Category: News

Aiming to boost tourism in the state, Odisha Government is planning to launch a luxury train service in line with “Palace on Wheels.” The announcement came after a discussion between the Odisha Chief Secretary A P Padhi and Sanjiv Garg, additional member of the Railways (Tourism and Catering),  on June 28. “The railways had a word with the state government to introduce luxury trains in lines with the Palace on Wheels. Some states in the country have already started operating such luxury trains,” said Padhi. The proposed train will mainly aim at foreign tourists and local tourists who can afford ... Read more

Those who like long drive have a golden opportunity to fulfill their dream – that too crossing the border of the country. The event is organized by ByRoad, a group of travel enthusiasts. The event named “Bhutan By Road”, is a long drive to our neighbouring country Bhutan, through Silguri, West Bengal. ‘Bhutan-by-Road’ is a 14 day self-driving tour starts from Siliguri (West Bengal) through Bhutan and ends in Guwahati. Travellers have three options to take the car from their home to Siliguri and back. You can either drive it down yourselves from your residence/home city. ByRoad will provide necessary ... Read more

PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) India Chapter has announced that it will organize its inaugural ‘The Tourism Powerhouse’ from August 5-6, 2018 at The Park in New Delhi. The event will feature interactive sessions for PATA India members on the tourism industry-related subjects. Rashmi Verma, Secretary – Tourism, Government of India and Chairperson, PATA India Chapter has unveiled the logo for Tourism Powerhouse 2018 at the 7th Update & Outlook Meeting hosted by PATA India Chapter & Ministry of Tourism (MoT), Government of India at The Claridges, New Delhi. Suman Billa, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and MP Mall, Chairman and ... Read more

Srinagar-Jammu highway reopened on Saturday, 30th June, after remain closed for a day due to landslide and shooting stones caused by heavy rains. Closing of the 300 Km long passage connecting Kashmir to the rest of country adversely affected the traffic, including the Amarnath pilgrimage, which started recently.

IndiGo has announced its 56th destination as Surat, and will now operate new flights connecting Surat with Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Jaipur at a starting all-inclusive fare of Rs 1,999. The new services will start from August, 2018. The carrier will be operating three new routes, including Jaipur- Varanasi, Jaipur Guwahati, and Mumbai-Bagdogra. Customers who wish to plan their travel can book tickets via IndiGo’s official website- http://goindigo.in. IndiGo has launched 7 domestic and 2 international destinations since January 2018. The budget carrier has also announced the introduction of additional daily, non-stop flights from Guwahati to cities like Delhi ... Read more

Good news for people of Controguerra in Italy. A new hotel – Idea 18 Boutique- is opening at Controguerra, in the hills between Abruzzo and Le Marche, 15 kilometres  away from Adriatic Riviera. The hotel covers a total area of 1,350 square meters surrounded by 3 hectares of greenery: one for the garden, two for the park. It features five suites, the dining room and various relaxation spaces: the structure is surrounded by green scenery, a pool, barbecue area and vegetable garden. The pool is located at the entrance of the structure. One of the short sides of the pool ... Read more

Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) said it has recommenced its white water rafting activity on Mhadei river till September this year. There will be two rafting trips held each day with the first trip starting at 9:30 am and the second at 2:30 pm. Each trip will go on for 2.5 to 3.5 hours running 10 km each. For white water rafting, people are needed to assemble at The Earthen Pot Restaurant in Valpoi. There will be a 25-minute drive and a 10-minute walk from there to the Mhadei river valley. From there, the group will be lead to the ... Read more

US Tourism industry was in a downfall followed by President Trump’s initial executive order banning travel to the US from seven countries: North Korea, Syria, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Venezuela. Now, after the Supreme Court ruling to uphold the ban, the travel and tourist industry is in a revival mode. Supreme Court decision upholding the travel ban on five Muslim-majority nations as well as North Korea and some travellers from Venezuela will stimulate restoration of the tourism industry Roger Dow, the president and chief executive officer of the U S Travel Association, said, “The most important thing is the administration has got to change its rhetoric to welcoming ... Read more

