Category: News

One the historically important destinations in Kerala, the Kappad beach, has been shortlisted by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) for the prestigious Blue Flag certification. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has launched pilot project ‘Blue Flag’ to develop and enhance standards of cleanliness on beaches. The ‘Blue Flag’ is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) that a beach, Marina or sustainable boating tourism operator, meets its stringent standards. Its purpose is to enhance standards of cleanliness, upkeep and basic amenities at beaches. Kappad is the only beach that was selected from the ... Read more

Arunachal Pradesh is planning to invite bids for a fixed-wing flight service to Mechuka, with an advance landing ground (ALG) that is closest to the border with China. The state would be floating a tender for operating nine-seater flights between Mechuka and Guwahati or Dibrugarh (Assam) or both. The state had earlier invited tenders but had to re-tender as there was only one bidder. The 4,200 feet long landing strip at Mechuka’s ALG had reconstructed, expanded and made operational by April last year. In November 2016, the Indian Air Force (IAF), which controls this ALG, successfully landed a C-17 Globemaster, a large ... Read more

Two projects worth Rs 48 crore was approved by the Union Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) in a plan to encourage tourism in Tripura, said State Tourism Minister Pranajit Singha Roy. The allotted funds will be used for repairing and developing two roads that connect Chabimura and Tirthamuk, two tourism spots at Amarpur sub-division in Gomati district. The projects were approved last week in New Delhi at a meeting of the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme, an inter-ministerial body. Chabimura, on the hills on the bank of river Gomati is famous for its rock carvings dating ... Read more

Central Railways is planning to implement a buyback policy for plastic bottles along with installing plastic bottle crushing machines at major stations as Maharashtra is all set to implement a statewide plastic ban from June 23. One of the biggest challenges the railways face is that of plastic containers, including bottles, entering Maharashtra from other States. Within Maharashtra, the government is proposing to have plastic bottles with a buyback price printed on it. The Railways is considering to extend the buyback policy only for approved manufacturers of the railways and on bottles that print the buyback price. The railway officials would be meeting the ... Read more

The 53 member countries of the Antarctic Treaty at their annual meeting held in Buenos Aires warned that tourism should be regulated in Antarctica urgently owing to the environmental threats it possesses. According to French authorities, 44,000 tourists visited Antarctica during the austral summer of 2016-17 when compared with just 9,000 tourists in 1995-96. Segolene Royal, French ambassador for the Arctic and Antarctic poles, said that with the lack of rules and regulations, travel agencies offer trips to Antarctica on boats equipped with helicopters or submarines occasionally. “These activities create considerable disturbance. We are witnessing a race toward large-scale tourism ... Read more

Budget carrier IndiGo will commence flight services to Hubli from Goa and Kochi from June 2018, using an ATR plane. The launch of these services to Hubli from 28 June, which will be the airline’s 52nd destination, is aimed at consolidating IndiGo’s position further in the southern India market. The Gurugram-headquartered low cost carrier will also operate additional flights between Hubli-Chennai, Hubli- Bengaluru and Hubli- Ahmedabad with Airbus A320, starting July 1. IndiGo currently operates 1,086 flights per day to to 50 destinations including eight international ones with a fleet of 160 planes, which includes regional jets ATR. The carrier has already ... Read more

Amsterdam has unveiled plans to rein in tourism, reflecting the dissatisfaction of many residents who feel the city’s centuries-old center has been overrun. The citizens and the political parties have decided upon returning the “Balance to the City,” in a document that amounts to part of a governing pact. “The positive sides of tourism such as employment and city revenues are being more and more overshadowed by the negative consequences,” including trash and noise pollution,” the document said. The document outlines changes including curtailing “amusement transportation” such as multiperson “beer bikes,” cracking down on alcohol use in boats on the canals, further ... Read more

