News

Haridwar to get theme park based on 52 Shaktipeeth temples of India

Uttarakhand government has decided to build a theme park based on the 52 shaktipeeth of India. According to a report published by a popular website, the state government has selected a 10 ha plot in Haridwar’s Kankhal area to accomplish this purpose. News has it that the concept of constructing a religious theme park having the replicas of 52 shakti temples of India is meant to promote tourism in the holy city and also spread knowledge about these devi shrines among those who have not had the chance to visit all of them. Reportedly, a plot of land in a village near Shri Daksheshwar Mahadev temple in Kankhal has been chosen for the theme park. The process of getting sanctioned for land clearance and obtaining no-objection certificate has started for the same. By making this one-of-its-kind theme park, the state government wants to develop tourist sites in each of the 13 districts of Uttarakhand. According to the old scriptures, shaktipeeth temples have been built at those sites where the body parts of Sati, the wife of Lord Shiva, had fallen when Lord Vishnu cut her charred body with his discus. It is also said that these temple sites have been sanctified by the powerful penance of the ancient saints and seers. Haridwar has been in the news since the past few months either for the sparkling clean Ganga river water during the India-wide lockdowns or for the lightning that struck the famous Har-ki-Paudi ghat in the town.

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Unlock 3: FICCI Suggests Easing of Restrictions in Aviation, Tourism

New Delhi: Industry body FICCI has recommended easing of restrictions on aviation, tourism, sports and schools in ‘Unlock-3’. It has recommended that Indian and foreign carriers be allowed to operate between two countries and India should allow foreigners to travel to India on reciprocal basis. FICCI has suggested that the authorities should accept the COVID negative certificate issued by the origin country. Visas should be revived for persons from such origin country, it has said. Further, it has recommended that testing labs should be identified and designated which will issue the a COVID Negative Certificate’ and that would be accepted by other countries. On the tourism and hospitality sector, FICCI has said that clear cut dates should be announced by the states to open tourism, monuments, tourist attractions, hotels, restaurants and bars. “All states/UTs should have a clear date and announce this for every vertical under tourism so that this also gives time to the stakeholders to prepare themselves accordingly,” it said. It has also said that permission should be granted for hosting all kinds of banquet and conference in the hotel, however a ceiling of 50 per cent of venue capacity maintaining social distancing norms should be permitted enabling the hotel to earn some revenue when other sources of business have dried up. It has suggested that clear guidelines are required for organising sports campsand staging competitions and events. Special provisions should be made for travel, stay and quarantine of international or domestic players participating in events. Games in which there is hardly any physical contact and where large number of spectators are not required can start in Unlock 3.0 while utilising one-third capacity of available infrastructure. It further said that the government may decide to open educational institutionsand schools depending on the local situation of COVID cases. “In case it is decided to open the schools, FICCI recommends strong adherence tosafety protocols and SOPs,” it said.

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Jordan to reopen to 'low risk' countries in August

AMMAN: Jordan will reopen its airports to commercial flights next month after a near five-month shutdown imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus, an official said on Sunday. The move comes as the country is trying to revive its economy which has been badly hit since the outbreak of the pandemic. Civil aviation commission chief Haitham Misto told state television that flights from 22 "low risk" countries will be allowed from August 5. The countries listed by the health ministry include Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, Georgia, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Thailand, he said. Travellers from those countries will not need to isolate for 14 days when they reach Jordan but must be tested for the virus before arriving, Misto said, adding that the list would be updated every two weeks. Transport minister Khaled Saif however said that those travellers must show proof of having spent two weeks in one of the countries on the list before arriving in Jordan. Anyone providing false information will be fined 10,000 dinars ($14,000), he said. The desert kingdom, which has recorded 1,154 cases of the virus including 11 deaths, imposed a tough curfew enforced with drones to curb the spread of Covid-19, before easing policies in early June. Airports were closed in mid-March and international flights suspended. The curbs hit cash-trapped Jordan hard. Its economy relies heavily on international aid, tourism revenues and expatriate remittances. Before the coronavirus struck, Jordan hosted five million visitors a year and tourism accounts for 14 per cent of the country's GDP, employing about 100,000 people. Tourism earned Jordan around $5.3 billion last year. Around a quarter of a million people a year used to visit Jordan for medical treatment before the pandemic broke out, bringing in some $1.5 billion. The country was already in a precarious situation even before the new coronavirus, with unemployment at 19.3 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

