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40 tourism projs get approval to boost lesser-known destinations in India

Forty projects worth over Rs 3,295 crore and spanning 23 states have received nod from the Centre for developing lesser-known destinations into iconic sites and promote a more balanced distribution of tourists across the country. As per the directives of the Department of Expenditure, the Ministry of Tourism issued operational guidelines for Special Assistance to States/Union Territories for Capital Investment (SASCI) for the development of iconic tourist centres, officials said. The Ministry of Tourism circulated the SASCI guidelines to the state governments with a request to formulate and submit the project proposals to the ministry, which are iconic in nature and can create impactful destinations, they said. By the last date of submission, October 15, 2024, a total of 87 project proposals were received costing more than Rs 8,000 crore, a senior official in the ministry said. Thereafter, the Ministry of Tourism in line with the guidelines and as per the procedure or criteria, shortlisted 40 projects across 23 states for Rs 3295.76 crore which have now been sanctioned by the Department of Expenditure, the official said.

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Bihar will soon get its second tiger reserve in Kaimur district

Good news for tiger lovers! Bihar is all set to get a second tiger reserve in Kaimur district. For those who don’t know, Bihar already has Valmiki Tiger Reserve (VTR) in West Champaran. The project has already got approval from the central government. The Bihar government has also proposed to develop the Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary (KWLS) into a tiger reserve. The news was confirmed by the state’s Forest, Environment and Climate Change Minister, Prem Kumar. The minister said, “For the conservation of tigers, a proposal to make Kaimur forests — Bihar’s largest wildlife sanctuary — a tiger reserve is in the final stage. After VTR in West Champaran, Bihar will soon get its second tiger reserve in Kaimur district. Apart from tigers, there are several other wild animals in Kaimur forests, which also hosts migratory birds.” Another prime reason is also the growing population of tigers at VTR, which is going beyond its capacity. State officials have announced that these tigers will be relocated to the upcoming Kaimur Tiger Reserve, ensuring effective management and an eco-friendly environment in both reserves. As of now, VTR has 54 tigers. The park has surpassed its capacity of 45. In 2022, the Status of Tigers Report, prepared by the NTCA and the Wildlife Institute of India, showed the growth in VTR’s tiger population, which was recorded at just 31 in 2018.

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Akasa Air announces daily flights between Abu Dhabi, Bengaluru, & Ahmedabad starting March 2025

Akasa Air announced on Thursday the launch of daily direct flights connecting Abu Dhabi with Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, starting from March 1 and 2, 2025 in a press release. The daily flights from Abu Dhabi to Bengaluru (Flight QP 578) will depart at 10:00 am and arrive in Abu Dhabi at 12:35 pm. On the return leg, Flight QP 577 will depart Abu Dhabi at 3:00 am and arrive in Bengaluru at 8:45 am. Both flights will are non-stop, will operate daily and are set to fly from March 1 and March 2, respectively. In addition, Akasa Air will introduce direct and daily flights between Ahmedabad and Abu Dhabi from March 1, 2025. Flight QP 580 from Ahmedabad will depart at 10:45 pm and arrive in Abu Dhabi at 1:00 am the next day, while Flight QP 579 will depart Abu Dhabi at 2:50 pm and arrive in Ahmedabad at 7:25 pm. Bookings for these flights are now open on the Akasa Air website, through the airline’s mobile apps, and on multiple leading online travel agencies (OTAs), the company said.

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Air India to increase fleet size by a third to 400 planes by 2027

Tata Sons-owned Air India is aiming to increase the group's fleet capacity by a third to 400 aircraft by 2027, its chief executive Campbell Wilson said on Thursday. In a media roundtable held at its headquarters in Gurugram, Wilson also said aircraft deliveries in 2025 are expected to be slower compared to 2024. The seven-week-long strike at Boeing's manufacturing facilities in the United States is one of the reasons for the slow deliveries, followed by supply chain challenges. Responding to Mint's question, he said, "Boeing strike lasted a while, the 737 production was also slowed through an even longer period than that. That does have an impact on the construction of their aircraft, so the guidance is that it's going to be six months-plus delay to the narrow body deliveries. Every airline is impacted by it and we just have to adjust." He also said that there is a slowdown in deliveries of 50 white tail aircraft that were expected to join Air India's fleet by December 2024. "Out of the total 50 white tail Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, at least 35 have joined the fleet. These planes are being operated by Air India Express. 50 white tail aircraft, all of them were to come by December this year. They will stretch up to June next year and that in itself has a little bit of impact." said Wilson. White tail aircraft are those that were originally manufactured for a particular airline, but were later delivered to another carrier. On 12 November, Air India completed its much-awaited merger with Vistara to create an integrated airline, partly owned by Singapore Airlines, that will be flying 120,000 passengers daily and connect more than 90 destinations. The completion of the amalgamation, which was announced in November 2022, came within six weeks of the integration of Air India Express and AIX Connect.

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Govind Sagar Lake set to become Himachal’s new adventure hotspot

Parasailing activities will commence at Govind Sagar lake in Himachal's Bilaspur district soon and a leading Delhi-based company, currently operating in Tehri, has been invited to conduct trial operations for this project, officials said on Thursday. The district administration has granted all necessary approvals for the project and the company will carry out parasailing activities in the lake for next two months, Deputy Commissioner Bilaspur Aabid Hussain Sadiq said in a statement issued here. The company will bring its parasailing boats to Bilaspur in the first week of December, marking the beginning of the trial phase, he said. During this period, a technical committee of experts will oversee the activities and based on the trial report, the District Regulation Committee will decide on granting permission for permanent operations, the DC said. If the trials are successful, parasailing will permanently be added to the lake's attractions. Formal permits will be issued, and a structured framework for operations will be developed to ensure smooth and safe functioning, the statement said.

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Greenland’s first international airport is open for global travellers

Greenland is opening a new international airport in the capital Nuuk as it expects to double the number of tourists arriving by air over the next year. The 2.2-kilometer (1.4-mile) runway was approved late Wednesday after a series of test flights, paving the way for the airport to formally open on Thursday, the Danish Civil Aviation and Railway Authority said on its website. The airport — the first international gateway into the Greenland capital — is seen as a game changer for local tourism, allowing larger planes to land in the Arctic country. Starting in June 2025, United Airlines Holdings Inc. will open a direct route from Newark, New York to Nuuk, while SAS AB and Icelandair Group hf have announced flights from Copenhagen and Iceland’s biggest airport Keflavik, among other places. Previously, international flights landed further north, in the secluded town of Kangerlussuaq. Passenger traffic is expected to double to over 100,000 from more than 50,000 annually in the first year, Greenland Airport’s Chief Executive Officer Jens Lauridsen told Danish media Finans. In 2023, just under 65,000 tourists arrived to Greenland by air, with about 5,000 of them flying through the capital’s existing small, domestic airport, according to Visit Greenland.

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