Category: News

In a boost to exports of organic products, a consignment of 10.20 MT of value-added products of organically certified gluten-free jackfruit powder & retort-packed jackfruit cubes were exported to Germany from Bengaluru yesterday via sea route. The has been processed in the APE jackfruit DA assisted packhouse owned by Phalada Agro Research Foundations (PARF), Bengaluru. APEDA registered PARFrepresents a group of 1500 farmers with a wide coverage of around 12,000 acres of farms. These farmers grow Medicinal and aromatic herbs, coconut, jackfruit, mango puree products, spices, and Coffee. PARF facilitates the certification process as per National Programme for Organic Production ... Read more

The National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), New Delhi, launched NGMA’s Audio-Visual Guide App on the occasion of International Museum Day. It will be possible for museum viewers to listen to anecdotes and stories related to the treasured Indian modern art exhibited at the Gallery, on smartphones, anywhere, anytime. The app is an audio-visual guide for exploring the modern art treasures on display across galleries of the Museum. The app is available on both the Google Playstore and the Apple Appstore. To listen to the narrations, users need to download the app and navigate the content using the numbers mentioned. ... Read more

Six important places in India have been inscribed on UNESCO’s provisional World Heritage List. Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel made the announcement. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has handed over to UNESCO a list of nine historic Indian sites to be inscribed on the World Heritage List. Six of the sites were selected by UNESCO. Delighted and proud that @ASIGoI had submitted a proposal for India’s 9 places for inclusion in tentative list of UNESCO, where six sites have selected in Tentative Lists of @UNESCO World Heritage Site. pic.twitter.com/CImxnYozR3 — Ministry of Culture (@MinOfCultureGoI) May 19, 2021 The provisional ... Read more

The Tourism Samrakshana Samithi serves as the common platform for the Tourism industry in Kerala. Here it joins hand together Large, Medium, Small, Micro entrepreneurs and it represents the employees who all work in various segments and departments of Hospitality, Tour, Travel, including the guides, Drivers, and who take tourism as their livelihood. Here all work together to enhance our Vision, maximize networking opportunities and develop Sustainable Tourism in this state. The Kerala Tourism industry awaiting an immediate relief measure from the state government. Thousands of employees are in crisis. Schools are going to open, not sure how to find ... Read more

The Ministry of Tourism has organised a mega tourism promotion event in Srinagar “Tapping the Potential of Kashmir: Another Day in Paradise” from 11th -13th April, 2021.The Lt. Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir , Shri Manoj Sinha and Union Minister of State for Tourism & Culture (I/c)Shri Prahlad Singh Patel inaugurated and virtually addressed the delegates at the event. The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India in association with the Tourism Department of Jammu- Kashmir, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industries (FICCI) and the Indian Golf Tourism Association (IGTA) has organised this event. The ... Read more

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Kingdom of Morocco met to advance the organization of the 24th UNWTO General Assembly in October 2021, the first global high-level United Nations event to be held since the beginning of the pandemic. Led by the Secretary-General, Zurab Pololikashvili, a delegation from UNWTO has concluded an official visit to Morocco to discuss the programme, calendar, and facilities to be prepared for this statutory meeting that will focus on Education and Youth, Rural Development and Digital Innovation. The Minister of Tourism of Morocco, Nadia Fettah Alaoui, and her team accompanied the delegation during this three-day visit and expressed ... Read more

Under the prevailing circumstances, one would not get surprised if Hong Kong, the world’s most visited city is termed as a “Bus Cemetry”.  Scores of tour buses and coaches lying idle, in the parking lots are gathering dust at the container port of northern Hong Kong. These coaches have been staying off the road and lying idle for more than 10 months since the government authorities have put a stop on non-resident arrivals into the city due to the Covid-19 virus scare. By end of November, things are expected to turn even worse as the Government would be putting brakes ... Read more

Antique idols smuggled out of the country in the 70s were recovered and handed over to the idol wing of the custodian state, Tamil Nadu by the union minister of tourism and culture at a function held in New Delhi. Precious bronze idols of Characters of Ramayana, Lord Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana, believed to be stolen in the 1970s from a temple in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu was recently recovered from a private collector in London, UK. In Jun 1958 a Photo-documentation of these sculptures was done at the temple, which meant that the idols were believed to be stolen and ... Read more

The Uttarakhand tourism department will provide discount coupons to tourists who check in to hotels and homestays across the state. This pilot project, aimed at improving tourism in the picturesque Himalayan state, comes with a ‘Tourist Incentive Coupon’ worth Rs 1,000, Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj has said. The offer, which will come into effect in the next few days, will be applicable to tourists who make e-bookings for a three-day stay in hotels or homestays in the state, Conde Nast Traveller reports. “The tourists will be given the discount coupon while registering themselves on the government portal under tourist category. ... Read more

photo credit : Wisanu Boonrawd & missmeghanyoung The Utah Office of Tourism has appointed IndiJo Consulting as its official representative in India. IndiJo Consulting will carry out sales, marketing and PR activities on behalf of the tourism board. These include webinars, trade training, co-op promotions, social media initiatives, support product development, trade & media relations. Utah is a state in the western USA that is blessed with the most breath-taking landscapes. The 5 national parks, 7 national forests, 44 state parks, and vibrant cities make Utah one of the most popular tourism destinations in the world. Speaking on the occasion ... Read more

Tourism industry body IATO has urged the government to provide immediate relief to the tourism sector, which has been severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the tour operators have been forced to lay off their staff, many have sent staff on furlough and those who are remaining are getting less than 30%, the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) said in a statement. In light of this, IATO has sought various relief measures from the government. This includes one-time financial grant of the gross salaries amount paid to the staff of tour operators on the basis of the ... Read more

Hilton is closing its Times Square hotel from October 1, according to a document it filed with state regulators this week. Two hundred employees will lose their jobs, the filing says, due to “unforeseeable business circumstances prompted by COVID-19.” The 44-story hotel at 234 West 42nd Street, in New York, was opened in 2000. According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, an industry group, hotel occupancy in urban markets was 38% in August, well below the 50% it takes for most properties to break even, according to a report by USA Today. August hotel occupancy in New York was ... Read more

NotOnMap, a social initiative for the marginalized across rural India and StayFlexi, the world’s first flexible and autonomous hospitality company based out of California have come together for their social initiative NotOnMart for rural India. NotOnMart in essence is a small scale community-led initiative that aims to scale up the coordination of micro-sized businesses. The project can turn out to be a major promoting factor for rural tourism, as it supports rural craftsmen. With this initiative, NotOnMap plans to support the livelihood of farmers and craftsmen of rural pockets by connecting them directly to the end-consumer through a tech-enabled platform ... Read more

Hotel aggregator Oyo has decided to extend the furlough period of its Indian employees, by six more months. The furlough period was initially expected to conclude by the end of August. The Gurugram-headquartered company has also introduced a voluntary separation option for those employees who want to move on. Under its voluntary separation plan, Oyo India has also granted restricted stock units to all its employees. Staff who opt for the voluntary separation program are being given a choice to cancel a small portion – around 25% – of their unvested restricted stock units or RSUs and get additional cash ... Read more

Air India has been allowed to conduct ground handling operations at US airports. The airline has called the move as an opportunity for the future. The development has overturned a US Department of Transportation`s July 2019 order whereby Air India`s right to self-handle at US airports was suspended.   An Air India spokesperson said the airline was not affected due to this restriction by the US Department of Transportation to self handle at the US airports as it did not conduct any self-handling of its flights in the US. “However, the relaxation will give us an opportunity to self handle at ... Read more