News

Royal Caribbean Offers Special Wave Season Savings

Royal Caribbean International is celebrating 2020 Wave Season with a phenomenal limited-time offer this winter. Now through January 31, 2020, guests can save 60 percent off their second guest and a bonus of up to $150 in instant savings. Plus, kids aged 12 and under sail free. Travelers can unlock these special savings on a variety of ships, destinations and experiences, including the cruise line's newly-launched private island oasis, Perfect Day at CocoCay in the Bahamas. Royal Caribbean also recently revealed its Caribbean sailings for the upcoming 2021-22 cruise season, with bookings currently open.

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SIA to introduce Airbus A350-900 on Ahmedabad route

It will be the first international airline to bring this aircraft type to the city. The inaugural service will depart from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on 1 February 2020. Starting with six-time weekly services on this new aircraft type, it will increase to daily operations from 29 March 2020 subject to regulatory approvals. “The aircraft’s new regional cabin products combined with our inflight service will provide travellers from Gujarat enhanced comfort and an unparalleled travel experience,” said David Lim, general manager of India in SIA. The A350-900 aircraft features higher ceilings, larger windows, an extra wide body delivering more space and comfort as well as lighting designed to reduce jetlag.

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Snowfall, hailstorm in UAE leaves citizens surprised

With almost the entire world battling the surprising effects of global warming and climate change, the desert countries including the UAE are seeing ice storms! According to the reports, hail and snow was seen on the Jebel Jais, the highest peak in the UAE. The skies pelted hail for a few minutes even in Dubai's Jumeirah. In Sharjah, the hailstorm hit the Al Taawun area. The National Centre of Meteorology (NCM) had earlier predicted "freezing rain or snow" over UAE’s mountain peaks on Sunday. It has even forecasted a significant dip in temperature on Monday with chances of snowfall in the mountains. In 2017, the mercury dipped to minus 2.2 degree Celsius due to snowfall on UAE’s highest peak, Jebel Jais.

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Nepal sees slight decline in tourists, India remains its top source.

India continued to be Nepal's top source of tourists in 2019 even though there was a slight decline in the total number of tourists visiting the Himalayan nation. A total of 1.17 million tourists visited Nepal in 2019 via air and land route while in 2018 a total of 1.52 million tourists had visited Nepal, according to the data compiled by the Department of Immigration (DoI), Like in every year, in 2019 too, Nepal received the highest number of tourists from India. The US secured the third position with 93,196 visitors arriving from that country while 61,139 tourists arrived from the UK and 55,869 tourists from Sri Lanka. Among the top five countries to visit Nepal, the number of tourists from the UK and Sri Lanka declined in 2019. As per DoI, 63,086 travelers from the UK and 70,610 tourists from Sri Lanka visited Nepal last year. The number of Thai tourists also declined from 53,250 in 2018 to 41,653 in 2019. Similarly, the number of tourists visiting Nepal from France, South Korea, and Spain also declined to 30,644, 29,679 and 19,057, respectively in 2019 compared to 31,653, 37,142 and 20,210 visitors respectively in 2018. According to Nepal Tourism Board, flight obstruction due to the rehabilitation works at Tribhuvan International Airport and the halt in flight operations by a few international airline companies hit the tourist arrival figure last year.

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With Demand Rising, Airlines Add Flights to India

Singapore Airlines added nine weekly flights to India last year, bringing its total to 104. Air France-KLM is increasing its seat capacity on Indian flights by 25 percent this winter. United Airlines has just begun offering nonstop seasonal daily flights from San Francisco to Delhi. And Delta Air Lines began nonstop service between Kennedy International Airport in New York and Mumbai in December. In the last few years, more than 20 of the 80 international airlines that fly to India have added service, in some cases through arrangements with other airlines, called code sharing. At this pace, India is expected to become the third-largest aviation market by 2024, behind China and the United States, according to the Center for Aviation, a company that provides market intelligence to the aviation and travel industry. The contribution of travel and tourism to India’s gross domestic product — the broadest measure of goods and services produced in India — is expected to increase to $492.2 billion in 2028, from $234 billion in 2017. While there are signs of an economic slowdown in India, business travel to India remains strong. And driving that travel is bilateral trade, said Gunjan Bagla, managing director of Amritt Ventures, a company in Malibu, Calif., that helps Western companies market their products and services to India.

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Iran hopes to revive tourism after the recent setbacks.

Iran’s tourism minister has said that the country’s tourism industry has suffered a major setback but it will certainly come back to normal again. Ali-Asghar Mounesan said this referring to the Ukrainian plane crash on January 8 near Tehran killing all 176 people on board. “These events are a major blow to tourism, but we will leave it behind by the means of new plans and we will definitely return to normal,” Mounesan said. Mounesan said that inbound tours witnessed a 70 percent fall after the plane crash incident. He said that the Iranian ministry is dwelling on new travel markets for a recovery. International safety warnings have been issued for tourists and other travelers bound towards prime destinations in the Middle East in the wake of the assassination of the top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani by U.S. forces on January 3. The U.S. State Department and British Foreign Commonwealth Office were among the many government bodies to issue “do not travel” advisories for Iran. Iran welcomed around 7.8 million foreign nationals last year, witnessing a 52.5 percent increase year-on-year. The World Travel & Tourism Council said that Iraq was the main source of tourism for Iran in 2018, constituting 24% of all inbound visitors. Azerbaijan with (17%), Turkey (8%), Pakistan (4%) and Bahrain (2%) were other major sources. The remaining 46% came from the rest of the world. Iran boasts of hundreds of historical sites like bazaars, museums, mosques, bridges, bathhouses, madrasas, mausoleums, churches, towers, and mansions, of which 22 are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Under the 2025 Tourism Vision Plan, Iran aims to increase the number of tourist arrivals from 4.8 million in 2014 to 20 million in 2025.

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