News

Waterfalls, cable cars, holiday homes: 6 new Dubai tourism projects announced

The Ruler of Dubai has announced six new projects to develop the region of Hatta for tourism. UAE residents can look forward to cable cars, sustainable waterfalls, hiking trails and an international hotel, among other big plans in the works to promote the local tourism scene, according to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. With an altitude of 1,300 metres, the Al Nasoor peak will be one of the upcoming attractions, said Sheikh Mohammed, with hiking trails being developed to help adventurers reach the spot. Plans are also in place to build 200 holiday homes to support domestic tourism. Sheikh Mohammed noted that the project to develop Hatta began in 2016. The number of tourists saw a sharp increase from 60,000 to one million visitors in 2020, he revealed. The UAE VP also stated that new projects being undertaken by the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) would result in the creation of 500 jobs for the youth of Hatta. The new holiday homes, meanwhile, are expected to bring in annual revenues of more than Dh100 million for the people of the region.

Read more

Lucknow to Meerut travel time to reduce to 5 hours with Ganga Expressway

The projected Ganga Expressway will become the backbone of Uttar Pradesh's economy and decrease the travel time between Lucknow and Meerut to five hours, said state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday. The CM also informed that the project, set to be the second-longest expressway in UP, will help one reach from Prayagraj in east to Meerut in west, and vice versa, in 6.5 hours. “The state government had decided to create a 594 km-long expressway between Prayagraj and Meerut. A total of 93% of the land acquisition process is complete for that," said Yogi Adityanath. “Agra-Lucknow expressway has been completed. I am grateful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman for allocation of funds in Union budget for big infrastructure development," he added. The statements came in the backdrop of Sitharaman launching the third phase of 'Mission Shakti' in Lucknow. “When a woman gets encouragement and opportunity, she does not feel shy, and once she becomes a part of a task, she gives her best," said the FM at the event. The Union minister said the Centre is promoting women-led development, and the Uttar Pradesh government is taking all those programmes with the same vigour. Later, Punjab National Bank MD & CEO S S Mallikarjuna Rao handed over a loan sanction letter of ₹5,100 crore for implementation of the Ganga Expressway project to the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA). About Ganga Expressway The eight-lane project will cost nearly ₹36,000 crore and its proposed length is 594 km. The expressway will begin at Bijauli village in Meerut, and end at Judapur Dandu village in Prayagraj. It will go through 12 districts in UP: Meerut (15 kms), Hapur (33 kms), Bulandshahr (11kms), Amroha (26 kms), Sambhal (39 kms), Badaun (92kms), Shahjahanpur (40 kms), Hardoi (99 kms), Unnao (105 kms), Rae Bareli (77 kms), Pratapgarh (41 kms) and Prayagraj (16 kms). Combined with the Yamuna Expressway, which connects Greater Noida to Agra, the Ganga Expressway would ensure a high-speed road corridor linking Lucknow to Delhi and the National capital Region (NCR), Nirmala Sitharaman's office said in a tweet. "The amount of ₹5,100 crore, under the securitisation process, will be repaid to the bank within a period of 15 years from the toll to be received on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway," it said. "During this period of loan repayment, the expressway would continue to be owned and operated by UPEIDA," it added.

Read more

UAE issues fresh travel guidelines for flyers from India

The United Arab of Emirates (UAE) has issued fresh guidelines for people travelling from India. According to the new travel guidelines, passengers can take a rapid PCR test six hours before their departure instead of four hours now. The new circular noted that only transit travellers and UAE residents from India are permitted to travel to Dubai. Guidelines for UAE-India travel: -Passengers can take a rapid PCR test six hours before their departure instead of four hours now. The UAE has made this test mandatory for passengers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Uganda. -The UAE has also resumed visa on arrival for only those Indians nationals who have a visa or residence permit issued by the USA, United Kingdom or an EU Member State. -For passengers arriving at Abu Dhabi (AUH) and Ras al-Khaimah Airports (RKT), 10 days home quarantine upon arrival in RKT and 12 days home/institutional quarantine in AUH. -Passengers would be required to wear a medically approved wristband, provided by the authorities at the airport after clearing immigration. -As per Dubai Civil Aviation Authorities, RT-PCR Test done from the laboratories listed below will not be accepted: 1. Suryam Lab, Jaipur 2. Dr P. BHASIN Pathlabs(p) Ltd, Delhi 3. Noble Diagnostic Centre, Delhi 4. 360 Diagnostic & Health. Services -Passengers are mandated to download and register on the Alhosn app, using the UID and phone number. -On the ninth day of quarantine, they would have to take a PCR test.

