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Jammu Heritage Festival organised at Ramnagar Fort to promote tourism

Continuing the Celebration of 'Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav' Directorate of Tourism, Jammu was organized Jammu Heritage Festival at Ramnagar Fort on May 5, 2022 in collaboration with District Administration, Udhampur and Archaeological Survey of India. This was the second program in the series of Heritage Festival as the first was conducted at Bhimgarh Fort, Reasi. While addressing the media Vivekanand Rai, Director of Tourism, Jammu explained that the sole purpose of organizing these events is to promote Heritage Tourism in Jammu. Ramnagar is not only popular for Ramangar Fort but also for its scenic beauty, pleasant weather, local cuisine and tourist sites. This event comprised of a number of learning and entertaining activities like Heritage Walk, Poetry Recital, Story telling, sufi singing, Rock Band, Fusion Dance, folk Dance, Folk Singing. Performances by local celebrities like Juhi Singh, Amit Kundal, Rabjot Singh was enjoyed by the audiences. Punjabi Singer Shivjot Singh Dhaliwal enthralled the huge audience of about 10,000 with his singing. People from different walks of life participated as audience which included tourists, students, locals, Vloggers, Media persons and officers/officials of different departments. In the morning session, Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur, Indu Kanwal Chib alongwith Chairman, District Development Council, Udhampur, Lal Chand, DDCs and BDCs of Ramnagar, Assistant Superintending Archaeologist, Manoj Joshi and Assistant Archaeologist, Jai Karan flagged off the Heritage Walk and said that it is a new beginning for the Ramnagar and shall lead to encourage tourism in Ramnagar and it was a feast for eyes. The history of the historic Ramnagar fort was briefed by Shivdev Singh, President Ramnagar Heritage Society. Youngsters expressed their hopes and happiness on tourism department and were happy that through this event Ramnagar shall figure on Tourism Map of India. Locals said that this program is first of its kind and such event has not happened earlier in the Ramnagar. President, Municipal Committee Ramnagar, Benti Devi, SDM Ramnagar, Gopal Singh, Naresh Kumar, Deputy Director Publicity, SDPO Ramnagar, Sheena Sahni, Assistant Directorate Tourism, Jammu were also present among others on the occasion. The event was curated and crafted by Atlas Event Management

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Australian airline announces program to offer super cheap domestic flights

The Australian national carrier Qantas is set to launch hundreds of "points planes" offering super cheap domestic flights in a bid to drum up domestic travel during the country's winter months. The program is the airline's latest effort to balance their frequent flyer sheets as customers have accumulated massive stockpiles of points during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this year, the airline introduced a "Green Tier" program, which awards customers with frequent flyer points based on their sustainable choices. From June, passengers who are travelling between Australia's capital cities will enjoy discounts of 30 percent while booking economy seats. Additionally, 1,700 "points planes" are set to launch, where every seat could be purchased using frequent flyers. Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said on Monday that the programs would help boost tourism across the nation in the coming months. "We've seen a huge increase in demand for regional travel since the start of the pandemic and these Points Planes will help tens of thousands of frequent flyers discover regional Australia this winter." This means that jet-setters could pay as little as 41 Australian dollars (about 29 US dollars) to fly between Sydney and Townsville, a small city in the Australian state of Queensland, when used in conjunction with points. The most recent data from Australia's federal transport research body, the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics, showed that domestic aviation is still well below pre-pandemic levels. In February of 2022, 2.69 million passengers travelled domestically, up from 1.87 million in February of 2021, but well below 4.6 million passengers in February of 2020 before disruptions due to the pandemic. (ANI/Xinhua)

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Direct flights from India to Madagascar soon

Indian Ambassador to Madagascar Abhay Kumar met Madagascar’s Minister of Transport and Meteorology M Rolland Ranjatoelina on May 5 and discussed the possibility of starting a direct flight between Mumbai and Antananarivo. “Ambassador Abhay Kumar met M Rolland Ranjatoelina, Hon’ble Minister of Transport and #Meteorology of Madagascar today. They discussed the possibility of starting a direct flight between #Mumbai and #Antananarivo,” Ambassador Abhay Kumar said in a tweet on Thursday. Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot and has plants and animals which are not found elsewhere in the world. Madagascar remains unexplored by Indian tourists, an island nation just six hours away in the Indian Ocean next to Mauritius. Visa is available for Indian tourists on arrival in Madagascar and there are many places to visit across the country from Baobab Alley to dancing lemurs to singing whales and pristine beaches. Madagascar is a traveller’s dream. It is well known for dark night skies for Astro-tourism. All the major constellations visible from the Southern Hemisphere are visible in Madagascar. A direct flight between India and Madagascar can help the people of Madagascar to avail world-class health, educational and financial services in India and can promote tourism between the two countries. India is the fourth largest trade partner of Madagascar. A direct flight between the two countries can promote trade and commerce and people-to-people relations between the two countries. Madagascar has a large Indian diaspora who have family roots in Gujarat.

