Category: News

Alaska Airlines begins nonstop service between Sacramento International Airport and Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole on the Island of Hawaii. Alaska Airlines is expanding access to the Hawaiian Islands for Northern California residents looking to head to the beach. The new, three-times weekly flight is the only nonstop and fastest way for Sacramentans to get to visit the largest of the Hawaiian Islands. Alaska also offers nonstop service from Sacramento to Maui, Hawaii. “Our Sacramento guests can start their vacation the minute they step onto the plane, with our assigned seating, plentiful in-flight entertainment, and delicious food and ... Read more

Kerala Tourism has launched an International Children’s Online Painting Competition as a part of the effort to commemorate the works and incredible story of Indian child prodigy Edmund Thomas Clint, and to provide a platform for the next generation of maestros hidden among us. Children in 4-16 age group eligible for competition and the last date for submission of entries is December 31, 2018. Held in honour of a legendary nonpareil of Kerala who produced 25,000 works of art in the mere 7 years he spent on the planet, it is the perfect opportunity for artists from India and around the world ... Read more

Hyatt Place Pasadena, the first Hyatt-branded hotel in the city, is officially open. The new hotel features the Hyatt Place brand’s intuitive design, casual upscale atmosphere and enhanced food and beverage. Perfectly situated in the heart of downtown, the hotel is walking distance to Old Town Pasadena with many shops, restaurants and entertainment to choose from. The hotel is led by Ensemble Real Estate Solutions & Investments, and operated by Interstate Hotels & Resorts. Ensemble led the development of the Hyatt Place Pasadena, an upscale hotel for business and leisure travelers that offers views of the San Gabriel mountains and ... Read more

Bakel Fort, Kasargod Kasaragod is located at the northern end of Kerala, comprising of Hosdurg and Kasaragod taluks which were part of undivided Kannur District. In the east the district is Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka, the Arabian Sea in the west, and the Kannada District of Karnataka in the north. The district is bounded by the Kannur district. Recently, Bekal Resorts Development Corporation Limited  (BRDC), has conducted a tour programme named ‘SMiLE Ambassador Tour’ as part of their experiential tourism ventures, which has started on 5th and concluded on 8th December.  The participants of the event were ... Read more

Bakel Fort, Kasargod Kasaragod is located at the northern end of Kerala, comprising of Hosdurg and Kasaragod taluks which were part of undivided Kannur District. In the east the district is Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka, the Arabian Sea in the west, and the Kannada District of Karnataka in the north. The district is bounded by the Kannur district. Recently, Bekal Resorts Development Corporation Limited  (BRDC), has conducted a tour programme named ‘SMiLE Ambassador Tour’ as part of their experiential tourism ventures, which has started on 5th and concluded on 8th December.  The participants of the event were ... Read more

Hainan Airlines, one of the largest carriers in China, has launched direct flight between Paris and Chongqing. The 12-hour non-stop flight will make traveling between Chongqing and Paris much easier, saving both time and money for Chinese passengers wanting to experience Paris’ famed romance. This route is the second direct international flight from Chongqing to Europe by Hainan Airlines, their first being to Rome, Italy. There are now six direct flights between Chongqing and European destinations, and you can now fly directly to Chongqing, China, from London, Rome, Helsinki, Paris, Moscow and Irkutsk, making traveling between Europe and Chongqing much easier and ... Read more

An India-China Film Festival is going to be organized by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in order to strengthen people-to-people connect and deepen cultural understanding between the two countries. It is as part of the 1st India-China High Level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People Exchanges taking place from 22nd to 24th December, 2018. The three day Festival will be organized at Siri Fort Auditorium II, New Delhi by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India. A total of seven films including four Chinese and three Indian Films will be screened during the Festival. ... Read more

E M Najeeb, Jose Dominic, Abraham George, Baby Mathew and Riyaz Ahmed Tourism industry of Kerala is taking strong stand against frequent hartals (strikes) in the state. In order to convey their protest and to take necessary steps to alleviate the losses caused by surprise strikes and the related issues, Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) has initiated the Kerala Tourism Task Force, which would handle the issues related to hartals hereafter. A joint meeting of 28 organizations in the tourism sector, which convened on 20th December 2018 in Kochi, has passed a six-point resolution to ensure that services of the tourism industry ... Read more

