Category: News

One more eco-tourist spot to be adorned in Tamil Nadu as the works for developing the Villivakkam lake into an eco-tourist spot officially began on Wednesday. The project was inaugurated by S P Velumani, the Minister for Municipal Administration. The lake that has of total area of 36.50 acres will have its 24.64 acres developed into an eco-tourist spot. The eco-tourist spot will be developed by The Greater Chennai Corporation at a budget of 16 crore as in their plan to restore 32 water bodies under Smart City project. The residual 11.5 acres of lake will be utilized to setup ... Read more

Smruti Mandir situated at Reshimbagh in Nagpur has been given grade-C tourism status. Known for the memorial of RSS founder Dr KB Hedgewar, the 78-year-old Smruti Mandir will now be able to get funding from Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), central and state government on works in and around it. The status was given following recommendations of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and the district planning committee. BJP city vice-president Bhushan Dadwe obtained copy of the notification under RTI Act on May 5. Dadwe, in a press release, said that the oral statement of the state government before the Nagpur bench of Bombay High ... Read more

Israel is becoming a favourite tourist spot for tourists and the initial statistics affirm this. As per reports, Israel had 1.36 million visitors from January-April this year. In this, 4,08,000 tourists alone visited Israel in April 2018 when compared to 3,50,000 last April, recording a 17%hike. The Ministry of Tourism claims that the revenue from tourists in April had exceeded NIS 2.1 billion. Out of all tourists visited Israel in April, 2,38,000 were from Europe. France, UK, Germany, Poland and Italy were the main contributors. The rise in European tourists is attributed to the Giro d’Italia bicycle race. Tourists from ... Read more

Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) is launching Dubai Pass, an all-inclusive pre-paid card, grants cash-free access to 33 key events and venues across Dubai. It is a new way for visitors to enjoy the city’s exciting range of attractions, experiences and tours and will be available to redeem from 16 May 2018. Starting at AED399, the pass offers ‘Select’ and ‘Unlimited’ packages, with a specially-curated list of popular attractions and experiences. These include Burj Khalifa, Dubai Parks and Resorts, IMG Worlds of Adventure, Wild Wadi Waterpark, Ski Dubai, Desert Safari Tours, and many more. With every purchase, visitors will ... Read more

China has the largest number of outbound travellers. The major share of these travellers were visiting Europe, Asia and America, and now Chinese travellers have found out a new destination. Africa has turned out to be the favourite destination for Chinese travellers and the numbers are substantiating this new found love. South Africa, Madagascar and Morocco are the main favourites of Chinese travellers. It’s supposed that the shift in strategy by African nations played a major role in the greater interest of Chinese tourists along with support from Chinese policymakers. China’s roaring economy, better jobs, and an open strategy toward ... Read more

To boost the tourism sector, Himachal government is planning to encourage ‘Heli-Taxi’ services at major tourist destinations, a senior official said today. Presiding over a meeting of the officials of aviation companies including Pawan Hans Limited, Skyone Airways, Ind Jet and hospitality players, Additional Chief Secretary, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Manisha Nanda said at present the state has three functional airports at Gaggal, Shimla and Bhuntar. “Work was in progress to facilitate the tourists and common people at Rampur and Jhakri in Shimla, Baddi in district Solan, Pandoh in Mandi and Manali in Kullu under Uddan-II scheme,” she said. Manisha ... Read more

The Odisha government has formed a tourism promotion council to monitor the development of tourism and related issues in the state. The chief minister will head the council, which will also include two representatives from two major airlines operating in the state – AirAsia and Air India – apart from two representatives each from the hotel and travel industry. The secretaries of the home, finance, tourism, commerce and transport and handloom and textiles and handicrafts departments and the development commissioner, a senior representative from FICCI and CII will are be members of the council. Nominated members will serve for a maximum of ... Read more

