Author: Shawon Hannan

The government of Goa has opened its tourism event, India Travel Mart (ITM), in Panaji, Goa. The three-day travel and tourism event is to showcase tourism development and available tourism options in the area. It was inaugurated in Panaji on Friday by chairman of the Goa tourism development corporation (GTDC) Nilesh Cabral. The event is being attended by representatives of various states including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Pondicherry. The minister said that the event would look to provide opportunities for travellers to learn about various tourist destinations in Goa. They would also receive information on tourist packages that…

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) meeting in South Korea is focussing on green tourism in the country. The 90th session of the OECD Tourism Committee and the OECD/APEC Tourism Working Group Forum opened on Monday in North Jeolla Province. Tourism experts from all over the world are attending the function. The meeting was co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and supervised by North Jeolla Province. The theme for the two day event was ‘sustainable and green’ tourism. More than 150 representatives from 40 OECD and…

Europcar, the Europe-based car rental company, has announced a list of the weirdest things that have been left inside its rental vehicles, on completion of a rental. So what are the most common things left in a rental car by its passengers? Well, they can be anything from sunglasses and CDs, to loose change. But as for Europcar’s most weird lost and found article list, here are its favourites in 2012: *     A live mouse in a cage *    Two 6×10 ft oil paintings *    30 plants *    A hedge trimmer The most memorable of them was perhaps an…

Following London hosting the 2012 Paralympic Games for the differently able, new research shows that public places in the UK still have a long way to go in being fully accessible for people with limited mobility. Tourism for All, a UK based non-profit for people with limited mobility, and Adapted Vehicle Hire, a car hire company for people with special accessibility requirements, recently conducted a survey of disabled travellers. The research has pointed out that around 9 out of 10 respondents feel restricted from travelling due to unavailability of accessible options. Although 92% of the people surveyed reported that accessibility…

Network Rail, which operates a railway network in the UK, has contracted Osborne, a construction company, to install a signalling system for the western section of Crossrail, a new network of railway tracks in the UK. Osborne will be providing for around £7m worth of signalling system, to be installed on a 17-mile section from West Drayton to Maidenhead. The contract includes planning and building of infrastructure for the new signalling works, including concrete bases for signalling gear and buildings; regeneration of concrete cable troughs; and other work such as site clearance, fencing, steps, guardrails and safety barriers. Jorge Mendonca,…

In order to focus international attention on the tourism potential of Haiti, the local administration has announced the launch of a tourism week. The nation launched its tourism week on Sunday, aimed at helping the nation synchronise its activities as part of a series of activities to mark the World Tourism Organization’s (WTO) World Tourism Day on September 27. The state said that the celebration would run for a week under the theme, ‘Tourism and Sustainable Energy: Propelling Sustainable Development.’ The message is similar to the WTO’s global theme for this year. The tourism department in Haiti has said that…

The state government of Uttar Pradesh in India is planning for a big tourism investment in Mathura. The government has announced a plan to invest INR500m for developing Mathura, which is a religious hot spot for Hindus in the nation and outside. With the increase in the influx of tourists into Mathura, cleanliness has taken a big hit and the local administration has been woefully inadequate in coping with the increase in numbers. Now, the government of the state has taken the initiative to clean up the city, which draws many tourists from around the world. There are also plans…

Estonian Air, an airline from Estonia, is offering a new service from London City Airport in the UK, to Tallinn, Estonia. The new thrice weekly service commences from March 1, 2013, with services expanded to six times a week from June 1, 2013. The service will be operated with a new 112-seater Embraer E190 aircraft. Tero Taskila, the chief executive officer of Estonian Air, said, ‘London has been an important destination of the Estonian Air’s network and we wanted to improve the current schedule with two weekly flights with more frequent one. The start is tied to the delivery of…

Brittany Ferries, a ferry service between the UK, France, Ireland and Spain, has announced a suspension of its services from Portsmouth and Plymouth in the UK, to France and Spain, due to a series of industrial actions. The beleaguered company is currently only offering its Poole to Cherbourg passenger service, which is being operated by Condor Ferries. The strikes had been called by the France-based workers of the company, following certain cost cutting drives initiated by the company. The company has released a statement saying, ‘Following the series of strikes which has been disrupting our services to and from France…

Birmingham Airport operations are back to normal after an aircraft skidded off the runway on September 21, 2012. The Monarch Airlines aircraft, ZB467, from Nice veered off the runaway on Friday and came to a halt with all of its 135 passengers and crew unharmed, while taxiing to the terminal. The airport was closed straight away after the incident, initially for emergency services offered to the affected crew and passengers onboard the Boeing 737-300, but later was opened to regular passengers. The airport statement said, ‘Passengers left the aircraft by the steps; no one was hurt. The airport is open…