United Arab Emirates’
national carrier, Etihad Airways, has launched four direct flights per week
from Abu Dhabi to Bengaluru, the airline’s eighth destination in the
country. The airline will operate a two- class Airbus A320 on the new
Bengaluru route, configured to carry 140 passengers with 20 in the business
class and 120 in the economy class. However, with the commencement of its
summer scheduling season, Etihad will increase this service to daily flights
beginning March 25, 2011.
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ASSOCIATIONS
ATOAI re-elects its office bearers
The Adventure Tour Operators Association
of India re-elected its office bearers at the annual general meeting held on 6
January 2010. The team being will be led by Tejbir Singh Anand as president,
Mandip Singh Soin as Sr. Vice President, Ravi S Kalra as Vice President,
Akshay Kumar as Honorary Secretary and Mohan Tikoo as Honorary Treasurer for
a second term. The office bearers will be assisted by the executive
committee members, which include Capt. Swadesh Kumar, Founder President,
Ajeet Bajaj, Immediate Past President, Vishwas Makhija, Sanjay Basu and Amit
Sankhala.
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HOTELS
Ista Hotels opens 209-room property in Pune on January 6
Ista Hotels launched of
its fourth property in India and first in Maharashtra on January 6. Part of
IHHR Hospitality, Ista Pune follows its award winning hotels at Bangalore,
Hyderabad and Amritsar. The new-age five-star luxury deluxe spa destination
hotel has 209 rooms including 12 suites. It is situated adjacent to the
famous Aga Khan Palace and is a 10minute drive from the airport.
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MOT
2010 registered 5.58 million foreign tourists to India
The year 2010 closed with
5.58 million foreign tourists arrivals (FTAs) in India, registering a growth
rate of 9.3 per cent as compared to the FTAs of 5.11 million and growth rate
of (-) 3.3 per cent during 2009. The said rate of growth in India is much
better than UNWTO’s projected growth rate of 5 per cent to 6 per cent for
the world during the same period.
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NTO
Holland records 29% growth in tourist arrivals from India in 2010
The Netherlands, popularly
known as Holland has recorded a 29 per cent growth in 2010 over the previous
year. The total number of hotel guests from India increased from 38,000 in
2009 to 49,000 in 2010. There was a staggering increase of 48% in Indian
visitor arrivals in the Netherlands through the months from January to
September. The comparative growth is tremendous vis-à-vis other European
nations like Germany (5 per cent), Belgium (9 per cent), Switzerland (11 per
cent), Great Britain (12 per cent) and France (18 per cent).
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Sri Lanka to offer online visas by April 2011
Sri Lankan tourism and
government bodies have decided to withdraw ‘visa-on-arrival; facility and
offer online visa to Indians. Department of Immigration and Emigration had
already started work on the online visa service and visa fees. The online
visa service is expected to be available by April 2011. In August 2010, the
Sri Lankan government had withdrawn the ‘Visa-on-arrival’ facility but
overturned the decision after a clamour of protests from the tourism
industry.
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STATE
MPSTDC launches agent programme, a first by a state tourism corporation
Madhya Pradesh State
Tourism Development Corporation (MPSTDC) is launching agents training
programme next month to train tourism service providers on Madhya Pradesh
tourism offerings. The move is part of state tourism department’s strategic
plan to develop tourism in the state. The day long offline travel
accreditation program will enable agents to learn everything they need to
know about the state’s diverse tourism products to help them plan tour
packages for their domestic as well as inbound customers.
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Himachal Pradesh Govt sanctions Rs 15 crore for rural tourism
Government of India has
recently sanctioned Rs 15 crore to Himachal Pradesh State government for
integrated development of rural areas as a tourist circuit in the state.
Additional Rs eight crore has also been approved to develop
Jubbarhatti-Arki-Nalagarth circuit for rural tourism. The state government
had also received a project of Rs 442 crore sanctioned by the Asian
Development bank for upgradation of tourism infrastructure in the state.
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VISA
6,459 foreign tourists availed Visa-on-Arrival in 2010
The number of visas issued
under this scheme, during January-December 2010 totalled 6,459, as per the
statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism in India.
The Scheme of “Visa on Arrival” (VoA) was introduced from 1st January 2010
for citizens of five countries, viz. Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand
and Singapore, visiting India for tourism purposes. The number of visas
issued under this scheme, during January-December 2010 for nationals of the
five countries were Singapore (1814), New Zealand (1944), Japan (1457),
Finland (1263) and Luxembourg (71).
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