Read more

Maldives and Europe travel on Punekars’ minds as countries open up for Indian tourists

With about 12 crore Indians being fully vaccinated in the country, travel is back on the mind for many. After about 18 months of being cooped up at home, travel enthusiasts are ready to pull all stops and head to international destinations to relax and rejuvenate. Since 2020 travel bucket-lists were never ticked, people want to make up for the loss in 2021. And with countries opening up for fully vaccinated people who have negative RT-PCR reports, leisure travel enquiries have gone up by more than 90 percent, compared to last year, according to the tour operators in the city. According to a survey conducted by InterMiles on 11,500 respondents across India, 65% people have planned leisure getaways, while 54% plan to travel to meet up family and friends. The same survey also listed reasons to travel as – relaxation, change of location, leaving behind the monotony of 2020 among others. Sarang Bhide, owner of Sarang Global Tours, conducted a survey among Punekars to see how ready they are for travelling. As per his findings, “65 percent people want to travel for leisure trips, while 26 percent were not so sure if they are ready to travel or not. Only 9 percent people exclusively said that they don’t want to travel right now,” he shares. Leisure and honeymoon travel top the list Since July, Maldives has been a destination that has its arms wide open for Indian tourists. Naturally, most of the bookings that tour operators are getting are for this destination. “Many people who got married amid the pandemic had missed out on their honeymoons last year due to travel restrictions. After taking both vaccine doses, most couples have been enquiring about honeymoon packages to Maldives. Almost 90 percent enquiries right now are for the nation of islands,” informs Arpit Khare, owner of Caravaan Holidays. After honeymooners, leisure travel enquiries for France, Dubai and Euro trips have been keeping the phones buzzing for travel agents. Owner of Aashapuri Holidays, Sujit Kotkar shares, “Safety and no unwanted restrictions are priority for tourists now. Even though we plan holidays for them, they do their research well and call us for packages to offbeat locations in Singapore, France and other places in Europe. Puneites are also looking to travel to Dubai for the upcoming expo, which is a huge attraction for shopping enthusiasts. Same time last year, we had little to almost no business, especially for international packages. But now, we are getting close to 50 enquiries a day.”

Read more

Ladakh all set to host an event to promote domestic tourism from August 25-29

Ladakh's Department of Tourism, in association with the Tourism Ministry, is all set to organise an event next week to promote domestic tourism in the region. As per the reports, Rejuvenating Tourism: Another Day in Nirvana event, will focus on aspects of culture, adventure, spirituality, and many other such themes. K Mehboob Ali Khan, Secretary of Tourism & Culture, Union Territory of Ladakh, has revealed this during a meeting where he was reviewing arrangements for the said event that will be held in Ladakh from August 25-29. Khan also directed officials to make sure all necessary arrangements are in place to make the event successful. He elaborated that the event will focus on providing indigenous product knowledge to all the stakeholders, and will also ensure that the event provides a platform to the local stakeholders as well. Reports have it that the department will be collaborating with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI),Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) and Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) for the event, which will organise activities panel discussions, exhibitions, and technical tours to showcase new tourism products and tourism of Ladakh.

Read more

Emirates Tourism Council presents plans to expand tourism

Dubai: The Emirates Tourism Council has approved a joint action plan of the Ministry of Economy and local tourism departments. The joint initiative aims to increase the inflow of international tourists to the UAE as well as open new tourism markets to attract tourists. The plan includes large-scale promotional campaigns targeting several promising destinations that could drive tourists to visit the UAE, introducing the long-term and multiple-entry tourist visa recently announced by the government, and promoting the country’s distinctive tourism destinations, recreational activities, and services. “The tourism sector was able to achieve outstanding performance rates and enhanced the level of recovery from the impact of the Covid-19 crisis to stand today and move towards a new stage of growth and development to further increase its contribution to supporting the national economy,” said Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs and Chairman of the Council. Al Falasi highlighted that with the support and directives of the country’s wise leadership and the relentless efforts across the country to distribute Covid-19 vaccines on a large scale and at a rapid pace, more than 83 per cent of the residents have been vaccinated which has strengthened the country’s ability to contain the pandemic and sped up its recovery and growth rates in various sectors, foremost of which is the tourism sector. He commended the great efforts and the continuous cooperation and coordination between local tourism authorities and various departments to revitalize and develop the UAE tourism sector. He said the results achieved during the last 12 months provides a strong foundation to increase the number of tourists entering the country during the Expo Dubai 2020, noting that the outputs and plans that were agreed upon during the council meeting are important as they offer advanced solutions and initiatives which can help open new markets and enhance the country’s position on the global tourism map as one of the world’s best and safest sustainable tourism destinations. The council also adopted a coordination system at the federal and local levels to develop new and integrated initiatives and solutions where all the emirates’ tourism sector can benefit from the hosting of the Expo Dubai 2020 in October 2021. The global event expects delegations from more than 190 countries to be arriving in the country throughout the exhibition period.

Read more