India has been chosen as the host country to celebrate World Tourism Day 2019 on the theme ‘Tourism and Jobs: A better future for all’. Celebrated every September 27 around the world, the purpose of World Tourism Day is to foster awareness among the international community on the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value. The event seeks to address global challenges outlined in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and highlight the contribution the tourism sector can make in reaching these goals. Every year, UNWTO invites people of all ages and backgrounds to hold and take part in WTD celebrations in their respective countries or holiday destinations. Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General, UNWTO issues a message each year to mark the occasion and chairs the official celebrations.
Read More »Odisha partners with TripAdvisor to boost tourism ahead of Men’s Hockey World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018
Odisha Tourism continues to enhance its digital strategy to encourage tourist inflow with a six-month content partnership agreement with TripAdvisor. Under this agreement, TripAdvisor has created a microsite with an entire inventory of places to visit in Odisha, as well as things to do, events and other travel information for global travellers to discover Odisha online. The site also includes campaign branding by Odisha Tourism which is also the host partner of one of the country’s marquee sporting event – Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018. The reach covers India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and UK. Vishal Dev, IAS, Commissioner-cum-Secretary to Government, Odisha Tourism, said, “It’s great to have a global name like TripAdvisor on board to help us get more travellers to Odisha especially in the coming months when the state will be buzzing with activities across all sectors. We are also host partner of the Men’s Hockey World Cup Bhubaneswar and are expecting substantial foreign footfall. We want to leverage TripAdvisor’s global network and strong understanding of regional travel trade and market nuances, to shape and spur growth in this region.” Sarah Mathews, Head of Destination Marketing for Asia Pacific said, TripAdvisor, said, “We are glad to have the opportunity to work with Odisha Tourism to ensure that travellers who consider visiting India will not only visit its popular destinations but go beyond and experience all that Odisha has to offer.”
Read More »Goa reaffirms commitment to stay ahead in the tech-intensive industry on World Tourism Day
Goa Tourism has been contributing immensely to the digital transformation of the country’s travel sector. Goa Tourism through Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) recently launched Goa Miles, an app-based taxi service to streamline the entire tourist transportation process within the state. GTDC has also launched an e-commerce portal and a mobile application to provide tourists a digital experience of Goa. Visitors can browse through various options ranging from holiday packages, hotel bookings to adventure trips, spice gardens and water parks, among others. Speaking on the occasion of World Tourism Day, Goa Minister for Tourism Manohar Ajgaonkar said, “At a time when tourism boards are competing hard, Goa Tourism has gone ahead to increase its reach to the world and the results are visible. From digitalising our internal processes to our tourism services, Goa Tourism has come a long way in this digital transformation. I wish our tourism partners, stakeholders and each and every visitor to Goa a pleasant experience with Goa Tourism.” Goa Tourism recently launched an aggressive social media campaign ‘Tourism by Tourists’ to promote Goa as a ‘must-visit’ destination. To achieve this, Goa Tourism partnered with over 500 amateur photographers (through crowd-sourced Instagram activity: #PickMyGoaPic), more than 100 bloggers and 30 YouTube content creators to harness their content while touring Goa. The content shared by them was amalgamated into a video promoting Goa as a ‘must-visit’ destination. The campaign bagged a Gold at the National Tourism Awards by the Tourism Ministry for ‘Best use of Social Media in promotion of a Tourism Board’ in 2017.
Read More »Turkey Tourism to conduct six-city roadshow in India from October 8-13
The Turkish Culture and Tourism board in India will be conducting a roadshow and destination workshop in six cities across India from October 8-13, 2018. To be held in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Mumbai, the aim of the roadshow is to interact with stakeholders, agents, policy makers and travellers in these cities on current tourism offerings of Turkey and create more awareness on destination. The roadshow will also help in positioning Turkey as a leisure, wedding and MiCE destination amongst Indian travellers. Deniz Ersöz, Culture & Tourism Counsellor, Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in India said, “India is a very important market and we are aware of the potential it holds in terms of inbound visitor traffic to Turkey. In 2017, Turkey hosted more than 32 million international tourists while from India the number was 87,000. This year, from January to July, we recorded 25 per cent increase in the number of overall tourists. That means we will be hosting 40 million international tourists by the end of 2018. When we look at figures from India, we see 95 per cent increase for the same period. If this trend continues we will be hosting almost 2 lakh Indian tourists by the year-end.” The roadshow will also witness participation from Turkish Airlines, luxury hotels and important delegates and officials from Turkey.
Read More »Sikkim to celebrate World Tourism Day in Pelling on September 26 and 27
West Sikkim is set to host World Tourism Day 2018 on September 26 and 27 on this year’s theme of ‘Tourism and the Digital Transformation’ with a series of workshops, adventurous tourism and other activities in Pelling. The event is being organised jointly by the Tourism & Civil Aviation Department, West District Administration and West District Tourism Society (WDTS) with the support of tourism stakeholders of West Sikkim. A state-level celebration committee has been constituted headed by Sikkim Tourism Minister Ugen T Gyatso Bhutia and UDHD Minister NK Subba as the chief patron and other MLAs of West District as patrons. The committee has Sushil Tamang as Working President of WTDCC. In view of the challenges being faced by Sikkim’s tourism sector, a panel discussion on the digital transformation in tourism in the context of Sikkim is being organised. Seniormost representatives of leading online travel companies, digital news and media companies, travel writers and leading local hoteliers, travel agents and tourism stakeholders have been invited to join the panel. These include the likes of Ruchi Lahoti, Area Manager—India, Booking.com; Sandip Roy, acclaimed novelist and writer; Ugyen Choppel, a noted filmmaker and chairman of the Chumbi Group; Bjorn De Niese of Mayfair Hotels & Resorts, among others. Discussions will focus on insights and opportunities in promoting Sikkim tourism in the digital age, changing the travel landscape as well as creating digital linkages for marketing Sikkim’s homestays and Sikkim’s organic produce with tourists.
