Arunachal Pradesh has added another feather to its wings after being voted the ‘Favourite Upcoming Destination’ by a travel magazine. Tourism Parliamentary Secretary P.D. Sona produced a letter sent by Outlook Traveller president Alok Srivastava to the state’s tourism secretary Sonam Chombay.

Minister of State for Tourism K. Chiranjeevi has said that India as a part of its the look east policy is sparing no effort to add more content to its ''strategic partnership'' with Vietnam, in the fields of defence, economic, scientific-educational and cultural cooperation.

Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation Ltd (HPTDC) recently announced a special discount for female guests in its hotels. An additional discount of ten per cent on accommodation, over and above the prevailing off-season discount, ranging from 20 to 30 per cent, depending on the property, will be offered to women, Subhasish Panda, Managing Director, HPTDC,

In order to give a boost to the tourism sector in the state, the Odisha government, in collaboration with travel trade, is all set to launch ‘Visit Odisha Campaign’ in this month. This campaign will be launched with a set of road shows in the domestic and international markets, as per a Business Standard report. The first road show will organised in Bangkok, Thailand on January 7 followed by the road show in Siam Reap, Cambodia on January 10.

The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) organised a student rally today to commemorate World Tourism Day. The rally flagged off at 8.00 a.m. from Gateway of India in Mumbai and scouted through Museum, Bombay High Court, Kala Ghoda, Central Library, Horniman Circle before terminating at CST.

Spring Air has introduced a new range of Europedic and Nature’s Rest mattresses that supports neck, shoulders and the hip. Equipped with NASA technology, these mattresses are made of the finest materials in the most appropriate mix, as per a press release. Priced at Rs 100,000, the mattresses are temperature-sensitive and have a pressure-relieving memory foam material, with ultra cell high-density foam to give customers the comfort of therapeutic properties. Spring Air targets Indian urban households.

Finavia, the operator of 25 airports in Finland has introduced a search service on its website www.finavia.fi for convenient flight searches and schedules for all Finavia airports. The search service makes its easier for customers to look up suitable schedules from their local airport to global destinations. The service includes provincial connections as one can look up both direct route flights and those with an intermediate landing. It shows flight connections visually on a map and as

Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur was recently rated the number one tourist attraction in India by TripAdvisor on the basis of reviews by foreign travellers. The travel website listed the top 15 Indian historic/landmark sites most loved by international tourists, based on reviews and ratings by international travellers who had visited these sites.

Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) is supporting the Ministry of Tourism’s (MoT) target to increase Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) by 2016 by 11.37 million, Domestic Tourist Visitors (DTVs) by 1496 million with additional requirement of 23.4 lakh rooms and Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) of Rs 13,4665 crore. Kamlesh Barot, President, FHRAI, said, "There are many impending issues hurting the growth of the Indian hospitality industry. The issues including, high taxes on tourism and moral policing due to archaic laws are primary issues among many. Moreover, high interest rates, inflation, lack of provisions for hospitality under infrastructure

The Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) latest report on aviation, which was recently tabled in the Parliament, has slammed Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) for levying a hefty development fee on passengers using the airport. Domestic passengers are charged Rs 400, while international passengers are charged Rs 2,600.

So as to give a boost to the tourism sector, the Home Ministry, Govt. of India will rationalise the visa norm in two weeks and accelerate the development of basic facilities at 19 world heritage sites. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee for the tourism sector convened by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO),

The Department of Tourism, Government of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) is working towards renovating the Gondola cable car in a bid to boost tourism in the state. The cable car in Gulmarg, Srinagar, is around 3,980 metres above sea level, making it the highest cable car in Asia, and generates revenue in millions every year, according to an ANI report.

The government of Kerala will impose a six per cent price hike on all Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), except beer, from August 1, 2012, said an Excise Department official. The price hike, which is the second one since 2009, will amount to Rs 10-15 net rise in price. "We expect that this fiscal, the sales of liquor will cross Rs 8,000 crore,

A roadmap for the co-existence of tourism and conservation of tigers will need to be drawn, said Subodh Kant Sahai, Minister for Tourism, Government of India, referring to the recent ban by the Supreme Court of India on tourism in core areas of tiger reserves.

grew up in a small town on the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, cradled in the Nilgiri hills. I grew up in a small town on the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, cradled in the Nilgiri hills. I now work as a conservationist in the same area.

Travel services provider MakeMytrip has said it is looking at 32 per cent growth in revenues at nearly Rs 560 crore in the current fiscal on account of new initiatives for expansion. "We are aiming at a growth between 30-32 per cent for FY'13 on account of the initiatives for both organic and inorganic expansion," said Deep Kalra, Founder and CEO,

In order to attract tourists to Himachal Pradesh (HP), the state government has decided to develop Aadi Himani Chamunda Dham near Dharamshala as its next religious tourist destination on the lines of Shri Vaishno Devi and Shri Amar Nath shrines.

Khiri Travel has opened an office in Phuket, Thailand, last month. Swiss national Marc Ruffet, 28, has been appointed as the Branch Manager to run the office in central Phuket near the Heroines' Monument. Andre van der Marck, General Manager, Thailand, Khiri Travel said that the Phuket office will be Khiri's customer service centre for southern Thailand. It will also act as a creative and quality control office for all the southern Thailand tours offered by Khiri. The office will also offer popular southern Thailand experiences such as yacht charters,

The Ministry of Tourism has announced that the booming hospitality industry will have an additional manpower requirement of 2.03 lakh during its 12th plan period. The Ministry proposes to achieve this through expansion of institutional infrastructure; broad-basing of hospitality education; skill up-gradation and certification of service providers; skill development through short duration courses, through hotels and in niche and other products. Addressing a conclave on Furthering Quality Capacity Building in Tourism-2012, Sanjay Kothari, Special Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, pointed out,

Cox & Kings is in talks with some private equity funds such as KKR, Bain Capital, Carlyle and TPG to sell a minority stake in its UK subsidiary Prometheon Holdings and raise about USD 140 million, people close to the development have said. According to a Economic Times report by Apurv Gupta, the money will be used to repay debt raised during Cox & Kings' Rs 2,250 crore acquisition of Holidaybreak Plc, the step-down subsidiary of Prometheon Holdings. Anil Khandelwal, Chief Financial Officer of Cox & Kings, however,