Category: News

IndiGo has bagged six accolades at the BIAL Pinnacle Awards 2018, organized by  BIAL (Bangalore International Airport Ltd), held in Bengaluru last week. The six awards spread across prestigious categories including, On-time Airline of the Year – Domestic’, ‘Passenger Airline of the Year – International Low Cost’, ‘Customer Choice Airline of the Year – Domestic’, ‘Passenger Airline of the Year – Domestic Low Cost’, ‘Transformational Process Idea’ and ‘Airline with best growing network – Domestic’. “We feel absolutely honored to be recognized by BIAL across six prestigious categories of customer service. This is a recognition for all the unrelenting effort that the ... Read more

E-visa services for the foreign tourists have been launched by Ethiopian immigration authorities and Ethiopian Airlines. The new online visa application and issuance came to effect by June 1st. This online system will help the foreign tourists to apply and process their visa on a single page, with the option to pay and get their visa entry online. The applicants will receive and e-mail authorizing their travel to Ethiopia, once the application is approved. The visa will be stamped on their passport upon arrival in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia had prolific revenue of around $3.5 billion from tourism last year. Most ... Read more

The much-awaited Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes Kunthiana) season is almost here in Kerala and the state is expecting over 800,000 travellers to visit the picturesque hill station during July -October 2018 period. The Neelakurinji flowers will blossom after 12 years across the hills of Munnar in Idukki district during these months. Neelakurinji is commonly found across the Western Ghats,and had flourished previously in 2006. Munnar has the largest concentration of the Strobilanthes out of the 46 varieties found in India. The mass flowering of Neelakurinji will begin in July for next three months, and will paint the hills blue. “There is no ... Read more

The reports and statistics indicate that tourism is the major source of income for all countries and Sweden is earning huge revenue through it. The total expenditure of tourists in Sweden amounted to 317 billion kronor, recording a 7.4 per cent increase when compared to 2016. This makes 2017 the all-time best year for tourism. The tourists from other countries accounted to 42 per cent of the total tourist expenditure. Tourism also contributed to the total exports of the country last year, registering a growth of 6.3 per cent in total exports. The scenic nature is what makes the tourists ... Read more

In a move to attract Indian tourists, Tourism Australia has made association with eight airlines as part of the ‘Great Australian Airfare Sale’, with all airlines offering tickets at great discounts. Air India, Jet Airways, Qantas Airways, Singapore Airlines, Air Asia, Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways and Scoot are the eight airlines joined in the endeavor. Travellers can make use of booking offer till 21st of this month, with the travel validity till June 30, 2019. The return fares start from Rs 23,000 on a budget airline for connecting flights, and will go up to Rs 55,000 for direct flights. Australia’s ... Read more

Sri Lanka is trying to woo more Chinese tourists to the island nation. As part of its marketing efforts, the Minister of Tourism Development John Amaratunga has held talks with Chinese tourism and airline officials to encourage more visitors to Sri Lanka from China. The talks were held during a visit to promote the island at the Shanghai World Travel Fair held at Shanghai Exhibition Centre in China. The team has conducted a series of promotional events and meetings across major cities in China, including Shanghai, Nanjing and Chengdu, during the past week. The Sri Lankan tourism minister has held talks with Xu Weiwan, ... Read more

Vanchikulam freshwater lake was once a busy waterway connecting Thrissur and Kochi. However, the waterway lost all its prominence with the arrival of Shoranur-Kochi rail line and NH47, and soon turned out into a waste dumping yard. Now, Thrissur Corporation and Tourism Department has made plans to restore the waterway and convert it into a tourism hub. The inauguration of first phase works was done recently by Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran. The construction works will be headed by the Kerala State Nirmithi Kendra. The plan is to revive Vanchikulam as an eco-friendly park with solar lighting system. A walkway, cycle track, ... Read more

