacht Show’s website to visit TYS 2019. GoAir will start direct daily flights to Phuket from Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. By the end ... Read more