IRCTC comes up with a striking escapade for everyone on this summer. The IRCTC tourism is offering a 6D/7N air package which will have the beautiful destinations Chandigarh, Shimla and Manali. The trip that starts on May 26th will include stays at deluxe hotels, breakfast, dinner and return airfare on Air India, as reported by IRCTC Tourism on their website. The starting fare of package is priced at Rs 32,937 per person. This rate is for triple occupancy, and the rates of double and single occupancy are priced at Rs 34,710 and Rs 45,660 per person respectively. Kufri, Shimla The ... Read more

The Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mumbai and New Delhi, recently organised the 6th edition of Indian wedding Symposium and B2B session 2018 exclusively for the Indian market. Top 8 wedding planners from South and West of India and 10 wedding planners with 1 media from North and East of India were hosted in Thailand from April 23-27, 2018. The itinerary included the scenic route of Phuket-Khao Lak-Krabi-Bangkok. During the trip, the group visited numerous beautiful hotels in these destinations to evaluate their potential as ideal venues for grand Indian weddings. The trip concluded in Bangkok with a Wedding Planners’ Symposium ... Read more

Travellers from Russia, China and Iran can now enter the Sultanate of Oman without a pre-entry tourist visa. The move is an extension of new visa policy introduced by Oman in March including the new online application process. By this Oman joined its neighbour UAE in relaxing the visa policies for travellers from Russia and China in the recent years. The Sultanate had already facilitated visa on arrival for travellers from 68 countries including USA, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom and the European Union’s Schengen area. Russia, China and Iran are the latest to join the list. Since UAE granted visa ... Read more

As a tourist, you might have got stranded in the midst of the city you are visiting not knowing what to do, where to go, how to proceed etc. The risk is more if it is a bustling destination like that of Varanasi. But, you will not be stranded any more as the tourism department is launching a 24-hour helpline to answer all your queries related to the city. All you need to do is call on the 24-hour helpline. The state tourism department is yet to officially launch the helpline, but a trial of the helpline 18601801364 is underway. “The ... Read more

Philippine President Rodrigo Dutetre has named Agriculture Undersecretary Bernadette Puyat as the new secretary of the Department of Tourism (DOT) a day after he fired Wanda Teo over corruption allegations. Duterte made the appointment on Tuesday night. Duterte’s aide Christopher Go confirmed Puyat’s appointment late Tuesday. Puyat was undersecretary for administration, agribusiness and marketing, and regional engagement at the Department of Agriculture before her appointment as tourism secretary. Teo is the latest senior government official that Duterte fired over corruption charges.  The tourism department has been burdened by corruption issues and the impact of the six-month closure of Boracay island, ... Read more

Belarus As said by Belarusian parliament speaker Mikhail Myasnikovich, Belarus and China will be signing an agreement for a 30-day visa-free policy. The signing of this policy will be one of the major events of the Year of Tourism of Belarus in China, which will benefit in promoting the development of tourism. As part of the Year of Tourism, several events will be held in order to promote Belarus as a striking tourist destination. The events planned will include Belarusian art exhibitions and special activities with Chinese airlines. Belarus had more than 20,000 visitors from China in 2017. It is ... Read more

Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) is planning to add 120 new boats, including kayaks, pedal boats, motorboats, outboard boats and water scooters. Tenders have already been floated to acquire kayaks, pedal boats and water scooters. TTDC has floated tenders for acquiring 120 boats, including five single-seater kayaks, five double-seater kayaks, 27 two-seater pedal boats, 35 four-seater pedal boats, six four-seater row boats, six eight-seater motor boats, two 15-seater motor boats, eight 15 HP outboard motorboats, four high-speed water scooters and two four-seater speed boats. The new boats would either be added to the fleet or would replace the existing boats being ... Read more

Myanmar Travellers from Myanmar to India have reportedly gone up by more than 10% last year when compared to 2016. The free visa to Myanmar citizens was declared by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his visit to Myanmar in last September and the free visa policy was initiated that month itself. Most travellers from Myanmar are reportedly visiting Bodh Gaya. Around 30,000 pilgrims used to visit annual Bodh Gaya festival every year and now more than 50,000 pilgrims from Myanmar came to attend the festival in 2017. According to ministry reports, Myanmar travellers are also coming for medical tours ... Read more