Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

DidaTravel has announced that it has raised “hundreds of millions of yuan” in its Series B financing round that had Alibaba as the lead investor. Rikin Wu, Founder and CEO of DidaTravel, says that the proceeds will be dedicated to the company’s continuous expansion and development in the days to come.

GMR’s Delhi and Hyderabad airports have opted for the HOI App – a passenger engagement platform – to address the travel needs of passengers through their journey. The App, which enable airports to run digitally, helps extend a contactless experience to flyers, ensuring their journey is safe.

In its ongoing effort to strengthen the hospitality and tourism industry, especially in these times of a pandemic, Ministry of Tourism has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Cleartrip and EaseMyTrip. The tourism ministry says that more such MoUs will follow in the near future.

Odisha Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik has inaugurated the Silver City Boat Club in Cuttack to promote water-based recreation in the Mahanadi River. The revamped boat club has been created by Odisha Tourism through OTDC, and is expected to boost tourism to the region. While infrastructure augmentation at the Boat Club will be undertaken in phases, it is said to offer activities such as jet skis, speed boats, day cruises, water scooters, kayaking, canoeing and scuba diving among other offerings.

Three female bikers — from Assam, Nagaland and Mizoram – are on a road journey to promote tourism in the north east region. The trio who are promoting their trip on social media are touring all the 7 sister states of the Northeast Indian region within a span of 7 days.

The recently-held AGM of the Tour Operators Association of Assam (TOAA) in Guwahati was marked by the formation of the new Executive Committee where Debajit Borah was selected as the new President, Rajkumar Das, Mukul Medhi and Dipak Sarma as Vice Presidents, Kundol Roy as Secretary, Nipan Sarmah as Treasurer, Pranjal Bora and Sushmita Hazarika as Joint Secretary along with 10 new EC members. The outgoing President is Ranjeet Das.

Abhishek Narang, a 2008 IRS-IT officer, was has been appointed as Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Culture for a period of four years. He is currently on ‘compulsory wait’ in the Department of Personnel & Training. Narang will relieve his duties immediately as per instructions to take up his new assignment in the Ministry of Culture office.

Virtual networking hub, GPS Connect 2021-22, a year-long platform for tourism industry is now open for registrations and will be held virtually from 1 May, 2021. Harmandeep Singh Anand, Managing Director, Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) said, “Exhibitor participation starts from as low as Rs 1,500 and gives an opportunity to businesses of all sizes located anywhere in the world and interested in developing business from India to exhibit and optimise their returns and stay connected year long.”

In a virtual address at the inauguration of the mega tourism promotion event in Srinagar titled, ‘Tapping the Potential of Kashmir: Another Day in Paradise’ Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State, Tourism & Culture, said, “The country has seen a five-time hike in tourists in January 2021 compared to January 2020 in Jammu and Kashmir. This initiative will further help to revive tourism in the UT.” He added that tourists started visiting J&K after the abolition of Section 370.

The government has directed airlines to serve or sell in-flight meals from April 15 only on those domestic flights that have a duration of over two hours, in wake of the sharp surge in Covid-19 cases. However, there are no restrictions on inflight meals on international flights as of now. The move is aimed at preventing the passengers from taking off their masks while on the aircraft.