Bihar is set for a record arrival of over one million foreign tourists in 2012, Sunil Kumar Pintu, Minister for Tourism, Government of Bihar, said. “I am fully confident that the number of foreign tourists in Bihar would cross one million in 2012,” Pintu was quoted as saying in an IANS report.

The Sindhudurg Guide, an initiative launched by Nitesh Narayan Rane, Chief of Swabhimaan Sanghatana, earlier this year to promote and sustain tourism in Sindhudurg district and provide employment to the local youth, introduced four products on World Tourism Day on September 27 this year. At the launch of the new products, Rane inaugurated the Malvan Tourist Facility Counter at Malvan beach to provide assistance to tourists for booking hotels, cars, guides, water sports and sightseeing services. With 50 trained guides, The Sindhudurg Guide also launched their website -

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has appointed Blue Square Consultants (BSC), as its representative for West and South India markets with effect from next month, in keeping with TAT’s renewed focus and to energise the marketing and public relations activity in these regions. The mandate of BSC is to represent Thailand by introducing new marketing concepts and its expertise in public relations in the targeted markets of West and South India.

Incentive Destinations, India received the 2012 Site Crystal Exceptional Motivational Travel Program Award for ‘The Himalayan Kingdom’ programme at the Site Crystal Awards luncheon during the Site International Conference in Beijing, China. The programme was designed to reward top-performing insurance advisers from Delta Lloyd Life, Belgium, a Dutch insurer with operations in the Netherlands,

Air India Express will withdraw its twice-a-week service on the Chennai-Tiruchi-Abu Dhabi/Abu Dhabi-Tiruchi-Chennai sector under its winter schedule, effective October 28, 2012, as per The Hindu Business Line report. According to sources,

Air India (AI) yesterday told the Delhi High Court (HC) that it had started implementing the recommendations of Dharmadhikari Committee report to ensure career progression and wage rationalisation of its own pilots and pilots of erstwhile Indian Airlines.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will carry out an assessment of the capabilities of Kingfisher Airlines Ltd for operating additional flights and then decide whether or not to approve their plan to add 40 daily flights to their current schedule. The airline recently planned to increase their fleet as three Airbus 320s that were grounded since February this year were now ready to rejoin the fleet,

Identifying tourism as a key sector to drive the state’s future growth, Kerala government has come out with some interesting proposals for global investors to look at as part of the ‘Emerging Kerala’ Global Investors Meet commencing from September 12, 2012 in Kochi. The proposal includes tourism destination development projects in the northern districts of the state. Some of the key projects for which the Kerala Tourism Department seeks private investors' proposals during the three-day meet include a star category hotel at the upcoming EduHealth City at Panakkad and a destination boat club at Thirurangadi, both in Malappuram district;

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) recently proposed a User Development Fee (UDF) of Rs 165 on every passenger boarding a domestic flight and Rs 667 on every passenger on an international flight from the Chennai airport. AAI proposed to the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority

The Supreme Court (SC) of India has directed the Centre and Airports Authority of India Ltd (AAI) to file affidavits stating details about agencies responsible for levy, collection and expenditure of the Airport Development Fees (ADF) collected from passengers. Two days ago, a bench of Justice DK Jain and Justice Madan B Lokur asked the government to file the reply within 10 days.

The Maharashtra government yesterday approved a scheme to provide training for jobs in the aviation and hospitality sectors to the youths from Scheduled Tribes (ST). The government will help educated ST youths to train for careers such as air hostess, cabin crew, hotel management staff or customer care staff. The scheme will start this year, to be implemented by the Tribal Welfare Department, as per a PTI report. The training will be of one-year duration,

Mandip Singh Soin, Founder and Managing Director, Ibex Expeditions, will receive the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Lifetime Achievement Award by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India on August 29 this year. Soin will receive the award, popularly known as the Arjuna Award for Adventure, by Pranab Mukherjee,

Accor in its latest 'Asia Pacific Business Traveller Survey 2012' reported that Indian business travellers are among the top spenders, second to Singaporeans, in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. Indian travellers have one of the highest hotel budgets in APAC, spending an average of USD 399 a trip, the report said. Only the Singaporeans spend more, averaging USD 468 a trip, it added.

The Government of Goa is thinking of developing closed mining pits for tourism activities. The draft ‘Goa Mining Policy 2012’ announced by Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister, Government of Goa, on August 8, 2012 proposed that tourism be developed in mines that have shut down after excavation of minerals.

Virgin Atlantic recently announced that it will start flights from Delhi to New York’s John F Kennedy (JFK) International Airport via London Heathrow Airport from October 28, 2012. The new service will complement the airline’s existing same-day connection between Delhi and Newark via London Heathrow Airport.

India-based bus ticket booking company redBus.in has announced a strategic partnership with travel company Expedia. With this partnership, redBus.in will power bus ticket booking functionality on

Indian cuisine and food is among the top 10 list of the world's best food preferred by global travellers while on holidays, according to a new worldwide food survey by Hotels.com. About five percent of international travellers preferred Indian cuisine and food when on holiday, the survey which questioned more than 27,000 travellers said today.

Pimpri Chinchwad, an industrial hub in Pune, will be projected as a tourist destination. The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation will draw up an integrated tourist centre development plan to attract visitors. It includes a deer park, a modern aquarium and water sports facilities, a regional science centre, parks, hill garden and a complete network of amusement and entertainment facilities for tourists.

The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) has announced that it has tied-up with Mojostreet, a mobile application provider which helps people discover tourist locations nearby. "The partnership will make it easier for tourists to find information about nearby tourists spots, hotels, restaurants, banks, travel agencies and much more their mobile phones," Sandeep Kumar Sultania, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, APTDC said, as per a PTI report.

Bihar Tourism, which is on a resurgent mode, will soon launch its revamped website. According to Sunil Kumar Pintu, Minister for Tourism, Govt of Bihar, the revamped website is ready and will launched by August 15, 2012. In another major step to promote Bihar in the domestic and international market, Bihar Tourism will also launch extensive advertising campaigns on electronic media, including TV, from August 2012,