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Tourists Allowed From October 10 in Sikkim, Hotel Bookings Begin From This Date

The beautiful and breath-taking Himalayan state of Sikkim is a traveler’s delight with a plethora of gorgeous places to offer. The state that was shut for tourists for months due to the novel coronavirus has recently announced that it will open its doors for the travelers from October 10. Reportedly, the Sikkim government has allowed hotels, homestays, and all tourism-related services to resume operations. Also Read - Taj Mahal And Agra Fort Reopen Today: Here Are The COVID-19 Guidelines to Follow As per Travel Daily Media, an order was signed by Ravindra Telang who’s the principal secretary of home in Sikkim in which it was mentioned that the state is ready to allow interstate travel from October 1. The order read, “It has been decided to allow the free interstate movement of people without any requirement of registration with effect from 1 October and also permit hotels, homestays, and other tourism-related services to operate from 10 October.”

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Ministry Organises Webinar On ‘Promoting Destinations With Authenticated Cuisines’

The Ministry of Tourism’s Dekho Apna Desh Webinar series titled ‘Promoting Destinations with Authenticated Cuisines’ focused on India - a land with varied cuisines. Each state, area and region have unique traditional dishes which are suited to its climate and the grains, vegetables, spices, herbs and fruits which are locally available are cooked in different styles and variations. India’s traditional cuisine is not only delicious, but also extremely healthy and the spices & herbs added to the dishes help boost immunity and good health. The webinar focused on some traditional dishes from three states – Uttaranchal, Punjab and Delhi. The webinar was presented by Radha Bhatia, Chairperson of Bird Group; Anooj Wadhawan, Executive Chef of Roseate House, New Delhi; Chetan Rana, Executive Sous Chef of The Roseate Ganges, Rishikesh and Anand Panwar, Executive Pastry Chef of The Roseate, New Delhi. Bhatia started her presentation talking about civilization, tradition, culture, religion, weather conditions and natures which have played a major role in the way the food is prepared. India’s civilization starts from the Stone Age and traditions, recipes and their secrets have been passed on from generation to generation. Invaders like Mughals, Afghans and Persians have also brought in their food techniques & cooking styles to India. Spices grown in India were a big fascination for the Europeans and the Britishers for trade purposes. India is a mysterious country with different climatic condition, varied vegetation, soil, natural resources, cooking techniques etc., Bhatia added. All Chefs presented different cuisines from the regions of India. They were inspired and motivated by their mothers’ cooking which inspired to pursue cookery as a profession. India believes & promotes Athithi Devo Bhava, the concept of treating guest as God. Summing up the webinar, Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Government of India urged people to cook, experience and enjoy the beautiful nature that all of us are blessed with. She also underlined the need for us to respect nature and learn to coexist with nature.

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Flydubai To Resume Maldives Service From October 27

flydubai has announced the resumption of flights to Malé, the Maldives. The service, which the carrier initially operated between 2013 and 2018, will be reinstated from 27 October due to popular demand as the Indian Ocean destination welcomed back tourists of all nationalities earlier this summer. flydubai flights will operate four times a week to Malé on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. This brings the number of destinations flydubai operates to 40 across its network in Africa, Central Asia, Europe, Indian Subcontinent and the Middle East. Commenting on the start of flights to Malé, Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, said: “We continue to see signs of recovery as more countries start to lift restrictions on international travel. Working together, all the stakeholders in the travel industry have a role to play to safeguard travel in this new environment enabling more people to travel confidently. We remain agile in our operations and committed to gradually adding more flights to further support the flow of trade and tourism around the region as we look ahead to this new way of travel in the months to come.” The new service to the Maldives will give passengers more access to a holiday destination from Dubai and further afield whether connecting on the flydubai network or through its codeshare with Emirates. Sudhir Sreedharan, Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations (UAE, GCC, Africa and the Indian Subcontinent) at flydubai, said: “We are pleased to restart our operations to the Maldives. This has always been a popular destination for our passengers in the UAE, GCC and the Russian speaking markets who are seeking a beach holiday. With Holidays by flydubai expanding its hotels and ancillary offering, we are now able to offer our passengers full packages at affordable prices whether they choose to fly in Business or Economy.” flydubai has recently introduced a new COVID-19 cover to encourage more people to travel with ease of mind knowing that they will be looked after at every step of their journey. Passengers booking with flydubai for travel between 01 September and 30 November 2020 will automatically receive free global cover for COVID-19. The new service covers passengers’ health expenses and quarantine costs if diagnosed with COVID-19 during their trip.

