Category: News

Kerala Tourism’s week-long cultural extravaganza to mark this year’s Onam celebrations will kick off on September 10, showcasing the state’s vibrant classical and folk dances, modern art and performing traditions at multiple venues in the state capital and various District Centres. As part of the Onam celebrations, the capital city will also host the State Tourism Ministers’ Conclave, to be inaugurated by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on September 16, the concluding day of the festival. Union Minister of State for Tourism and   Culture, Prahlad Singh Patel will be the chief guest at the meet at Leela Raviz, Kovalam. Besides ... Read more

As part of a new facility to ease visitors and skip the queue at Qutub Minar, tourists can now purchase tickets online at a discounted rate or just by scanning the QR code through their mobile cameras. Tickets can be booked at asi.payyoumoney.com. Tickets for foreigners is Rs 600, if bought online or by scanning QR codes, they will get it at Rs 550 and for Indians a ticket costs Rs 40, but after discount it will be Rs 35. The culture ministry is planning to extend the discount to all other monuments also. The ministry has also decided to ... Read more

Moving up six places up, India now ranks 34th position on world travel and tourism competitiveness index. The growth has been driven by the rich natural and cultural resources, alongside strong price competitiveness. “India, which accounts for the majority of South Asia’s T&T (travel and tourism) GDP, remains the sub-region’s most competitive T&T economy, moving up six places to rank 34th globally. India showed the greatest percentage improvement to its overall Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) score, which has helped it become the only lower-middle income country in the top 35,” said the report. China, Mexico, Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, ... Read more

APO Group (APO-opa.com), the leading media relations consultancy and press release distribution service in Africa and the Middle East, today announced that Isaac Khisa from Uganda has won APO Group’s invitation to attend the 2019 Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) (AHIF.com), the premier hotel investment conference in Africa, which will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 23rd-25th September. APO Group will offer one round trip ticket and accommodation in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) for Isaac Khisa to attend the 2019 Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF). The Africa Hotel investment Forum (AHIF) attracts many prominent international hotel owners, investors, financiers, management ... Read more

Seychelles Tourism Board (STB) participated in the Global Panorama Showcase 2019 (GPS), a premier business networking event in order to reach out to tour operators beyond metro cities of India. Out of eight cities where the event took place, this year STB shortlisted Hyderabad, Lucknow and Kolkata to educate and network with the travel trade. “This year Seychelles Tourism Board conducted various workshops across India, however, participating in GPS helped widen our base of interaction with agents from tier II and tier III cities that have the potential and interest in Seychelles. While we have reached out to around 200 ... Read more

The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO), Busan Tourism Organization, Gyeonggi Tourism Organization and Gimhae Tourism Organization recently hosted celebrities from India — Tanya Sharma, Kanika Mann and India TV Anchor Charul Malik who have a fan following of millions due to their super popular TV shows and on their social media handles. Tanya Sharma has been in the industry for almost a decade and is still remembered for her role in Saath Nibhaana Saathiya and last seen in Udaan. Kanika Mann started her career in the Punjabi movie Industry and made her TV drama debut through the ongoing television series titled ... Read more

Photo Courtesy: Ram Kumar With an aim to introduce the tourism potential of Munnar to the world, Munnar Destination Makers is organising the Munnar Travel Mart from September 06 to 08 in Munnar. The event, which focuses on business-to-business meetings and destination tours, will feature over 400 buyers, including tour operators, writers and bloggers from all over the country. The tourism department of the state has invited bloggers from Arab countries as special invitees to participate in the Munnar Travel Mart. Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran will inaugurate the Travel Mart on September 7 at 10:30 am. Power Minister MM Mani ... Read more

A total of 39 new domestic services will be operated from Kerala from October, with 23 of them from Thiruvananthapuram airport. The decision came in the wake of a meeting held by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan with CEOs of various airline companies. Air India and Vistara will have one new service each, Air Asia will have seven new services, Spice Jet will have eight and GoAir will have 22 new services. IndiGo is looking to operate three new services, but it will be subject to a decision on Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) tax. The new services will be connecting ... Read more

