Tag Archives: Visakhapatnam

Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao, Tourism Minister, Andhra Pradesh, has announced to reopen all the prime tourist attractions as the numbers of positive cases have dropped in the country. He also said that they will plan a roadshow across the country to popularise state’s tourist attractions. Also, the tourism department’s Blue Bay hotel at Rushikonda in Visakhapatnam will be developed with INR 164 crore, he shared. Some of the attractions that have opened, include Sri Venkateswara Temple, Tirupati; Rushikonda Beach, Visakhapatnam; Ramakrishna Beach, Visakhapatnam; Undavalli Caves, Amaravati; and Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam.

IndiGo has announced direct flights from Kurnool to Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam, and Chennai March 28 onwards, strategically enhancing regional connectivity in southern India. The LCC will begin these operations under the UDAN scheme.

Kerala Tourism is organising partnership meets and participating in in ten cites across India in the first quarter of 2020, in order to attract domestic tourists to the destination. The cities include Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Guwahati, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jaipur, Bengaluru, and Chennai. Kadakampally Surendran, Tourism Minister, Kerala, revealed that domestic tourist arrivals in Kerala in 2019 saw an overall increase as compared to 2018. The number of domestic tourist arrivals in Kerala is up by 16 per cent for the first three Quarters in 2019

The Department of Tourism, Kerala organised Kerala Tourism Partnership Meet 2019 in Delhi to brief the media and trade about developments and initiatives in the state besides highlighting its marketing and promotional plan for the year. The presentation was followed by a cultural programme that showcased Kerala’s dance, art and music forms. On the occasion, BS Biju, Tourist Information Officer, Kerala Tourism informed, “Delhi is one of the most promising markets for us. Business meetings are being organised by Kerala Tourism in both domestic and international markets annually as part of our marketing strategy. 32 tourism industry players and trade partners including tour operators, hotels and other service providers from Kerala held meetings with their counterparts in Delhi.” To further reach out to the domestic market, a series of Partnership Meets are planned in 10 cities. After Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Delhi, the Meets will be organised in Jaipur, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Chennai and Madurai in February. According to the data released by Kerala Tourism, domestic arrivals in the state increased to 1,46,73,520 translating into an 11.39 per cent year-on -year growth in 2017 while international arrivals during the year was 10,91,870, an increase of 5.15 per cent over the 2016’s figures.

Low-cost arm of Singapore Airlines Group, Scoot, plans to strengthen its presence in India with the addition of Coimbatore, Trivandrum and Visakhapatnam. The new routes are due to be transferred over from SilkAir, and Scoot will be the only airline operating direct non-stop flights from Trivandrum and Visakhapatnam to Singapore. Flights from Trivandrum to Singapore will commence as soon as May 7, 2019, and flights from Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam will start from October 27, 2019, subject to regulatory approval. In India, Scoot already operates seven existing routes from Amritsar, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Lucknow, and Tiruchirappalli. To commemorate the new routes, Scoot has introduced a major limited-time sale on flights from all its India points, including Trivandrum, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam – starting from January 14 to 28, 2019 on www.FlyScoot.com. One-way promotional fares (inclusive of tax) begin from as low as INR 4,500 for Economy FLY, for trips to 27 exciting cities in Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam via Singapore. Vinod Kannan, Chief Commercial Officer, Scoot, said, “With three new cities, India is a big part of our growth in Asia this year. As we ramp up our operations in the region and establish a local team to help support our long-term objectives, customers can look forward to more affordable fares and innovative offerings from us.”

Chennai and Bengaluru have been among the top source cities from South India for visitor arrivals from India to Singapore in 2017. Cities like Coimbatore, Trichy, Hyderabad and Kochi registered growth in traveller numbers to the city. The factors contributing to the strong visitorship numbers are the short three-plus hours’ travel time, increased direct flight connectivity of nine cities to the city and quick weekend holidays. In January 2018, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) organised a consumer-centric mall activity in Bengaluru, featuring the various travel offerings one can indulge in while in Singapore. In the middle of the year, it conducted, together with key trade partners from Singapore, an extensive travel trade roadshow series across Trichy, Coimbatore, Kochi and Visakhapatnam.

In yet another display of excellence in journalism, Team DDP collected two awards for outstanding reportage presented by the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) at its recently-concluded 34th annual convention held in Visakhapatnam. The team was awarded for Tourism Breaking News as best online media as well as for IATO Manual. TravTalk magazine brought out two special daily issues during the three-day convention, highlighting key issues that the event was focusing on. The team thanks IATO for recognising its efforts and hopes that it continues to break boundaries in covering pertinent issues that plague the travel industry.

The 34th annual convention of one of India’s biggest inbound travel trade associations, the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), started with a grand opening here in Visakhapatnam. Arriving on time for the inauguration, K J Alphons, Minister of State (IC) for Tourism, Govt of India, graced the event that saw an overwhelming attendance from IATO members pan India. The three-day event whose theme aims at 20 million foreign tourists by 2020, will debate on pertinent issues that India currently faces in reaching this milestone. At present, India welcomes approximately 11 million FTAs per year. The evening started with cultural performances local to Andhra Pradesh followed by welcome speeches from the IATO team and keynote addresses from various state dignitaries present. Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran, whop was present at the event has invited IATO to organise their next convention in the state.

The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) has signed a new Ginger hotel in Visakhapatnam. It will be Ginger’s second hotel in the city. Ginger Hotels’ portfolio has 45 operating hotels and seven hotels in the pipeline. The announcement reflects the company’s strategic domestic expansion to drive growth momentum. Deepika Rao, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Roots Corporation said, “We are delighted to partner with SSR Builders in Visakhapatnam for this hotel. We are happy to expand our presence in Visakhapatnam, a key city in Andhra Pradesh.” The new Ginger in Visakhapatnam with 56 rooms, an all-day diner, meeting room and a fitness centre located at Gajuwaka amidst a commercial hub with close proximity to companies like Tata Motors, Nestle, BHEL, GAIL and many others. The hotel is slated to open mid-2019. IHCL has two other hotels in the city – The Gateway Hotel Beach Road Visakhapatnam and a 68-room Ginger hotel close to the Visakhapatnam railway station.    

The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) is set to hold its annual convention in Visakhapatnam from September 6-9, 2018. The venue of the convention is Hotel Novotel Visakhapatnam Varun Beach. IATO announced its convention almost a year in advance and declared Andhra Pradesh as the host state for the 2018 convention, just when they had announced the 2017 convention in Odisha. The IATO team will start working on the convention post its election, which is due on April 28, 2018.