News

China’s Henan province promotes destinations to Nepali tourists.

China’s Henan province, also known as the birthplace of Shaolin Kung Fu, has presented itself as an attractive tourism destination for Nepali travellers here.Song Liping, chief of Henan provincial department of culture and tourism highlighted the province as the birthplace of Chinese civilization, with five world heritage sites and many relics related to China’s ancient capital. Connectivity in Henan is also great. Many tourism sites could be reached through high-speed railway in a short period of time, she said. Henan is willing to collaborate with the Nepali tourism authorities on promoting tourism to each other as Henan’s over 100 million population is a major tourism source market too, she noted. On the occasion, Nandani Lahe Thapa, senior director at Nepal Tourism Board, the main tourism promotion body of Nepal, said that there was great potential for Nepalis visiting Henan as increasing number of Nepalis visiting abroad as their incomes are rising. She also sought support from the Chinese side as Nepal has been organizing visit Nepal Year 2020 when the Himalayan country aims to attract two million foreign tourists. China has been a second-largest source market for the last several years for Nepal’s tourism.

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Queenstown’s new theme park will attract 3 million tourists each year.

The theme park developers have converted an old underground aquarium into a virtual time machine named “Timetripper”, telling the story of how New Zealand and in particular Queenstown came to be. With this the authorities expect that the newest addition will attract more than 3 million tourists each year. With fossils millions of years old being found in the Otago region, it won’t be too far-fetched to tell that story. This new “Time Machine” will generate more tourism revenue to the state also. Ian Taylor and his animation team are the ones behind it, transforming history into a brand new video experience. Animation Research Limited, lead by Mr Taylor, have helped create the virtual time machine beneath the lakeside jetty in the town’s underwater observatory. The new attraction will service around three million visitors who make their way to Queenstown each year. Māori history, the formation of Lake Wakatipu and some unusual creatures, are all part of the new attraction bringing a different kind of thrill to the tourist hot spot.

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Dubai to welcome 5 million tourists during Christmas & New Year.

Dubai, one of the tourist destinations in Middle East, is expected to welcome more than five million tourists during the peak holiday period of the Christmas and New Year. Dubai will host Expo 2020, an international event ready to attract people from all over the world. Expo 2020 Dubai is the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East. Dubai is rich in tourism and entertainment options, receives millions of tourists annually. Dubai also boasts a variety of hotel options that are suitable for all budgets and provide comfort and entertainment. Dubai is a cosmopolitan city with an architecture that combines modernity and originality. It also has an attractive view of the Arabian Desert and many unique landmarks, and it hosts some of the largest and most unique tourism projects in the world, such as the largest dancing fountain and the tallest building in the world, the 163-floor Burj Khalifa. It also has the largest artificial archipelago, the tree-shaped Palm Jumeirah, as well as water parks and numerous and diverse shopping malls. In addition, Dubai will host Expo 2020 Dubai next year. The Emirate of Dubai embraces many historic treasures, museums and heritage areas, including the Grand Jumeirah Mosque, the Dubai Museum, traditional markets and Al Seef on Dubai Creek. Dubai also has many prominent projects under construction, which, upon completion, will add to its list of attractions, including the site for Expo 2020 Dubai and the Museum of the Future, which is a unique incubator for exploring the future of science, technology and innovation with a unique concept, by employing Arabic calligraphy.

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Tamil Nadu retains its numero uno position in terms of tourist arrivals for the fifth time.

While inaugurating the 46th Indian Tourism and Trade exhibition at Island Grounds, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami stated that Tamil Nadu for the fifth consecutive year retained its numero uno position in terms of tourist arrivals. He also claimed that Tamil Nadu had the highest tourist arrival from the year 2014 to 2017. And in 201839 crore domestic and 61 lakh foreign tourists visited Tamil Nadu. In fact, the number of tourists to Mamallapuram, which is a UNESCO heritage site, has increased after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held an informal summit there. The Chief Minister further stated that Tamil Nadu has also identified new tourist places, and developmental works have been started in those spots. Various initiatives have been introduced to create job opportunities, he added. He stated that the state has allotted INR 99.91 crore for development of coastal tourism places by building basic amenities like toilets and drinking water facilities. Referring to this development, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said that temple tourism was also a reason to attract more tourists in the state. The Chief Minister further added that the said 70-day fair will be helpful for people to know more about the state government’s schemes. The departments will be showcasing their services in the said fair, whereas visitors will be able to take part in entertainment activities and amusement rides too.

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Indian tourism board puts up signages in Mandarin to lure Chinese tourists.

Signages in Chinese language have cropped up at the Qutub Minar’’s Iron Pillar and five other tourist sites in Uttar Pradesh under the Tourism Ministry’s plan to attract more tourists from the neighbouring country. The five sites in Uttar Pradesh which have got sign boards in Mandarin include archaeological remains in Sarnath, Chaukhandi Stupa, Mahaparinirvana Temple in Kushinagar, Piprahwa and Sravasti which are visited by tourists from China because of their importance for Buddhists. The ministry has also taken a decision to put up signages in other foreign languages at major destinations as part of a plan to attract 20 million foreign tourists by 2020, officials said. Under the plan, the ministry has installed sign boards in Sinhalese, the language spoken by a majority of Sri Lankans, at the Sanchi Stupa in Madhya Pradesh, they said. The sign boards in Sinhalese have been put up after a survey indicated that over 30 lakh Sri Lankans visit the site annually. They are followed by about three lakh tourists from South Korea, the officials said. While 50 lakh Chinese tourists travel globally, India”s share currently is only 3.5 lakh per annum. The other sites which will be covered to include sign boards in Mandarin, a major language spoken in China, are Nalanda, Rajgir, Vaishali, Kesharia, Vikramshila, Kidhinagar, Kapilavastu, Bhashut and Satdhara. While Chinese tourists are the top priority, the ministry is also planning to put up sign boards in Sinhalese, Japanese and Korean at places like Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh and Bodh Gaya in Bihar.

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Christmas special: Him Darshan Express to be introduced on Kalka-Shimla track.

This Christmas, new Him Darshan Express will be launched that will run from Kalka Railway Station to Shimla. Latest reports suggest that this train will be chugging on the tracks for the next one year till December 24, 2020. This train will have seven coaches, including one first-class sitting cum luggage room coach (FCZLR) and six first-class AC vistadome coaches. Each vistadome coach will have the capacity to accommodate 15 persons, whereas the first-class coach will have a seating capacity of 14 passengers. This will be the first-ever train by the Indian Railways having all vistadome coaches that will run on a regular basis, that too on the concept of individual seat charter services via Passenger Reservation System (PRS) and various other online modes. Reportedly, fare for a single passenger will be INR 630 every single journey, and that is irrespective of age and boarding/de-boarding station of the passengers. While the train will start its journey at 7 AM from Kalka station, it will reach Shimla at 12:55 PM. Likewise, the train will depart at 3:50 PM from Shimla and reach Kalka at 9:15 PM. The Him Darshan Express will stop at Barog station en-route during both the journeys. Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Gurinder Mohan Singh said that the initiative was taken to woo more tourists. Also, as per sources, seats in all coaches will be adjustable (reversible), which will enhance the overall sight-seeing experience from inside the train. The coaches have been modernised in terms of lavatory provision, which is adequately equipped with enhanced features.

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