Category: News

Qatar Airways has launched direct flights to Mombasa city. The flights will be operated with an Airbus A320, with 12 business class and 120 economy class seats, with a flight time of just over six hours. The inaugural flight, which features 12 Business Class seats and 120 seats in Economy Class and 150 visitors on board, touched Mombasa at 8:40 am. “The direct flight is not only an endorsement of the destination, but a vote of confidence on the Kenyan coast that has suffered in number of international arrivals. This is good news for the sector and together with the private sector, ... Read more

Kannur, widely referred as the cradle of Theyyam, magnificent ritual form of worship in North Kerala, is blessed with its new international airport. Union Minister Suresh Prabhu and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the Kannur international airport today making Kerala the only state in India to have four international airports. The new airport in Kannur is expected to give a fillip to the tourism sector in the region too. “This airport is in a way is a gateway to the future progress of Kerala. I congratulate Kerala Government and people of Kerala for making their dream to come to reality ... Read more

Fodor’s Travel, the leading name in travel recommendations for over 80 years, has revived Fodor’s Finest: The 100 Most Incredible Hotels in the World, its definitive list of the best hotels in the world. And, the Oberoi Udaivilas in Udaipur, the only Indian hotel in the list, finds its place in the Fodor’s finest lists’ Best in Asia category. “The Oberoi Udaivilas is heartbreakingly beautiful and truly one of the most stunning properties in the world. The magic begins before you even arrive, as you drive up to a dock on stunning Lake Pichola in Rajasthan. There, guests abandon their ... Read more

Somatheeram Ayurveda Group has won National Award for the “Best Ayurveda Centre of the Year 2018” instituted by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). Sarah Baby Mathew, Director of Somatheeram Ayurveda Group has received the prestigious award and certificate from Hon: Secretary General of Indian Medical Association, Dr. R N Tandon and Hon: Director General of India Tourism, Satyajeet Rajan. Somatheeram, the world’s first Ayurveda hospital set in a resort ambiance to provide Ayurveda treatments / programmes for persons/patients from all over the world, is located at Chowara ... Read more

‘The Splash’, photo by Akhter Husain, Mangalore. To celebrate the Year of Adventure Tourism, a photo exhibition, on ‘The Great Outdoors 2018’ is coming up at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath from 10th to 12th December 2018 . The event is organized by Susheela Nair, a Travel Writer, Photographer and Director of Essen Communications. Photos for the exhibition are categorized in to three- Aero Sports, Aqua Sports and Land Activities. There is also a section which showcases the adventure potential of Karnataka. From among the photos received, the exhibition will showcase around 100 selected photographs on adventure sports, and outdoor activities. The ... Read more

The World Travel Awards (WTA) has recognized the UAE’s most-loved waterpark as the best in the world. Yas Waterworld Abu Dhabi, the unique Emirati waterpark on Yas Island, was awarded the title ‘World’s Leading Waterpark’ at the World Travel Awards gala this week. Abu Dhabi’s iconic waterpark racked up more votes than its fellow nominees, which included globally renowned waterparks such as Orlando’s Typhoon Lagoon, and Spain’s Siam Park. Bianca Sammut, General Manager of Yas Waterworld, accepted the award during the Grand Final Gala Ceremony, held on December 1 in Lisbon, Portugal. “We love this park, and to have that ... Read more

Harish in Jaisalmer Harish Bali is a techie turned traveller from Delhi, who is in search of the different tastes of India.  A blogger and Youtuber with thousands of fan base, Harish has an interesting life story like in films. After working in sales in consumer durable, FMCG, telecom and internet marketing, he has started his own start up in Feb 2014 in digital marketing. Harish started his journey with blogs through www.technofare.com, which was a tech guide. Harish  started two YouTube channels – ‘Digital Spot’ and ‘visa2explore’ – in November 2016, where he shares his experience as a techie ... Read more

