Category: News

The fifth edition of Kerala Blog Express, the annual campaign of state Tourism Department, will be flagged off on March 18. Minister for Tourism Kadakampally Surendran will flag off the two-week-long event from Mascot hotel in Thiruvananthapuram. Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran flags off Kerala Blog Express Season 4 This year the campaign will see 30 bloggers from 28 countries across the globe participating in the event. The participating bloggers are from France, US, UK, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Venezuela and Peru. The bloggers were selected through a voting system with over 50,000 votes garnered online. The Kerala Blog Express was piloted ... Read more

The travel/tourism players in the state have welcomed the Cabinet decision to extend bar timing to one hour more exclusively for the tourism sector. The new cabinet decision has come as a boon to the sector which has been suffering at first with the liquor ban and then with the time cap on bars. A new liquor policy has been granted by the Cabinet Ministry with a revised timing for bars in the tourism sector. Currently, bars functioning from 11 am to 11 pm, will be able to open till 12 midnight as per the revised policy. The rule is ... Read more

Tourism Ministry has asked Bihar to rework on the Ramayana Circuit proposal it had submitted. The State Government of Bihar has submitted the proposal for development of Sitamarhi, Buxar and Darbhanga under Ramayana Circuit. “A presentation on the project was made in the Ministry of Tourism on 13.02.2018 and based on discussion, the State Government has been requested to rework on the project as per scheme guidelines,” informed K J Alphons, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism. Ramayana Circuit is one of the fifteen thematic circuits identified for development under Swadesh Darshan scheme of Ministry of Tourism. Sitamarhi, Buxar, Darbhanga in ... Read more

The Tourism Ministry is planing to hire a public relations firm to boost the country’s image and to promote it as a safe destination for foreign tourists. “The ministry was speaking to stakeholders to finalise the RFP (Request for Proposal) document,” said Tourism Ministry Secretary Rashmi Verma. “We will hire a central public relations firm to promote India, to promote its various facets as well as show the world that India is a safe destination. Its job will be to give out positive message about India, sell positive stories. It will be a private firm with credentials to promote India ... Read more

The forest fire in the Theni – Kolukkumalai region has forced the state government of Kerala to order a ban on all trekking activities in the state. State Forest Minister K Raju clarifies that the government has no plans to permanently shut down the eco-tourism activities in the state. Following the forest fire at Theni in Tamil Nadu, there have been recent fire outbursts in Vazhachal and Pariyaram forest ranges in Thrissur and another one reported near Gavi. The tourism enthusiasts and the travel/tourism operators in the state were apprehensive about the ban on the trekking activities as they fear ... Read more

In a shocking incident, National Carrier Air India’s official Twitter account has been hacked by Turkish cyber crime army “IayyAldAzt” on Thursday midnight. Hackers posted misleading messages in Turkish language that contained flight cancellation tweets. A detailed inquiry was ordered by the senior airline officials in the wake of the current circumstances. “Last minute important announcement. All our flights have been cancelled. From now on, we will fly with Turkish Airlines,” tweeted the hackers. Within no matter of time, the account was restored to normal, said Air India. Over 1,46,000 are following the official twitter handle of the national carrier. ... Read more

Finland came on top as the 2018 World Happiness Report by United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network published on Wednesday. All the rankings within the 156 countries are based upon life expectancy, corruption, social freedom, generosity and social support. Contrary to the previous years, the annual report also marks 117 countries based on the happiness and prosperity of their immigrants. The list comes as Finland on top followed by Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia. India came to 133rd position far-off behind Pakistan and Nepal. And sadly India was slipped 11 places down, as it ... Read more

Effective 21 March 2018, visas will only be granted electronically via https://evisa.rop.gov.om and there will be no more hand-processed visas at the airport effective that date, informed the Royal Oman Police (ROP). Oman had relaxed its visa rules by granting Visa on arrival for the Citizens of India, China and Russia who reside in or who hold an entry visa to one of these countries – United States of America, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom and Schengen States to enter Oman. “The migration to electronic visas is due to its simplicity and effectiveness, its alignment with modern technology and is in line with the e-government ... Read more

