Category: News

IndiGo will start direct flight from Bhubaneswar to Kolkata from August 1. Flight (A320) will depart from Kolkata and reach Bhubaneswar at 12.20 am on a daily basis and will depart from Bhubaneswar at 5.25 am. “We will also start direct flights between Bhubaneswar and Ahmedabad within few days. We have also written to IndiGo and Air Asia for starting operations between Bhubaneswar and Pune,” said Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) Director Suresh Chandra Hota. BPIA announced that it will start another direct flight from Bhubaneswar to Ahmedabad. Since there are no slots available at Pune airport, they have requested the two ... Read more

Picture for representation purpose only The Phase 1 of International Conventional Centre Complex (ICCC), near Akkulam lake and Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram, by K Raheja Corporation’s Chalet Hotels is all set to start post monsoon. The Rs 900-crore business hub, features a marina, a 150-room four-star hotel and a 1,500-seater convention centre in phase 1. This will have a built-up area of 16,503 sq mt. The second phase comes with an additional 1,500-seater convention centre, two hotels (one five-star and another four-star), a wellness resort, retail area, commercial space, food courts and amphitheatre, among others, according to the concept diagrams. All the hotels will have ... Read more

The West Bengal government is renovating around 25 state-owned tourist lodges to make them three-star properties. It is a significant move from the affordability archetype for tourist accommodation run by the former government to one of ensuring luxury.   The estimated cost of the project is Rs 100 crore. “The room tariff will likely to increase when these lodges reopen in three months,” said Atri Bhattacharya, principal secretary in the Department of Tourism. The move is aiming at expanding clientele in the state-owned lodges. Currently, the tourists looking for luxury prefer to stay in expensive private hotels. Though there will ... Read more

Cochin Port’s new cruise terminal will come up at the Ernakulam Wharf by February 2020. The cruise terminal, to be built at a cost of Rs 25.72 crore, will have the facilities to handle 5,000 tourists. The 2,253-sq metre terminal will feature passenger and crew lounges, immigration counters, tourist information counter and duty free shopping. The estimated cost of construction of the terminal is Rs 25.72 crore and of this Rs 21.41 crore had been sanctioned as grant by the Union Tourism Ministry, said a release. Being one of the prime cruise tourism destinations in the country, Cochin Port had been ... Read more

Aiming at making the tourist destinations in the district clean and presentable, the District Magistrate, East Khasi Hills has issued an order prohibiting the use of polythene bags with a thickness of less than 40 microns in the district. The objective is to restraint the spread of plastic wastes in all tourist destinations in the district. This order comes into force with immediate effect. The order has been issued in the light of reports received from different sectors that indiscriminate disposal of used plastic in various forms is profusely taking place in tourist spots within the district. Accumulation of plastic ... Read more

Volcano eruptions are always been the center of attraction for tourists in the Hawaii Islands. However the recent eruption of the Kilauea volcano has caused slowdown in the tourist inflow in the region. This is followed by the mandatory evacuation and strict advisory of the authorities at the volcano eruption site. The risk of going to the volcano eruption site has come in to attention of the authorities this week when lava flowing into the ocean caused an explosion that sent a hot rock crashing through a touring boat’s roof. Though there were no causalities, tourists had minor injuries and ... Read more

Air Tanzania is all set to introduce direct flight connectivity between Mumbai and Julius Nyerere by year end. The airline is planning to begin its international operations through this service, said Baraka H Luvanda, High Commissioner of the United Republic of Tanzania. The flight, proposed to operate thrice a week,  is waiting for permissions from the government to complete the formalities of launching its first international route. “This new flight will not only assist the tourism industry, but will also be helpful for other industries to speed up their businesses in both countries,” he said. Around 40,000 Indians visit Tanzania annually ... Read more