The Ministry of Tourism have formulated the guidelines for approval and re-approval of Online Travel Aggregators (OTA) to ensure adequate safeguards against deficiency of service, alternate arrangements and punitive deterrence. An OTA is an intermediary or an agent, selling travel products and services such as the airlines, car rental, cruise lines, Hotels or Accommodation, railways and vacation packages on behalf of suppliers using the internet as a medium. The ministry said in a statement yesterday that the voluntary scheme is open to genuine online travel aggregators to bring them on a common platform in the organized sector. The guidelines will ... Read more

Visiting the Koovappara Natural cave is an experience of a life time. The delegates of the SMiLE Ambassadors Tour organized by Kerala’s Bekal Resorts Development Corporation (BRDC), could have the chance to visit the cave, which is one of the largest caves discovered in Kerala. “SMiLE Ambassador Tour” is a three-day programme of BRDC, as part of their experiential tourism ventures, which has started on 5th December and will conclude on 8th December.  The participants of the event are the members from the travel and tourism industry. The event has been organized in association with the Association Tourism Trade Organizations ... Read more

After more than four years of limitless passion and hard work on the part of thousands of engineers, architects, artisans, designers and crew, Celebrity Cruises sets sail into a new era Tuesday. Celebrity Edge joined the fleet after a moving ceremony where the ship’s godmother, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, was joined by all on board to “bless this ship and all those who sail upon her.” The naming event brought together more than 3,000 guests, employees, crew members and students to commemorate the debut of Celebrity’s first new ship in six years and first new ship series in ... Read more

Lambasingi (also known as Lammasingi), a tiny picturesque village in the Eastern Ghats in Chintapalle mandal, is going to be the new tourist attraction in Andhra Pradesh. Located about 100 km from Visakhapatnam at an altitude of 1025 meters above sea level, Lmbasingi is known as the ‘Kashmir of Andhra’, as the temperature in winter can go down to minus degree. The nearest town is Narsipatnam, which is 30 Km away. The tourism ministry has been striving to provide a comfortable stay at the tourism venue, which has been hindered by the opposition by a section of tribal inhabitants of ... Read more

Yatra Online, Inc., one of India’s leading online travel companies, has entered into a strategic partnership with Agoda, a part of Booking Holdings, to offer its Indian hotel rooms to Agoda’s global travellers. Under this agreement, Agoda, one of the world’s fastest growing online travel agents (OTA), will now have access to Yatra.com’s inventory of more than 100,000 accommodation options in over 1300+ Indian cities and towns. The addition of Yatra’s inventory with real-time pricing on Agoda.com and the Agoda app will provide international travellers access to a larger selection of ideal and relevant accommodation, to suit their travel needs. ... Read more

Israeli tourism sector has been showing a growing trend during the year 2018. Nearly 4 million visitors have visited the historical country, since the beginning of the year. Around 389,000 tourists visited Israel in November alone, as per reports. There has been persistent growth in tourism over the past two years and the authorities are expecting record number of tourists this year, if the trend continues. It is expected to have around four million visitors by the end of the year. The country has hosted around 3.8 million tourists during the period January – November 2018, which is 14 per ... Read more

Chinese tourists can now directly book a tour package to Rwanda on the online travel platform of Alibaba. It was announced by the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) on Wednesday in a statement. The launch of ‘Visit Rwanda’ pavilion on Alibaba’s travel arm, Fliggy, followed the launch of the Chinese e-commerce giant’s Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) in October, which aims at promoting tourism in Rwanda. Rwandan government and Alibaba have signed a MoU for the purpose.  According to the MoU, eWTP, Fliggy and the RDB will work together to promote Rwanda as a tourist destination through a Rwanda Tourism Store ... Read more

Agoda and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah sign MoU to achieve vision 2030 goal of 30 million pilgrims Agoda, one of the world’s fastest growing online travel agents (OTA), and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) supporting the Kingdom’s vision of 2030 goal to increase its capacity to over 30 million pilgrims by utilizing Agoda’s technology and travel expertise, marketing platform capabilities, intelligence tools and resources. The agreement was signed on Monday 3 December, 2018 by H E Dr Mohammad Saleh bin Taher Benten, the Saudi minister of Hajj and ... Read more