Category: News

Worried about the possible terror threats, around 41 per cent of international travellers might change their travel plans for 2018, with 33 per cent considering shifting to an alternative destination they see as safer, says World Travel Monitor figures. Overtourism has become a major problem not just in various high profile cities but also on other kinds of trips, including winter sport holidays and cruises. Nearly 1 international trip in 10 was affected by overcrowding this year, says the World Travel Monitor report. The international travel and tourism industry needs to find solutions to better manage visitor numbers without restricting ... Read more

The Tourism department of Kerala is promoting the benefits of Ayurveda at ITB Berlin. The aim is to bring more tourists to experience the benefits of Ayurveda, said Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran in an exclusive interview to Tourism News Live, The department’s stall at the Kerala pavilion in ITB is focusing on Ayurveda. “Ayurveda is the backbone of tourism in Kerala, and hence we are promoting the ancient stream of medicine to the people across the globe,” said the minister. He also opines that the people in Germany are very much aware of the benefits of Ayurveda. “Germans know ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: Kerala Tourism The Kerala Tourism Regulatory Authority (KTRA), set to enhance the safety and security of tourists in Kerala, will be part a part of the Tourism policy and will also ensure that hotels have proper licences. “Whenever a tourist visits a place, the primary concern is whether he/she will be safe and secure in that place. Kerala, being an educated society and having high literacy rate, is already peaceful. There are no law and order issues normally. But when a tourist visits, he/she will expect more than that,” said Jafar Malik, Additional Director, Department of Kerala Tourism. Malik ... Read more

It was a happy news for cardiac patients, as the new initiative between Microsoft and Apollo Hospital are on its way to create new machine learning Artificial Intelligence algorithms, to forecast patient risk associated with heart disease. “Cardiac disease is amongst India’s leading causes of mortality and morbidity, which is exacting a toll on the health and well-being of our citizens,” said Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals. The new study further gives the doctor the best move to initialize treatment plans and lowers mortality rate associated with the condition. Microsoft previously has started a new innovative platform called ... Read more

Minister for Tourism KJ Alphons has tweeted that Incredible India’s new ad ‘Yogi of the Racetrack’ could get 3.2 million hits in 60 hours. The new ad was released by the minister at the ITB Berlin on March 7, 2018. The new TV commercial titled ‘Yogi Of The Racetrack’, shows the effect of yoga and its techniques and how it can be related to even the toughest race positions. India, the birth place of yoga, has lots of opportunity to develop yoga tourism and to capture a big share of tourism industry. With the current tourism plans, Incredible India is ... Read more

Pacific Area Travel Writers Association’s (PATWA) award for the title of Worldwide Tourism Minister of the Year goes to Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism for the Caribbean island of Jamaica. The award was presented to the Jamaican minister during the ITB Berlin trade show in Germany. “It is truly humbling to be recognised in this manner at such a major international event. “I accept this award, not for myself but for the people of Jamaica. It is clear that we have made our mark on the globe. The world now knows that Jamaica can host the biggest conferences and that we have some ... Read more

The online peer to peer cab service Uber has chosen cricketer Virat Kohli as the first brand ambassador in India. Upon the new initiative, the company aims to put a strong competition to their rivals, Ola. Came to service back in 2013, Uber currently has 450,000 drivers in more than 30 cities all over India. Uber also plans to introduce new ad campaigns that would focus on both riders as well as drivers. As per Uber India’s marketing head Sanjay Gupta, Virat Kohli’s dynamism, integrity, perseverance and passion are attracted by billions that would be the main objective of placing ... Read more

Ireland has been named the ‘best overseas self-drive touring destination’ by Ctrip, the leading online travel agent in China, with more than 250 million customers, and the second largest travel agency in the world. Ireland was one of the four destinations listed in the ‘best overseas self-drive touring’ category – in good company with Australia, Portugal and Guam, to take the number one spot! Ireland was included for its stunning routes and great driving experiences, including the Wild Atlantic Way and the Causeway Coastal Route. Accepting the award, James Kenny, Tourism Ireland’s Manager China, said: “We are delighted that Ireland has ... Read more

Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) has announced that considering the visitor response, it will open the phase II of world’s longest zipline in the third quarter of 2018. The phase II will feature two new cables and will increase the capacity of the Jebel Jais Flight to 400 people per day, around 200,000 per year. Night time ziplining will commence this summer, giving visitors the opportunity to enjoy a different experience during the summer months, said the authority at ITB Berlin 2018. RAKTDA has plans to attract a million visitors by the end of 2018 and 2.9 million by ... Read more

It was a happy news for commuters of Mumbai- New Delhi Rajdhani Express, as the Indian railway authorities have successfully installed new Sanitary Dispensers for women passengers. The project is initiated as part of women’s day celebrations and would be broadened to other trains, after the trail run said, Western Railways Chief Spokesperson Ravinder Bhakar. The ‘on the move sanitary pad dispenser’ being the first project in India would be a blessing for long-distance travellers, added Ravinder Bhakar. One of the passengers told that “It is very useful and a well-thought decision by Railways. We can get a sanitary pad ... Read more

February seems to be the perfect time to visit the sunny Sri Lanka but, the communal riots and political unrest followed by a 10-day emergency period declared by the government has lead speculations about travelling to the island nation. Adding to this the nation had put a social media ban yesterday so as to ward off negative news from spreading further. Though the Sri Lanka Tourism says the situation in Kandy is improving and the area is fast returning to normalcy as no violent incident has been reported from the district in the last 24 hours, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister ... Read more

Mc Donald, the American fast-food chain, had inverted their famous iconic Golden Arches ‘M’ logo to ‘W’ as part of celebrating International Women’s Day. An outlet in California had physically flipped the logo outside its premise, followed by employees wearing special t-shirts and hats at 100 locations across America. Multiple reactions arise among social media platforms like facebook, twitter and Instagram, as it is a marketing strategy by the corporate giant. Some even reacted to it as a feminist art and allege to raise minimum wages for employees. Reacting to the incident McDonald’s global chief diversity officer, Wendy Lewis said that they ... Read more

India is not just depending on the foreign tourist arrivals, close to 24 million Indians travelled last year. “In 2017, 1.8 million trips were made by Indians within the country and which will go up to 2 million in 2018 and we want this number to increase dramatically, its not just about international arrivals but also Indians visiting India,” Tourism Minister K J Alphons said while interacting to the travel/tour operators in a Q&A session at the ITB Berlin. The minister also stressed on the growing use of new technologies and methodologies in tourism, especially social media. Alphons also spoke ... Read more

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm, is the youngest Indian billionaire. At the age of 39, he owns $1.7 billion net worth with his innovative idea of digital cashless transaction through mobile app. Paytm gradually gained its reach and popularity, after the Union Ministry’s announcement of demonetisation with Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes leaving a chaos in emergency transactions among the citizens. Paytm used the simple solution of QR code to transact money between the seller and the buyer, that doesn’t even require a physical device like that of a swipe machine. In a period of 6 months Paytm reached ... Read more

Air India to conduct direct flight from Delhi to Tel Aviv in Israel from 22nd March onwards. “The flight schedule would be extended to three times a week,” said the airline authorities. Air India had planned to execute the service earlier, but later got abandoned, as other neighbouring counties refused to share their airspace for flying to Israel. Meanwhile, decisions changed officially after Israel Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu told the reporters that Saudi Arabia had issued their acceptance for the national carrier to fly over their airspace while en-routing to Israel. Air Indian flights in general needs the airspace of ... Read more