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Baghel inaugurates flight services from Jagdalpur to Raipur and Hyderabad

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday inaugurated a 72-seat regular flight service from Jagdalpur to Raipur and Hyderabad from his residence office via video conference. Ministers, MPs, Parliamentary Secretary, MLAs, and public representatives of the Bastar region along with senior administration officials also attended the inaugural programme virtually. In his address, Baghel said with the inauguration of air services from Jagdalpur, we have unleashed major opportunities and possibilities for the development of the Bastar division. He mentioned in detail about various efforts made to connect Bastar through air services and said that the government has been making consistent efforts to benefit the people of Bastar with air travel services. “Our government successfully received permission for flight services from Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), New Delhi on March 2, 2020, as a result of which Alliance Air Bastar (An associate company of Air India) has started flight services from Jagdalpur today,” Baghel said. He said it would take only one hour to reach from Bastar to Raipur and Hyderabad via a flight. And from Hyderabad, one can travel to any place in the world. Presently, it takes six hours to reach from Bastar to Raipur by road and nearly 12 hours to reach Hyderabad by road. Now in case of medical emergencies, people of Bastar will be able to reach Raipur, Vishakhapatnam, or Hyderabad via flight within an hour. “Flight services will also promote Bastar Tourism, attracting tourists from across the world,” he added. “Commencement of air services will also help in the development of the banking and telecom sector in Bastar.” He said flight services would also unleash employment opportunities in Jagdalpur. It will lead to extensive growth and expansion in employment-oriented sectors such as business, education, medical science, tourism. In the same sequence, ‘Amcho Bastar Canteen’ is being opened at the airport terminal. Naxal-affected families would run this canteen. Meanwhile, Union Aviation Minister for State Hardeep Singh Puri said in his message that the commencement of air travel services will promote tourism and development in Jagdalpur, Bastar. “Bastar art and culture has its unique identity,” he Puri said. He gave detailed information about the action plan for expansion of Raipur airport, and efforts being made to develop Jagdalpur and Ambikapur airport under Udaan Yojana. He congratulated the people of Bastar and Chhattisgarh, on behalf of Airport Authority, Air India’s associate company Alliance Air, State Government.

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Varanasi to be developed as tourism hub, says Yogi

Lucknow: Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will be developed as a model of tourism and development, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath announced on Monday. The CM said that while several development projects have been taken up in Varanasi over the past three years, special interest of the PM and coordinated efforts by the Centre and state “have helped in unprecedented infrastructure development in Varanasi”. During a review of development works of Varanasi division on Monday, the Chief Minister pulled up officials over the delay in work due to an SIT probe into corruption complaints against 55 construction projects in Ghazipur, 11 in Jaunpur, eight in Chandauli and seven in Varanasi. “In case of corruption, recovery will be done from the guilty person. Work on any project should not suffer under any circumstances, and especially not charges of corruption,” he said. The CM reviewed development works taking place in Varanasi, Chandauli, Jaunpur and Ghazipur. There are 28 on-going projects in the division worth over Rs 50 crore each, out of which 24 in Varanasi, two in Jaunpur and one each in Chandauli and Ghazipur. The total cost of these projects is Rs 8,409 crore. The CM said that major development works in Varanasi were in the tourism sector, including heritage signages, revitalisation of ghats, facade improvement of 84 ghats, cultural upliftment of Kashi Vishwanath Temple and the ghats, tourism facilities at Dashashwamedh Ghat and development of market complex. The CM has directed officials to expedite the construction work of medical colleges in Ghazipur and Jaunpur and to start the construction of the Chandauli Medical College at the earliest.

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ITBP ties up with Uttarakhand govt to promote adventure tourism at Tehri Lake

The Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Monday to promote adventure sports activities at Tehri Lake in the state. With the MoU, ITBP along with the department will now work on the building of adventure sports activities like land base adventure centre, water base adventure centre, aero base adventure centre at Rajiv Gandhi Adventure Sports Academy situated at Tehri Lake. The MoU was signed between Prashant Kumar Arya, director UTDB and Gambhir Singh Chauhan, DIG, ITBP in the presence of IG, ITBP Nilaabh Kishore. Dilip Jawalkar, secretary for tourism said, “The signing of this MoU will add to the post-pandemic revival process of adventure sports in Uttarakhand. This MoU is one of our initiatives to promote adventure activities in Tehri Lake. We hope that through this initiative, adventure tourism in Uttarakhand will get a new direction.” According to the MoU, ITBP will provide training in adventure sports as well as various courses related to it at the Rajiv Gandhi Adventure Sports Academy. It will train over 200 candidates selected by the state government or tourism department every year free of cost. All arrangements and expenses for the operation of and training in the academy will be borne by the ITBP. The ITBP has prepared the road map for development and taking over of the water adventure facility near Tehri Lake and submitted to the state government for finalising a tie-up for the project to bolster tourism in Uttarakhand. It would use the training infrastructure built by the state government for training and sporting purpose for all types in areas surrounding Tehri Lake, following security and other norms stipulated by the state. “ITBP signs MoU with Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) for development of tourism and water sports in Tehri Dam, to take over the Tehri Adventure Institute for 20 years…” the ITBP tweeted.

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