The Uttarakhand cabinet followed a unique way to promote its tourism, as they met for the first time in a floating restaurant on the charming Tehri Lake. The ministers headed by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat met inside ‘Floating Marina’, the boat which served as the restaurant in the middle of the lake. The cabinet approved 12 decisions during the meeting which will enhance the state’s tourism and aid better use of natural resources. The main decision in the meeting was to develop 13 new tourists in the state. The 13 destinations will be developed with one each in all ... Read more

The Kerala Tourism Facebook page got first place in a ranking done by Facebook based on total engagement with tourists that included reactions, shares and comments on the page between the 1 January and 31 December, 2017 time frame. The Kerala Tourism page pushed the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department’s Facebook page to the second place. The Kerala Tourism Facebook page had garnered 1.5 million likes to emerge as the top page. The Gujarat Tourism Facebook page was ranked third. Facebook recently released the data on the top-ranked Facebook pages of government bodies, ministries and political parties in India. P ... Read more

Uganda is all set to spend a minimum of $1.2 million in order to explore the potential of tourism in country. This whopping amount adds to the $1.5 million spent last year, making the total to $2.7 million. As per World Bank records, tourism is the principal foreign exchange earner for Uganda earning $1.4 billion annually, amounting 9.9 per cent of its GDP and 26 per cent of the total foreign exchange earnings. The government plans to hire three more public relations from Japan, China and Gulf countries to grow Uganda’s tourism prospective. He expects that each firm will receive ... Read more

Trujet has been awarded 20 new routes through the Udan scheme initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which will take Trujet’s expansion to Western and Eastern States. The airline now connects 14 major destinations in South and West India with a connectivity between 3 tier cities and their nearest metropolitans. As per the new scheme, Trujet will connect Kandla, Porbandar, Keshod, Jaisalmer, Jalgaon and Nasik from Ahmedabad and Burnpur, Cooch Behar, Tezu, and Rupsi from Guwahati. “Trujet is now reaching a new level to serve passenger with a whole new approach. We have inducted the 5 th ATR 72-600 aircraft to ... Read more

The first Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) run by an all-woman team has started operations in Phagwara, Punjab. The seva kendra was inaugurated by Union Minister Vijay Sampla in the local head Post Office. Though the new Seva Kendra was 192nd POPSK in the country, it was the first one to be operated by an all-woman team. “It was part of the Centre’s initiative for women empowerment,” Sampla said. The Phagwara Kendra will be headed by department’s Verification Officer Madhuri Bhavi. The other two women staff members — Postal Assistants — will be from the Post Office Department. The printing and issuing ... Read more

The Confederate of Indian Industries (CII) Kerala Chapter is all set to boost up their medical tourism promotions in Gulf countries in coming years. In an initiative to bring up utmost number of tourists to Kerala, many allopathy and ayurveda practitioners came together for a road show and exhibition at Oman in April. They are even planning to conduct such events in UAE, Saudi Arabia and some African countries. According to Dr S. Sajikumar, Chairman, CII Kerala and chief physician at Dhathri Ayurveda, Oman is the main market for medical tourism among GCC countries. Almost 90% of the total one lakh medical ... Read more

BLS International has opened their new Spain Visa Application Centre (VACs) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The company operates 124 visa application centres in 49 countries for Spain Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación). The new Spain VAC was formally inaugurated in the presence of the Ambassador of Spain in Saudi Arabia along with senior officials from BLS International Services Ltd. “This new and revamped Visa Application Center is the result of our effort to adapt our service to visitors coming from Saudi Arabia and in particular to the 73,000 Saudi tourists that arrive to ... Read more

With an aim to address the safety and efficiency concerns that lack air navigational infrastructure in India, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has signed a Rs 945 crore deal  with Harris Corporation. The 15-year-contract was signed by A K Banerjee, ED (CNS-OM) and Rick Simonian, VP, Harris Corporation at the 6th US-India Aviation Summit, held at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Mumbai. As part of the deal, Harris Corporation will serve as the prime contractor and systems integrator for the programme, which is to be implemented over a period of two years. “India’s exponential air traffic growth is creating demand for ... Read more