The tropical archipelago off India’s west coast, Lakshadweep, is all set to attract more tourists by opening up 12 of its virgin islands. Minicoy, Bangaram, Suheli, Cherium, Tinnakara, Kalpeni, Kadmat, Agatti, Chetlat and Bitra are the islands being opened up for tourism. The move is being implemented as part of the Centre’s initiative for holistic development of islands and will give a leg up to niche tourism in Lakshadweep. Since the archipelago is an ecologically fragile area, it is with great care that the authorities are developing the islands for tourism activities. “Current effort is not only to ramp up tourism, ... Read more

Britons become the top tourists who have visited Ireland, revealed a recent research, which states that one in four of the island’s foreign visitors are from the UK. It was in the third Annual Tourism Index, Europcar, Ireland revealed that 27 per cent of foreign tourists who visited Ireland last year came from UK. Americans stands second with 13 per cent. Italians bag the third place with 12 per cent of the foreign foot prints. Researchers tried to find out the reason that attracts people to Ireland and it was understood from the survey that majority of the tourists were ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: Aasif Shafi/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images Heavy rainfall has delayed the commencement of the annual pilgrimage of Amarnath Yatra, the annual 60-day pilgrimage to the holy cave of Amarnath. It is reported that only 1,007 pilgrims could pay obeisance to the naturally formed ice-lingam at the holy cave shrine. It is also reported that around 1,735 pilgrims are stranded at the Nunwan base camp. The yatra was earlier suspended on Thursday, when intermittent rains forced authorities to suspend the yatra briefly on the Baltal route and ask pilgrims to stay put at the Domel camp. However, as weather improved, the ... Read more

You don’t need to stand in long queues for checking in and getting your boarding pass for travelling from Mumbai airport. Instead, you can check-in along with printing your boarding passes before leaving the hotel lobby at selected three airport hotels and six hotels outside airport. The GVK Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), the company that administers the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) has introduced extended check-in facility that will be available at the hotels in Mumbai. The facility is introduced in three hotels in the airport and six hotels outside the airport. Outside the airport, Sahara Star, Hyatt Regency, ... Read more

The High Court of Uttarakhand has recently imposed a ban on all water-based adventure sports activities, including white water rafting, zip lining and paragliding, until a policy is framed to regulate these activities. In the order dated June 18, the court directed the state government to “prepare a transparent policy in this regard within a period of two weeks”. In view of this, the Union Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has urged state governments to implement the revised Guidelines for Adventure Tourism in India in letter and spirit as early as possible. MoT had recently brought out revised Guidelines for Adventure Tourism in India ... Read more

The World Heritage Tag by UNESCO has helped Ahmedabad tourism industry to attract 13 per cent more foreign tourists during the period 2017-18. This was revealed in a report by Gujarat Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation Limited (GITCO) Foreign tourist who stayed overnight in Ahmedadab has shown a hike in 2017-18. It increased to 1,38,000 when compared to 1,22,000 of 2016-17. The growth is around 13 per cent. The number of domestic travellers also shows a rise during this period. In 2016-17 the number of domestic tourists visited Ahmedabad was 66,63,000, which has increased to 74,59,000 in 2017-18, depicting an ... Read more

Casinos in Goa to be retained and legalized as per a recent research paper published by a scholar of south Goa. Dr. Afonso Botelho, an associate professor of Sociology at the Rosary College of Commerce and Arts. He explains in his paper that the Indian middle class tourism is in a boom stage and preserving the casinos would help the economic development of the region. However, the study specifies that sustainable strategies to be implemented to counteract possible ill-effects of casino gambling. Dr. Afonso also recommended setting up of an authority to regulate casinos in order to contain the potential ... Read more