All of us know the importance of being on top in Google. But, what do we need to improve the rankings? And, here comes E-A-T SEO, which stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T) Search Engine Optimization (SEO). E-A-T SEO is not something you can fix quickly, it takes continuous efforts and commitment to get better results. Here, Sean Patrick Si will be speaking at International Conference on Tourism Technology (ICTT 2019) on Program tips to improve E-A-T SEO. Sean, SEO specialist, Growth Hacker, internet marketer, Copywriter and blogger, will be speaking on the topic on September 27, on the ... Read more

Marriott International, the world’s largest hotel chain, said Wednesday it will eliminate small plastic bottles of shampoo, conditioner and bath gel from its hotel rooms worldwide by December 2020. They’ll be replaced with larger bottles or wall-mounted dispensers, depending on the hotel. The move follows a similar announcement last month by IHG, which owns Holiday Inn, Kimpton and other brands. IHG said it will eliminate about 200 million tiny bottles each year by 2021. Last year, Walt Disney Co. said it would replace small plastic shampoo bottles at its resorts and on its cruise ships. Many smaller companies, like the ... Read more

Emirates is celebrating the beginning of the Malayalam calendar with a burst of flavours, making it even more special for Keralites. From 1 to 13 September, the airline will serve authentic Onam dishes across all cabin classes on all its flights to and from Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. Emirates’ chefs and catering teams have curated delicious festive menus with the distinctive flavours of the season that remain true to the taste buds even at 40,000ft. Enjoy traditional appetisers such as kaya varuthathu or crisp banana chips, sharkara upperi, banana roasted in jaggery, and kondatta mulaku —fried sundried chillies steeped in yoghurt. ... Read more

SpiceJet is planning to introduce six new flights to expand its network across domestic and international routes. The low-cost carrier has introduced a second non-stop flight on the Kolkata-Bangkok-Kolkata sector and also increased frequencies on the domestic sectors of Kolkata-Chennai and Chennai-Shirdi. The airline will now connect Kolkata and Shirdi with a direct flight via Chennai. “We see tremendous potential in the Kolkata-Bangkok sector. Our second non-stop flight on this route will offer a tremendous boost to the city”s connectivity, considering it will also connect passengers to and from other Indian cities to Bangkok via Kolkata,” said Chief Marketing Officer ... Read more

Recognizing the need to uplift Sri Lanka’s travel industry in the wake of 4/20 incident, Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts is set to host the third edition of the ‘Future of Tourism Summit’ (FOT 2019) on the 23rd September at Cinnamon Grand Colombo, Sri Lanka. Running under the theme ‘Challenges and Growth in the Face of a Crisis’, this year’s event will bring together top global destination experts who will share their specialist knowledge and insights on how tourism industries can implement sustainable strategies in the long-run and recover and rebuild following a variety of incidents ranging from terror attacks to ... Read more

Pallathuruthi Boat Club, Alappuzha won the 67th Nehru Trophy Boat Race and topped the first round of the Champions Boat League (CBL) here today, as the pioneering three-month sporting event got off to a racy start in the sprawling Punnamada Lake in Alappuzha. Today’s winner, whose CBL name is Tropical Titans, earned nine points, clocking 4.25.83 minutes to cover the distance of 1,050 metres. Tropical Titans were followed by Coast Dominators (United Boat Club, Kainakary: 4.28.40) and Raging Rowers (Police Boat Club) 4.29.84, securing eight and seven points, respectively. Mighty Oars (NCDC, Kumarakom) finished fourth with 4:30:28, having made it ... Read more

Israel Ministry of Tourism (IMOT) conducted a roadshow in Kochi on 29th August to enhance commercial ties with the Indian travel trade fraternity. In an effort to retain the growth momentum of Indian arrivals to Israel, the team interacted with over 150 key travel and tour operators, MICE providers and up-market leisure operators. The event commenced with a presentation leading to an interactive session with the IMOT team. The roadshow included interactive B2B sessions, education programmes and workshops to aid trade members in planning itineraries and responding to customer queries. The Israeli delegation was led by the newly appointed Director ... Read more