News

Plans to boost tourism with Varanasi’s Dev Diwali festival

After the grand Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is drawing plans to make Varanasi’s famous Dev Diwali a spectacular show. The annual festival, which draws visitors from around the country and abroad, is celebrated in the holy city on Kartik Poornima, about a fortnight after Deepawali. This year’s celebration, on November 30, will see Varanasi’s 84 ghats being illuminated with 1.5 million diyas. Last year, a million diyas had adorned the ghats on the occasion. Since assuming power in 2017, the Adityanath government has been organising an elaborate deepotsav on Diwali in Ayodhya. In 2017, a record of sorts was created by lighting 165,000 diyas at the city’s Ram Ki Paidi—a series of ghats on the banks of the Saryu river. In 2018, 300,000 diyas were lit for the deepotsav and around 551,000 lamps the year after. This year, 589,000 diyas were lit for the deepotsav. Additionally, the Ram Janmabhoomi complex was also illuminated with diyas. The Adityanath government also organised a laser show during the Ayodhya deepotsav on November 13. Now, a similar event is being planned in Varanasi to showcase the city and its two biggest mascots—Lord Shiva and the Ganga river. Avinash Mishra, joint director of the state tourism department, says that apart from illuminating the ghats of Varanasi on Dev Diwali, plans are afoot to hold cultural programmes on 20-25 ghats. Tourists have the option of taking boat rides on the Ganga to get a broad view of the show along the ghats. However, given the pandemic, social distancing norms will be observed during the Ganga aarti held on the banks of the river every evening. Approximately 300,000 tourists visit Varanasi every year for Dev Diwali. This year, the tourism department is expecting a 15 per cent rise in the footfalls. Gokul Sharma, president of the Varanasi Hotels Association, says hotels are already receiving enquiries and bookings.

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Goa’s new tourism policy to focus on diverse tourist interests

The Goa Tourism Policy 2020 has been framed to offer a uniquely Goan experience to the visitors by presenting a versatile concoction of historic, natural, ethnic, cultural locations and attractions. The new tourism policy has been made to rebrand and remarket Goa, by giving a comprehensive travel experience to tourists with cheaper, reliable, fast and comfortable transport facilities. According to the reports, the new Tourism Policy will shift focus from the popular beaches in Goa to the ignored wilds and eco-tourism. The plan is to remarket Goa to get attention from different tourist groups by way of different cultural, heritage, eco-tourism, nature, coastal and other attractions. By rolling out this initiative, Goa tourism aims to make the state as the most preferred destination by the year 2024. It is expected that Goa Tourism Policy 2020 will be the backbone of all crucial decisions for planning, development and marketing. By opening new tourist spots and adding them to the tourism map, it will also create scope for more employment opportunities for the natives of Goa. Meanwhile, Goa is looking forward to low-key Christmas celebrations this year as the Chief Arch Bishop has asked the locals to keep it subtle due to the ongoing pandemic. However, no official guidelines or notice has been issued to the tourists yet. In other news from Goa, jellyfish swarms have been causing trouble to beachgoers in the state with about 90 cases of jellyfish stings reported recently. Goa Tourism, on its social media, published a helpful post on the same.

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France expresses interest to explore collaboration opportunities in Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir

France expresses interest to explore collaboration opportunities in Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir. This was conveyed by French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain when he called on Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh here on Friday, an official statement said. Singh also discussed with him various potential projects in the northeastern states. The ambassador conveyed to the Union minister the desire of the government of France to explore the avenues and opportunities of collaboration in different sectors in the northeastern states as well as tourism and other potentials in Jammu and Kashmir, the statement said. Lenain recalled the fond memories of his visit to Kashmir valley early this year as part of a group of ambassadors. The minister spelt out different sectors in which, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, collaborative initiatives had been undertaken in the Northeast. In this regard, he referred to the Centre of Excellence Citrus Fruit Park set up in Mizoram with Israeli collaboration and the collaboration of Japan in some of the infrastructure projects. As for the Northeast, Singh said, there were vast areas of unexplored potential which were waiting to be explored. These, he said, include tourism, handicraft, handloom as well as food and fruit sectors. The minister said that the prime minister has not only given special emphasis to the development of the northeastern region but also reoriented "Look East Policy" into “Act-East” policy and taken a number of steps to increase engagement with the countries across the eastern borders. In this regard, he also mentioned the Indo-Bangladesh agreement on the exchange of enclaves, which was finalised with the personal intervention of the prime minister and also his initiative to amend 100-year-old Indian Forest Act to promote bamboo products and their trade, the statement said.