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Leisure Hotels Launches Char Dham Yatra By Helicopter

Leisure Hotels Group has announced a special ‘Heli Char Dham Yatra’ for Pilgrims traveling this year in 2022 in partnership with an aviation company. Char Dham comprises of the four sacred Hindu sites –Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath. This pilgrimage includes 5 Nights/6 Days of entire Char Dham Darshan by Helicopter, VIP visits to Shrines & temples, accommodation priority darshan and other special arrangements for Puja. Vibhas Prasad, Director, Leisure Hotels Group said, “The Chardham Yatra is a soulful inner journey not just limited to the physical trip to these holy sites and our camps but one which is an experience for many lifetimes. We try to make the Yatra an experience that enriches the mind, body & soul in more ways than one”. Leisure Hotels Group is one of the pioneers offering premium accommodation facilities in all the four Dhams. The journey will start with a stay at Rishikesh, followed by the Helipad transfers to Yamunotri – Gangotri – Kedarnath – Badrinath – Dehradun (Airport Drop).

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Arabian Travel Market 2022 To Open Today

Tourism professionals from around the world have return to Dubai when Arabian Travel Market, the leading event for the travel industry in the Middle East, returns to the Dubai World Trade Centre on Monday, 9 May. The event will welcome more than 20,000 visitors and over 1,500 exhibiting companies during the four-day tourism showcase, which concludes on Thursday, 12 May. 112 countries will be featured on the show floor ranging from Japan to Jamaica and South Africa to Italy. Industry professionals will have the opportunity to meet and discuss the latest trends from a cross-section of travel, including technology, transport, sustainability, events and business. Danielle Curtis, Exhibition Director ME – Arabian Travel Market, said: “Arabian Travel Market 2022 will reiterate the importance of the travel industry as we continue to address the challenges of COVID-19 while also outlining how we drive the industry forward. “The tourism industry has rebounded incredibly well. As a result, we have seen a clear uptick in participation, with floor space increasing by over 85% compared to the previous year and Middle East exhibitor space eclipsing 2019 levels. We now have the perfect opportunity to hear from industry professionals on the latest trends helping the industry recover and flourish in many instances.” In line with this year’s theme of ‘The future of international travel and tourism’, ATM 2022 will unveil new technology that will eliminate the need for business cards and allow exhibitors and visitors to share details, brochures and marketing material via innovative scanners and badges. Further underscoring the technology focus is the revamped and rebranded ATM Travel Tech event, previously called Travel Forward. A host of exciting sessions will take place, including the vision for the NEOM and its strategy for creating memorable experiences by Andrew McEvoy, Managing Director of Tourism, NEOM. Elsewhere on the agenda, Zeina Dagher, CEO Emaar Entertainment, will look at the future of visitor attractions, traveller trends, and what’s next in distribution, attraction tech and the guest experience. ATM 2022 is held in conjunction with Dubai World Trade Centre and it’s strategic partners include Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) as the Destination Partner, Emirates as the Official Airline Partner and Emaar Hospitality Group as the Official Hotel Partner.

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UAE flights: Flydubai announces routes to 10 new destinations

Flydubai, the Dubai-based airline, has announced that it will operate flights to 10 new destinations from June 23. This includes new flights to Izmir and Pisa, as well as the resumption of routes to popular seasonal summer destinations, such as Bodrum, Mykonos, Santorini and Tivat. Since the start of 2022, flydubai has launched flights to six destinations around its network, including the start of flights to AlUla (ULH), its newest destination in Saudi Arabia, as well as the resumption of flights to its second point in Istanbul, Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW). Ghaith Al Ghaith, CEO offlydubai, said: “We are pleased to see our network reach new heights with more destinations joining this summer. We have seen over the past few years the value in operating seasonal routes to cater to the growing demand for travel. Our strong business model and growing fleet has enabled us to offer our passengers more options for travel as well as to add capacity on existing routes including Budapest, Maldives and Zanzibar. We look forward to the start of our operations to these beautiful destinations, which will be equally popular for passengers travelling from the UAE and from around our network.” Flydubai has grown its network in Central and Eastern Europe over the years to more than 20 destinations that include popular cities, such as Belgrade, Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague, Naples, Sarajevo Salzburg and Warsaw. Over the summer, the carrier’s network in Europe will further grow, with the start of flights to Dubrovnik, Mykonos, Pisa, Santorini, Tivat and many more. Commenting on the launch of flights, Jeyhun Efendi, senior vice-president, Commercial Operations and E-commerce at flydubai, said: “We have seen growing demand from the destinations we operate to in Europe which has enabled us to add more weekly frequencies on our scheduled operations to Budapest, Catania and Salzburg. We remain committed to connecting more underserved markets to the UAE and offering a reliable and comfortable experience to our passengers."

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