Singapore has received 6.1 lakh visitors from India between January to May 2018, reporting a 17 per cent year-on-year increase from 2017. In 2017 visitor arrivals from India had crossed 1 million mark for the third time in a row, showcasing the highest growth rate at 16 per cent in comparison with all markets. Also, India continues to be the top source market for visitor arrivals in the cruise segment for Singapore. Last year, 127,000 cruise passengers from India sailed out of Singapore’s shores, showing a year-on-year increase of 25 per cent from 2016. In 2017, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) ... Read more

Kerala Tourism is all set to start the harvest festival of God’s Own Country, Onam celebrations from August 24 onwards.  The department has said that it will ensure than atleast 1000 foreign tourists will participate in the festivities. “The department will ensure that green protocol is observed and there will also be cultural programmes by celebrities and famous artists,” said Kadakampally Surendran, Minister for Tourism. He was addressing a gathering at an official’s meeting held in this regard at the Thycaud guest house today. The procession, which would be held on the last day of the festival (August 30), would ... Read more

Tourist footfalls to Mongolia has increased in the first half of the year, registering 9.7 per cent increase from the previous year, according to a data released by the National Statistical Office of Mongolia. Around 238,100 tourists visited the East Asian country between January and June, compared to 217,000 visits during the same period last year. Neighbors China and Russia together contributed the most of the foreign tourists, accounting for 38.7 per cent and 24 per cent respectively. Declaring 2018 tourism year, landlocked Mongolia has been striving to develop its tourism in a bid to diversify its mining-dependent economy, said ... Read more

WhatsApp has said its users in India will not be allowed to forward more than five chats at once. It also said that the company will remove the quick forward button that appears next to media messages, as part of its efforts to reduce circulation of fake messages on the platform that have even incited mob lynching incidents. In a blog post, WhatsApp noted that its users in India “forward more messages, photos, and videos, than any other country in the world”. The Facebook-owned company has over one billion users globally, of which over 200 million are in India. “Today, ... Read more

Dubrovnik- Croatia Croatia reached the finals of FIFA World Cup 2018 surprising all. And, after enjoying a stupendous support from fans across the world, now it has become favourite tourist destination for Chinese tourists. Reports are coming out that the flight bookings and hotel bookings are are surging with its popularity, which is likely to last until the National Day holiday. Qunar, the largest online travel agency in China, has also reported that the China to Croatia flight tickets has doubled since Croatia took part in the soccer finals. There are a number of attractions in Croatia, ranging from sites of historic architectural and ... Read more

Lakshadweep is planning to open its doors for tourism. The authorities have decided to invite investors to strengthen the tourism sector in the islands, while protecting the ecology and inhabitants of the islands. Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal A B told reporters in Kochi on Wednesday that several tourism projects for the union territory were under consideration. Until recently, Lakshadweep did not seriously consider tourism as revenue generating sector. There has not been any tourism policy for the Union Territory. Now a tourism policy will be formulated as per the report of Justice Raveendran Committee. “Once monsoon season ends, we will come ... Read more

Meghalaya State Commission for Women (MSCW) has organized a training programme on homestay tourism on Wednesday, 18th July 2018, for the women in Meghalaya with the supportof the National Commission for Woman (NCW) “The purpose of the programme was to promote women entrepreneurship in home-stay tourism,” said Theilin Phanbuh, the Chairperson of MSCW. “Tourism is one sector that offers immense potential, especially in Meghalaya with its natural scenic beauty,” she added. She also expressed hope that more women will come up and make use of this opportunity which would help them to generate income, when the unemployment rate in the ... Read more

Nithin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport, Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, said  that discussion are on with Singapore to develop cruise tourism at various locations in India. “We are keen on promoting cruise tourism on a mega-scale in the country. Mumbai alone is expected to have 950 cruise vessels in the coming five years,” added the minister who was addressing the delegation from ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in Delhi on 18th July 2018. “Around one lakh Indians visit Singapore every year for cruise tourism. We have large scope for developing cruise tourism in India, with our 7,500 kilometers ... Read more