The IATO Executive Committee recently reviewed and restructured the IATO Regional and the State Chapters to expand its wings and strengthen its membership base in Uttarakhand, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu. In continuation, IATO has further expanded its wings by appointing Co-Chairman and in-charge in various states and union territories. Rajasthan being a large state with a strong membership basis was considered to have a Co-chairman and Mahendra Singh of Holidays N Vacations, Jaipur has been appointed as Co-Chairman of Rajasthan. It was for a long time in the mind of IATO EC to have a Co-Chairman of Uttar Pradesh who should be based in Varanasi, keeping in view the importance of Varanasi as a big tourist attraction, both for international and domestic tourists and Bhuvanendra Vikram Singh of Prime Value Tours Pvt. Ltd has been given this responsibility. Sikkim being a prime tourist destination needed a Co-Chairman, keeping in view the distance between North Bengal and Sikkim. Namgyal P Sherpa of Namgyal Treks & Tours, Gangtok has been appointed as co-chairman to assist the Chairman of Sikkim and North Bengal Chapter who is based in Siliguri, Darjeeling. Similar is the case of Andaman & Nicobar and Mohamed Jadwet has been appointed as Co-Chairman in Andaman & Nicobar to assist the Chairman based in Chennai. Besides the above, two-state in-charge have been appointed in Manipur & Tripura to assist Chairman of IATO North East Chapter and H Radhakrishna Sharma, of Seven Sisters Holidays and Soumen Dutta of Hindustan Tour & Travels have been appointed State In-Charge of Manipur and Tripura respectively. Rajiv Mehra, President of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) expressed his happiness and mentioned …
Read More »PS Patel at Udaipur Science Centre in Tripura
Union Minister for Culture & Tourism, Prahlad Singh Patel, was the Chief Guest at the inauguration ceremony of Udaipur Science Centre in Tripura. Late last year, it was announced by Government of Tripura that the state will have its first Science City by early 2021, while a sub-centre of the science city will also be inaugurated around the same time. Also present at the inauguration was Tripura Governor Ramesh Bais. The Ministry of Culture operates Scheme for Promotion of Culture of Science (SPOCS) which provides for setting up of Science Cities and Science Centres in all the states of the country. Science Cities are already established in Kolkata, Kapurthala, Ahmedabad and Lucknow.
Read More »Northeast to get its third international airport by March
With a Rs438 crore project underway to upgrade it, Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport in Agartala, Tripura, is all set to become the third international airport in the Northeast region of India. Government of Tripura aims to connect the state with Bangladesh and neighbouring countries. The upgrade is pegged to be completed by March end this year.
Read More »Rs 1400 crore worth tourism projects approved for NE in 5 years
Ministry of Tourism (MOT), has sanctioned Rs 1,400 crore worth projects in the eight northeastern states in the past five years under Swadesh Darshan scheme, revealed Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel. Of Rs 1,400 crore, Rs 896 crore were released for a total of 16 projects, he added. Of this, two projects each were for Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura. The projects included heritage development of Tezpur-Majuli-Sibsagar in Assam, wildlife tourism in Assam (development of Manas-Probitora-Nameri-Kaziranga-Dibru-Saikhowa), eco-tourism in Mizoram (development of Aizawl-Rawpuichhip-Khawhphawp-Lengpui-Durtlang-Chatlang-Sakawrhmuituaitlang-Muthee-Beratlawng-Tuirial air field-Hmuifang), tribal affairs (two projects) in Nagaland, (development of Mokokchung-Tuensang-Mon and Peren-Kohima-Wokha), and spiritual tourism in Manipur (development of Shri Govindajee Temple, Shri Bijoy Govindajee Temple-Shri Gopinath Temple-Shri Bungshibodon Temple-Shri Kaina Temple). Patel said the Union Home Ministry (MHA) had declared Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim as partly protected area and partly restricted area.
Read More »7th International Tourism Mart to be held in Tripura from November 22
The Ministry of Tourism, in association with the Department of Tourism, Government of Tripura and the north-eastern states is organising “7th International Tourism Mart” in Tripura from November 22-24, 2018. To be held at the Pragna Bhawan, the event will be inaugurated by Professor Kaptan Singh Solanki, Governor, Tripura, in the presence of KJ Alphons, Union Minister for Tourism; Biplab Kumar Deb, Chief Minister, Tripura; Rashmi Verma, Union Tourism Secretary and other dignitaries from central ministries and north-eastern states. The event aims at highlighting the tourism potential of the region in the domestic and international markets by bringing together the tourism business fraternity and entrepreneurs from the eight north-eastern states. The event has been planned and scheduled to facilitate interaction between buyers, sellers, media, government agencies and other stakeholders. The earlier editions of this mart have been held in Guwahati, Tawang, Shillong, Gangtok and Imphal. The ITM will see wide participation of International buyers and media delegates from countries around the world and from different regions of the country. They will be engaging in business-to-business meetings with sellers from the North Eastern Region. A total of 41 foreign delegates from 18 countries namely Australia, Canada, China, France, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Myanmar, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, the UAE and the USA will be in Tripura for the mart. These include 23 tour operators and travel agents, 18 media representatives, journalists, travel writers and bloggers. The three-day event will also include presentations by state governments of the region on their tourism potential, panel discussion, cultural evenings, sightseeing visits to local attractions in and around Agartala and a press meet on November 23.
Read More »Rail link to connect India-Bangladesh
Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu will lay the foundation stone for a new cross-border line on July 31 linking Agartala in Tripura, with Akhaura, in Bangladesh’s Chittagong region. The project is expected to cost Rs 9.68 billion (US$144 million) and will run for just 15 km either side of the border – 5 km on the Indian side and 10km on the Bangladeshi side. However, the link will help increase accessibility between the remote state of Tripura and the rest of India. The 1,650 km distance between Agartala and Kolkata will be reduced to only 550 km once the new rail track is linked. Presently, India and Bangladesh have four rail links with West Bengal.
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