Read More »Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurates ITM Lucknow
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recently inaugurated India Travel Mart (ITM) Lucknow in the presence of Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Tourism Minister, Uttar Pradesh and other senior dignitaries, delegates, exhibitors, hoteliers, travel agents, tour organisers and media from various parts of the country. Many tourism departments like Host State – Uttar Pradesh Tourism, Partner State – Gujarat Tourism & Rajasthan Tourism, Himachal Tourism, Jharkhand Tourism, Uttarkhand Tourism, Madhya Pradesh Tourism, West Bengal Tourism, Delhi Tourism, Spiceland Holidays, Globewel Holidays Dubai, Club Mahindra, Country Inn Group of Hotels & Resorts, Travel Mail, Hoteliers, travel agents and tour organisers participated at the event.
Read More »Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurates two projects under Swadesh Darshan Scheme
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated two Swadesh Darshan Scheme projects of the Ministry of Tourism – ‘Development of Kakinada – Hope Island – Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary – Passarlapudi – Aduru – S Yanam – Kotipally and, Development of Nellore- Pulikat Lake – Ubblamadugu Water Falls – Nelapattu -Kothakoduru- Mypadu – Ramateertham – Iskapalli’ in the presence of Union Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism K J Alphons, Andhra Pradesh Tourism Minister Bhuma Akhila Priya and Union Tourism Secretary Rashmi Verma in Tirupati. The projects are the first projects under the Swadesh Drashan Scheme to be inaugurated in the Southern region. Naidu also inaugurated the state-of-the-art Indian Culinary Institute (ICI) campus, Tirupati. Alphons said that the tourism ministry is one among the major contributors to employment generation in the country and this culinary institute will help in imparting skills to more youth, thereby further generating employment. The project Development of Kakinada – Hope Island – Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary – Passarlapudi – Aduru – S Yanam – Kotipally was sanctioned by the Ministry of Tourism in March 2015 for Rs 69.83 crore. The second project was sanctioned in December 2015 for Rs 59.70 Crores. Nellore has huge potential to be developed as a leading tourist destination in the region because of its proximity to Chennai, Bangalore and Tirupati and also due to its abundant natural resources.
Read More »The Fern Residency opens in Miramar, Goa
The Fern Hotels & Resorts has added another hotel to its portfolio with The Fern Residency Miramar, Goa. Earlier known as Mystique Heights Beacon, the property has now been refurbished and rebranded as The Fern Residency Miramar, Goa. This takes the tally of hotels under the company’s management to 54 hotels. Commenting on the opening, hotel COO Suhail Kannampilly said, “This is the first hotel under the Fern Residency brand which we have opened in Goa. We look forward to opening many more such properties in future.” The Fern Residency Miramar, a 26-room boutique hotel, offers two different categories of rooms. The hotel provides medical assistance, 24-hour front desk, laundry/dry cleaning, concierge, spa, recreation activities, Wi-Fi and secretarial services on request. The dining options comprise Flamingo restaurant. Other options are Outer Deck where one can enjoy live barbecue in the open and Fame bar. The hotel is located 30 km away from Dabolim Airport, 18 km from Karmali Railway Station and 4 km from Panjim Bus Stand. The Miramar beach is few minutes away from the hotel.
Read More »PM inaugurates Sikkim’s first airport at Pakyong
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first greenfield airport of Sikkim at Paykong on September 24, 2018. Sikkim’s dream of having an airport came true nine years after a foundation stone for it was laid here, around 33 km from state capital Gangtok, in 2009. The first commercial flight from Pakyong would begin from October 4. Set to pave the way for direct connectivity to Sikkim, Pakyong airport is the 100th airport of the country. Located around 60 km from the Indo-China border, the airport is spread across over 201 acres and is located on the top of a hill about 2 km above Pakyong village at 4,500 feet above sea level, Sikkim Chief Secretary A K Srivastava said. Source: PTI
Read More »Dubai showcases business events proposition to planners across India
Dubai Business Events (DBE) has showcased the city’s capabilities and services to business event planners during a a three-city roadshow in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, attracting an attendance of approximately 490 business events and incentive buyers as well as wedding planners. DBE was joined on the roadshow by a number of stakeholders from Dubai, including Dubai Parks and Resorts, Jumeirah Hotels and Emaar Hospitality. The roadshow offered a platform for the DBE team to meet and engage with key decision makers, educate them about the services available to them, and detail how the convention bureau can support in planning their events in Dubai. Attendees were also able to discover Dubai and the world-class factors that combine to make the city a premier destination to host business events. Over the coming months, DBE and stakeholders from the city will conduct further in-market activities in UK, Sweden, Finland and Russia while also continuing to welcome business event planners for study missions from around the world to Dubai.
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