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Rannotsav to be held from mid-November

Ahmedabad: Craving for a getaway in 2020? Well, the state government will soon add some silver lining to the hopes of travellers! Gujarat’s signature tourism festival, Rannotsav, which is held every year from November to February, will be held this year too. At a time when tourism industry has seen a drastic decline in bookings, the state government is all geared up to host the festival, revealed sources, from mid-November onwards till February-end. “The government will soon make an official announcement about the festival which is expected to begin in mid-November and bookings will shortly open. The tent city is being readied to welcome tourists under a new normal and we are taking all precautions to ensure social distancing and utmost hygiene is maintained. We are also reorganizing the dining space, where more people congregate and spacing it out and have deployed additional buses which will only ferry tourists at half the capacity or less,” said Nikhil Aggarwal, partner of the event management company which organizes Rannotsav. The annual festival attracted at least 50,000 tourists last season, including people from Gujarat and other parts of India, NRIs who visit their home state during the winter months and even a few foreign nationals. The organizers have slashed package prices to woo tourists. “We have reduced the package price across categories by 20% to encourage more tourists to visit the festival. We have not reduced itinerary but have worked on ensuring social distancing and safety of tourists in the wake of the pandemic,” said Aggarwal. Industry sources, however, said the footfall may take a hit by at least 30% in the wake of the pandemic and even a likely reduction in number of international travellers. Tour operators however, feel that the decision to hold the festival will help revive tourism in the state.

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Mizoram set to redefine its Tourism plans

Mizoram has come up with a strategic plan to restart the state’s revenue generation through the tourism sector. The state intends to implement a new policy and forward it to various departments of the government for detailed study and present in the next assembly session after ratification from the state cabinet. “Though the government has an existing tourism policy, we are drafting a new one known as Mizoram Responsible Tourism Policy, 2020 to meet present requirements,” Tourism Minister Robert Romawia Royte told media persons. He asserted that a reoriented tourism policy is necessary to get the green light from the Central government and other allies for funding. The new policy plans to access the up-market slot tourism, to boost local businesses and job providers, about the local culture, officials said. They also speculated to ensure that tourism development happens in developing sites after having done a complete survey. A total of 1,61,677 tourists were said to have visited Mizoram in 2019, the officials informed.

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With Ram temple in sight, Ayodhya new tourism hub

As Ayodhya is set to be a major tourist destination with the magnificent Ram temple coming up in the temple town, tour operators and travel agencies in the city are planning offices in Ayodhya and new packages to attract people. A leading tour and travel company operating in Lucknow expanded its operations in Ayodhya on Friday. Besides organising heritage walks and tours in Lucknow, it will now be organising events to promote the rich culture and history of Ayodhya. “Mokshdayani Walk’ and ‘Ram Vivah’ have been our most innovative tourism products on Ayodhya which were till now being operated and managed from Lucknow. But now with our own set up in Ayodhya, these will be operated locally which will bring down cost and make it more affordable,” managing director of the agency Prateek Hira said. “We will provide employment opportunities to locals and will come up with many more immersive travel experiences to showcase this deserving destination to the world,” he added. Hina Shiraz, a travel and tour operator in Lucknow, said she was planning to introduce a special UP itinerary of 5 days and 6 nights for inbound tourists and foreign tourists enthusiastic for visiting the temple town and Ram Mandir.“ If you look at mass tourism across the country, spiritual and pilgrimage travel is the largest segment. In Ayodhya, while the market is expected to be skewed towards domestic travellers, there would be some inbound and foreign tourist potential as well,” she said. “The development plan in Ayodhya is big. Once international airport, five-star hotels and resorts come up, the influx of tourists will automatically increase. We will introduce extensive units and packages of 2-3 days where tourists will be able to explore the town. Due to lack of hotels, we used to have tourists who liked to visit Ayodhya only for a day. They couldn’t stay in the night even if they wanted to. We expect the city to develop into a far bigger tourism destination with potential for spiritual, social events, luxury, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) and travel,” said Rajiv Arora, another tour operator.

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