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued notification under the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 mandating the provision of Vehicle Location Tracking (VLT) device and emergency buttons in all Public Service Vehicles registered on or after 1st January, 2019. States may decide timelines for implementation of VLT and emergency buttons in vehicles registered upto 31st December, 2018. Two-wheelers, E-rickshaw, three wheelers and any transport vehicles for which no permit is required under the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 are exempted from this requirement. The Ministry has sanctioned proposals under Nirbhaya Fund after recommendation by Empowered Committee of Ministry of Women ... Read more

Mahindra Group is to develop a Bollywood theme-based tourism project in Kandivali area of Mumbai with an investment of Rs 1,900 crore. The proposal is approved by the Maharashtra government through a Government Resolution (GR). The project will be developed on 82,950.5 sqm area belonging to the Mahindra Group on its plot in suburban Kandivali. A high-powered government committee had earlier this year accorded it in the ultra-mega project status. As per the state tourism policy of 2016, an ultra-mega project would require a capital investment of Rs 500 crore and to employ 750 people and complete it in 84 ... Read more

Tiger Reserve Entrance Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR), located in the Southern Western Ghats in Tirunelveli District and Kanyakumari District in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is the second-largest protected area in Tamil Nadu State. The Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve was created in 1988 by combining Kalakad Wildlife Sanctuary (251 km) and Mundanthurai Wildlife Sanctuary (567 km), both established in 1962. Notification of 77 km of parts of Veerapuli and Kilamalai Reserve Forests in adjacent Kanyakumari district, added to the reserve in April 1996, is pending. A 400 km2 core area of this reserve has been proposed as ... Read more

From the press meet The 3rd Edition of the Dwijing Festival will be held from December 27, 2018, and continue till January 7, 2019. It was officially announced on 19th December 2018, in a press conference held at Novotel, Guwahati. Minister of Tourism, Chandan Brahma and Chairman, ATDC, Jayanta Malla Baruah etc., have taken part in the press meet. With the target of promoting river tourism in the rural areas of Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) and the State, the festival was initiated in the year 2016-17 under the moniker of ‘Aie River Festival’ on the bank of river Aie in ... Read more

ISRO is working on reusable technology for reducing the cost of access to space including the development of a winged body unmanned reusable launch vehicle for launching payloads into low earth orbits. ISRO has successfully developed a scaled down (1:5) technology demonstration version of Reusable Launch Vehicle – Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) vehicle and successfully carried out the first experimental mission on May 23, 2016 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota. In this mission, critical technologies such as autonomous navigation, guidance & control and reusable thermal protection system have been successfully demonstrated. Development of Reusable Launch Vehicles is a technical challenge ... Read more

Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) has signed an MoU with National Building Construction Corporation Ltd on 30th June 2017 for redevelopment of 10 stations, viz. Tirupati, Delhi Sarai Rohilla, Nellore, Madgaon, Charbagh (Lucknow), Gomtinagar, Kota, Thane New, Ernakulam Jn. and Puducherry as a part of the SMART City project launched by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. This information was given by Rajen Gohain, Minister of State of Railways, in Lok Sabha on 19th December 2018, while answering a question related to it. Contracts have been awarded for redevelopment of Gomtinagar and Charbagh (Lucknow) railway stations. Bids have been invited ... Read more

Abad Hotels and Resorts Group, who have been in the hospitality industry for the past 32 years, has recently opened two new properties in Kochi and Wayanad.  Dutch Bungalow, Napier Street, Fort Kochi and Abad Brookside, Lakkidi, Wayanad are the new properties. The Dutch Bungalow, Fort Kochi Dutch Bungalow is a Heritage property located in Fort Kochi. It was built in 1668 by the Dutch East India company and named as “Crystal Palace”. The natives called it “Kannadi Malika” meaning “Palace of glass”. The British took over the building in 1796 and used it for naval purposes. It came to private possession ... Read more