Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan ceases to be the mascot for government's Incredible India campaign as the contract for it has expired.
While the US was closely followed by the UK, the neighbouring country Bangladesh occupied a distant third position among top 15 source countries from where the maximum number of tourists came to India last year.
In a move that promises to make credit easily available to the sector, the Union tourism ministry has permitted the hotel industry to go in for external commercial borrowings up to $100 million during the current financial year. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India too has removed hotels from the 'commercial real estate' classification.
Existing and new hotels of all categories all over the country would now have to comply with the requirements for the differently abled persons in respect of accessibility, special rooms with bathrooms and facilities in the public area by September 1, 2010, according to the revised guidelines. Tourism ministry has tried to address major concerns to make the classification norms friendlier for differently abled persons by adopting the international best practices.
While the responses of the candidates were predictable, depending on which side they belonged to, an interesting point slipped through when Rahul Shewale cited the Dharavi Redevelopment Project as a scheme that would add to Mumbai's importance. No big infrastructural project in Mumbai, he said, could be successful without the Centre's nod.
It is for the first time in the history of Independent India that not a single Muslim is part of the Union Cabinet.
The government has fixed an indicative value for Delhi's iconic 'The Ashok' hotel at Rs 7,409 crore under the national monetisation programme, according to sources. The Ashok and the adjacent hotel Samrat are among the eight India Tourism Development Corp assets listed under the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last year. The sources said investor consultation has already been undertaken and a cabinet note for the sale of the sprawling 25-acre property in the heart of the national capital is under consideration.
With less than a month left for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, statistics show that the foreign tourist arrivals in India in August has declined as against July this year.
Industry says though most pending issues have been deliberated upon by Tourism ministry, they are yet to be implemented
The Gujarat tourism department is planning to convert the erstwhile house of Modi's family into a museum, reports Sohini Das.
The government on Friday announced that no tax will be charged on overseas spending of up to Rs 7 lakh in a year using debit or credit as it looked to douse backlash from its earlier decision of levying TCS on all spending. The government had earlier this week brought overseas credit card spending under Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS). This meant that any spending using credit cards overseas would attract a 20 per cent tax from July 1.
There has been a growth of 15.1 per cent in Foreign Tourist Arrivals in February 2011 over February 2010.
The total cost includes Rs 44 crore for contingencies and overhead expenses.
India has a shortage of 150,000 rooms and the government hopes this will create additional 7,000 hotel rooms for events like the Commonwealth Games, scheduled in New Delhi in 2010.
Sanjive Narain, owner of Assam's oldest news channel, and Sanjay Aditya Singh, promoter of a cabin crew training academy, are coming together to launch a regional airline providing business and premium economy services in the Northeast. Jettwings Airways will be based in Guwahati and will connect places with twin-class Embraer E175 aircraft. The airline has secured an initial no-objection clearance from the civil aviation ministry and plans to launch services in October.
Tourist visa on arrival for 40 more countries including the US, the UK, Brazil, Germany, Canada and Australia, would soon be a reality as the Home Ministry is expected to clear the proposal soon.
"I sometimes think of leaving it, but the chief minister's post doesn't leave me," Ashok Gehlot famously said earlier this year, in part as a signal to the Congress top brass not to pick someone else for the job if the party wins the assembly polls.
Sources said while the Janata Dal-Secular will have nine new ministers, the Congress will have nearly 12 of its legislators inducted into the cabinet. Lone Bahujan Samaj Party MLA N Mahesh will also be a part of the cabinet expansion and will be given a key portfolio.
'The people of Tamil Nadu in particular Chennai know about the double standards of the BJP. Nothing will work for them here.'
The inclusion of the Taj Mahal in the new list of the seven wonders of the world has left the government worried about infrastructure requirements in Agra. The tourism ministry has scheduled a high-level meeting in the next couple of days to take sto
Senior bureaucrat Pradip Kumar Tripathi has been appointed as secretary (coordination) in the Cabinet Secretariat as part of a major bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre on Monday.
Srinagar Senior Superintendent of Police Rakesh Balwal, who has expertise in handling terror-related cases, has been "prematurely" repatriated to Manipur cadre where a fresh bout of violence has worsened the already tense situation.
With foreign airlines competing with domestic ones, Indian fliers are in for a treat.
Narendra Modi had stressed need for shifting focus from port development to 'port-led development' model to maximise gains
'The Mumbai-Goa highway touches 66 tourism spots in Maharashtra's Konkan. It will give development a high boost. It will also ensure quick transportation of fruits and other produce the region is famous for.'
Even as the Uttarakhand floods are being referred to as man-made disasters, experts say such disasters are waiting to happen at places like Ooty and Munnar.
India and Saudi Arabia on Monday decided to expedite implementation of the $50 billion West Coast refinery project, and identified energy, defence, semiconductor and space as areas for intensified cooperation during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud.
Foreign tourist arrivals in the country have shown a jump between January and April of this year registering a growth of 18.3 per cent.
In reflection of their growing congruence in areas of defence and security, the two sides, following the Modi-Mitsotakis talks, agreed to set up an institutional dialogue at the level of national security advisors, and boost defence industrial cooperation.
'The two sides agree to continue firmly supporting each other in safeguarding their respective core interests,' a joint statement issued at the end of Muizzu's talks with Chinese leaders said.
The NCMC facilitates convenient travel while integrating last-mile connectivity, a must in India's extensive landscape. It enables travellers to pay for a cross-section of needs, including toll tax, retail shopping, and withdrawing money.
Pemba Dorji Sherpa (26) scaled the world's highest peak in eight hours 10 minutes, breaking the record set by Lakpa Gelu Sherpa (36) of 10 hours 46 minutes in May 2003.
Abhishek Pagnis, a Pune-based engineering student, has caught on camera the elusive black panther -- or more aptly -- the melanistic leopard during a family vacation at the Tadoba sanctuary in Maharashtra.
The Union home ministry on Thursday announced that with this, the restrictions placed on visa and international travel since March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic stand further eased given the present overall pandemic situation.
In yet another secretary-level change, government appointed Hasmukh Adhia, a 1981 Gujarat cadre IAS officer, as the new Financial Services Secretary replacing G S Sandhu.
Gujarat will host the next round of G20 meetings from March 27 to April 4, during which three conclaves will be held in the state on a range of issues, where delegates from different countries will converge for participation, an official said.
India charges $100 as visa fee while other countries like Sri Lanka and Maldives charge only $25.
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