For the first time, India and Vietnam would be linked through direct flights by Vietjet by the third quarter of 2018. The announcement was made during the Vietnam – India Business Forum held recently. Vietjet will begin four-times-weekly services between Ho Chi Minh City and New Delhi on April 5. Travellers from India will be able to fly directly to Vietnam and vice versa, which is going to give a big boost to tourism activities between the two countries. Currently, Indian travellers have to connect through Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok to get to Vietnam. The lack of direct connectivity prompts Indians prefer other regional destinations ... Read more

A week after blocking social media websites and apps to prevent the spread of communal violence, the Sri Lankan government is planning to lift the ban. The clash between Sinhalese Buddhists and Muslims in the central Kandy district, a popular tourist destination, was instigated by postings on Facebook threatening more attacks on Muslims. And, in view of this, the government declared a social media ban on March 7 for three days. But, Facebook and Whatsapp still remains blocked, indicating that the ban has been extended. On arrival of the senior Facebook company officials in the country tomorrow, it is likely that the ... Read more

In what we can call as one of the proud moments in the history of aviation, the American multinational airline manufacturer Boeing is all set to handover its 10,000th 737 jet to Southwest airlines. Boeing 737 is said to be the short and medium ranged narrow body airliner manufacturing since 1964. Within a short period of time the 737 marks as the best-selling commercial jet ever in the history of aviation. Guinness World Records have witnessed the 10,000th launch of 737 and marked it for the official recognition. Meanwhile, back in 2006, the “most produced” title was tagged by the ... Read more

Delhi Metro, as part of expanding its network, will inaugurate the 20 km long Pink Line connecting south and north-west Delhi (Majlis Park – Durgabai Deshmukh South Campus section). Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri will flag off the new service in the evening.  The  Pink Line would be a blessing for students as it reduces the time to reach Delhi University. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation expects over 12,000 people to use the new station situated right next to Sri Venkateswara College. The Pink Line, a part of the DMRC Phase ... Read more

The private beach at ­Fairmont The Palm Dubai, located on Palm Jumeirah, is open for children with disabilities. The children can avail the facilities totally free of cost, thanks to a collaboration between Team Angel Wolf, a non-profit association and Fairmont The Palm. The children will be taken on a devise specially designed for the purpose. ­It looks like extended deckchairs with a lengthy seat section suspended on a tubular frame. Floatable armrests are also attached to the frame. The straps fitted at either end will help carers to pull them through the water. The beach will be open for children ... Read more

After a successful ITB Berlin held in Germany from March 7-11, Kerala Tourism conducted a roadshow in Marseille, France on March 13. The Kerala Tourism is touring European countries as part of its marketing campaigns to attract more European tourists to the God’s own Country. The Marseille roadshow under the leadership of Rahul, Managing Director of Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC), saw 15 tour operators from Marseille attending the show. Nearly 40 per cent of foreign footfalls to the state are from the developed countries of UK, Germany and France. Considering that Europe is a high potential market for overall tourism growth, ... Read more

Bollywood’s most bankable Khan is celebrating his 53rd birthday today. The Mr Perfectionist is busy shooting for his upcoming film, Thugs of Hindostan, in Jodhpur.  The film, slated to release on Diwali this year, has Fatima Sana Shaikh, Katrina Kaif and Amitabh Bachchan in lead roles. The ‘Dangal’ star has joined the photo sharing app Instagram on his birthday and even without a single post, within a few hours, he managed to rake in over 234k followers. He currently has over 23 million followers on Twitter and 15 million people on his Facebook page. Photo Courtesy: Reuters Debuted in ‘Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak’ in 1998, Aamir ... Read more