Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

India Tourism Mart (ITM) 2021 will be held from 18th – 20th February. The event will be mostly virtual, and some part of it will be hybrid. Subhash Goyal, Secretary-General, FAITH, revealed, “This year’s ITM will be slightly hybrid, but 90% virtual. We are expecting around 500 international buyers and around 100-200 domestic buyers.”

Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation has invited proposals from experienced companies in form of bids for allotment of 14 hotels across the state, where the successful bidders will be operating and maintaining the properties on ‘As is Where is’ system. Hotels will be allocated for 10/5 years of tenure.

Singapore Tourism Virtual Tradeshow is all set to be kicked-off on 12th January 2021, for the travel trade in South India. The virtual event will have around 40 Singapore partners showcasing their products and interacting with the buyers from all the regions. To register, log on to www.stbindiatradeshow2021.com or contact Jaspreet Kaur at Jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com, or +91-9650196532. GB Srithar, Regional Director, India, Middle East & South Asia, Singapore Tourism Board, “The dates are spread out so that we can interact by region, and we can have deeper and more engaged conversations. It is going to be our way of reconnecting with the Indian travel trade early in the year.”

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways has announced that it has commenced the process of operating seaplanes on select routes from the hubs cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Surat to various tourist sport of the North and West India. To run such services, the authorities are keen to associate with interested scheduled/non-scheduled airline operators.

To attract Cinema and Film making tourism, Maharashtra Tourism has launched Mumbai film city tour bus and curating tours to witness live shooting, informed Aditya Thackeray, Tourism Minister, Maharashtra government after flagging off the bus in Mumbai.

Marking the commencement of its first commercial flight from Indore to Ahmedabad on January 3, India’s newest airline, Flybig has announced connecting Raipur from Indore from January 13 and a flight from Ahmedabad to Bhopal from February 1.

Cape Town Helicopters, the largest scenic helicopter operator in Cape Town has today announced a strategic partnership with Outbound Konnections as its Global Sales Agent (GSA) in India. The appointment of Outbound Konnections is part of Cape Town Helicopters’ strategic direction in ensuring they have footprints across all major markets globally. The group has already signed up global sales agents in Germany, France, Russia, United States of America (USA) and China. Speaking after the announcement Herman Geldenhuys, Cape Town Helicopters General manager, noted that the growth in international arrivals from South Africa’s key source markets since the government embarked on a tourism revival programme in 2019, informed the company’s targeted campaign in these markets. “International arrivals have been on a steady growth since 2010 with the Soccer World Cup Finals being South Africa, and the Indian market has been one of the fastest growing source markets. Our partnership with Outbound Konnections gives us a better standing in the industry in tapping into this market.” According to figures released by the Ministry of Tourism on the state of South African tourism in 2019, international arrivals hit 1.2 million in 2018/2019, up 1.5% from the previous year. The Indian market contributed to 8% of these arrivals, as the third largest source market; behind the United States of America, United Kingdom. Anjum Lokhandwala, Founder & Director, Outbound Konnections, on her part said, “We are happy to be appointed as the India office for Cape Town Helicopters. Cape Town Helicopters has been a well-known brand in terms of luxury, innovation and the quality of services it has to offer for all travel segments be it leisure, MICE or incentive groups, and we are very …

Tourism & Culture Minister PS Patel recently met officials of NGMA Mumbai, ASI, Nehru Science Centre and The Asiatic Society at the Indiatourism Mumbai office, instructing them to base their promotion strategy going forward on the ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ campaign of the Government of India that celebrates the diversity and unity of the nation.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has written to the Prime Minister proposing establishment of an international airport in Puri city. He says that the proposed ‘Sri Jagannath International Airport’ will boost the tourism, economy and cultural outreach of the eastern state. The Rath Yatra of Puri is a world-famous event that is celebrated across 192 countries.

An upgraded version of the Indian Railways e-ticketing website www.irctc.co.in and the IRCTC Rail Connect mobile App were virtually launched by Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Railways; Commerce & Industry; Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution. The new versions are set to enhance passenger convenience.