As the Telangana state celebrates its 4th anniversary, the government’s prime lift irrigation project Kaleshwaram will be added to the tour circuit on June 2nd. The Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation (TSTDC) will have a day-long special tour from Hyderabad to Kaleshwaram. They will also be conducting a paragliding event from Jun 3rd-5th at Bison Polo Grounds, Secunderabad, first of its kind in the state. Another exciting initiative is the ‘Telangana Formation Flight-2018,’ which will have an aircraft fly past the audience at the Bison Polo Grounds fluttering national flag and showering flower petals over them. The itinerary of the ... Read more

In a move to promote cruise tourism substantially, the Union Government has planned to develop terminals at major ports. The government plans to make a single company in charge of executing the contracts of maintenance and operations of cruise terminals. The cruise terminals at 4-5 ports will be maintained and operated by one company. The contracts will be implemented by the Ministry of Shipping after discussing with the major port authorities and state naval boards. Reports suggest that Mumbai port will be set as the as home port. The ports in New Mangalore, Goa and Chennai will be ports of call where ships will be ... Read more

The 4th United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Forum on Gastronomy Tourism was launched off on Thursday at Bangkok. The forum has brought 475 delegates from 52 nations to Bangkok. The forum focuses on updating the participants about the strong linkage between tourism and gastronomy highlighting new techniques and technologies in preparing, marketing and managing the association. The forum organized by UNWTO and Basque Culinary Centre focuses on stressing the importance and role of gastronomy tourism towards the development of sustainable tourism in the region and increasing its awareness, both nationally and regionally. The participants from Japan, China’s Macao, Indonesia ... Read more

The Kerala Tourism has come up with the ‘Come Out and Play’ campaign in a way to lure the domestic tourists to Kerala during monsoon season. The state will gift the tourists a chance to revive nature, rekindle relationships, and reconnect with life by involving in activities like trekking, Ayurveda massage, river rafting more. The tourism department aims at bringing tourists from powerful domestic markets like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi & NCR, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal. As per Tourism Director P Balakiran IAS, the campaign primarily concentrates on ‘PLAY’ with accordance ... Read more

In a first, the government has come out with refined safety and quality guidelines for ‘adventure tourism’ on India. The guidelines set in discussion with the Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) covers 15 land-based, 7 air-based and 7 water-based activities. The guidelines consists of minimum standards required for activities like mountaineering, trekking, bungee jumping, paragliding, kayaking, scuba diving, snorkeling, river rafting etc. The guidelines also instruct that all tour operators must be recognised by local or state authorities, have a registered office, responsible to nature, employ trained and skilled professionals. It includes subjects like the role of a ... Read more

The introduction of direct flights between Nairobi and Guangzhou have resulted in boost in number of tourists, as the reports indicate that around more than 1,20,000 Kenyan passengers have arrived in the Chinese city since 2015. The Kenyan passengers mostly fly these days to the city for buying goods. The number of tourists is expected to rise as Guangzhou is making plans to entice more Kenyan tourists to the city. Wu Wei Jun, General Manager of Nairobi office of China Southern Airlines, said Guangzhou is being promoted as a tourist destination, that the Kenyans can visit the destination for leisure ... Read more

Though Cyclone Mekunu had an adverse effect on Dhofar coastline and caused some impairment to Salalah and other towns in southern Oman, the tourism authorities are not skeptical about the tourism sector. In fact, the tourism authorities believe that the cyclone has put Oman on the global tourist map. “This will bring about great promotion for the country as many tourists will come to Salalah. The heavy rainfall has led to overflowing springs and waterfalls in Dhofar. These will boost tourism, as many tourists will come to see the water bodies. We don’t have any problems in Salalah, and there ... Read more

Greece is gearing up for the world’s most prominent shipping exhibition, ‘Posidonia 2018’. The event which will be conducted from June 4th-8th at the Athens Metropolitan Expo is expected to bring around 20,000 visitors to the country. Conferences, seminars, workshops and interesting panel discussions will be conducted as part of the exhibition. The events are projected to shape the global shipping agenda and outline the future of the industry that sits at the core of world economic developments. Posidonia is ready to host around 1,960 exhibitors from 91 countries which include professionals from a wide range of maritime industry sectors. The exhibition ... Read more