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International Travel: Air India Issues Fresh Directives For UAE-India Travel

Planning a trip? Before you sit down to make your itinerary read on. India’s national carrier Air India in its latest advisory to travel agents has released new directives regarding pre-flight registration of passengers travelling from UAE to India. The airlines have also asked the ticket validity of tourists from India to UAE. As per Khaleej Times, an Air India official shared that passengers are now required to fill out their details on the Air Suvidha portal or the New Delhi airport portal, wherever applicable. Pre-registration documents also include health declaration forms and other formalities of the state the passenger is travelling to prescribes. The official further told the portal that this procedure is followed in order to avoid crowding at the check-in counters ahead of their departure or arrival in India. The official recommended that all passengers must go through the requirements set by the state they wish to travel to well in advance of their departure. Meanwhile, Indians who are planning to visit Dubai on visit or tourist visa or have a desire to obtain a visa on arrival can travel, if they have a valid return ticket. Note that passengers should have a valid return ticket and not a single/conjunction ticket. If you are travelling to, from, and through Dubai then keep these guidelines handy. -Tourists must take two COVID‑19 PCR tests: one before departure with a validity of 96 hours from the date of the test, and a second test upon arrival in Dubai. – The certificate must be for a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. Other test certificates including antibody tests and home testing kits are not accepted in Dubai. – You must bring an official, printed certificate in English or Arabic to check-in – SMS and digital certificates are not accepted. – Children under the age of 12 and passengers who have a moderate or severe disability are exempt from this test.

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Goa: Hotels to have mandatory isolation rooms; new SOP to be issued soon

Tourists visiting Goa might soon find an isolation room in the hotels. Goa Health Minister has announced that they are in the process of issuing new SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for hotels, as all restrictions have been relaxed for tourists visiting the state. Referring to this, the Health Minister added, “We are in the process of issuing guidelines for hotels, which will make it mandatory for them to reserve one room as an isolation room on their property.” According to him, this will ensure all patients, whether with mild or critical symptoms, get oxygen on a timely basis. He further added that anyone who tests positive for Coronavirus, but is asymptotic, can be put in the isolation room in the hotel premises. While speaking to the media, the Minister also added that the coastal area will not be sealed for tourists. The Minister mentioned that constant monitoring of patients in home isolation has helped to bring down the COVID-19 mortality rate in the state. He also added that they don’t get patients in a breathless stage any more, as they have been monitoring their health in home isolation. Elaborating more on this, he added that anaesthesia technicians are being trained, who will be monitoring oxygen supply to patients either in the ward or remotely. The Minister assured that no preferential treatment would be given to anyone, and that hospital beds will be available for all patients in need. Nodal officers at COVID-19 hospitals will have the final authority on discharging patients. Reportedly, the government has notified District Hospital, GMCH, and ESI Hospital, both in Margao and the Sub-District hospital at Ponda, as COVID-19 treatment facilities

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IndiGo Resumes 650+ Weekly Flights To Uttar Pradesh

IndiGo is currently operating more than 650 weekly flights including the RCS routes to and from the cities of Lucknow, Varanasi, Prayagraj and Gorakhpur in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The airline witnessed highest air travel demand from Lucknow which is directly connected to 13 domestic destinations including new direct flights to Indore & Raipur. In addition, IndiGo also operated approximately 300 Vande Bharat and Air Bubble flights Connecting Uttar Pradesh with Dubai, Doha, Sharjah, Jeddah, Kuwait, Dammam, Riyadh & Abu Dhabi. Sanjay Kumar, Chief Revenue and Strategy Officer, IndiGo said, “Uttar Pradesh being the largest state in the country has a huge potential for revival of air travel. We have witnessed moderate air travel demand and are optimistic that there will be more people travelling to meet their families after many months of being home bound. Being the safest mode of travel, flying has become the leading choice for people travelling across segments including migrant labour, especially with limited rail and bus operations. This trend is being further fuelled by affordable fares, ease in government restrictions and lesser travel time onboard our lean, clean flying machines”. Currently, IndiGo connects Varanasi to 7 domestic destinations including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad & Chennai. The airline operates direct flights to 7 domestic destinations which includes Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Kolkata, Gorakhpur & Raipur from Prayagraj (Allahabad). IndiGo connects Gorakhpur to 5 domestic destinations which includes Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad, Prayagraj, with Mumbai being a new route.

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