Mexico was selected to be the official host country for World Tourism Day (WTD) 2014 and Burkina Faso for WTD 2015. The respective themes will be “Tourism and Community Development” for 2014, and “One billion tourists, one billion opportunities” for 2015. The announcement was made at the 20th UNWTO General Assembly (Victoria Falls, August 29). Celebrated annually on September 27, World Tourism Day is the biggest international event in tourism. Its purpose is to foster awareness among the global community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic value. The event seeks to address the global challenges outlined in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and highlight the tourism sector´s contribution to achieving these goals. WTD 2...
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Upendra Swami
Nothing engages me better than just travelling and photographing. Both are my first loves. Also love trekking, biking and anything that has a bit of adventure mixed into it. Successfully tried bungy jumping and rafting. Experienced an eight day solo high-altitude biking expedition and equally enjoyed a F1 track drive in a pilot car at sepang circuit. Nature pulls me- from snow capped mountains to deep seas... Alas! Still looking for a profession that lets me do just that. By the way... love humans as well!!
Reunion Island was voted "the world's most beautiful island" by the community travel website wayn.com. Reunion Island came ahead of the Seychelles, Bali, Hawaii, Ibiza, the Bahamas, and Zanzibar with 13,975 votes. Sometimes described as a “mini Hawaii,” Reunion Island is located in the Indian Ocean. Although it is not as well-known as some of its neighbors, including the Seychelles and Madagascar, it is a truly stunning and undiscovered gem. Reunion boasts one thousand kilometers of hiking trails, with an astonishing variety of landscapes for such a small island. If nature and adventure activities are your favorite things, then Reunion has it covered! Reunion island proposes an infinite variety of landscapes on 2500km² : white sand beaches, sun, sea and lagoon, wonderfu...
Read MoreAll-New Themed Area Allows Guests to Enter the World of The Simpsons Like Never Before WOO-HOO! Simpsons fans, rejoice! The world’s first Simpsons themed environment is now open at Universal Orlando Resort. Springfield – the expansive, new area in Universal Studios Florida – invites guests to step inside the hometown of America’s favourite animated family, The Simpsons, like never before. For the first time ever, guests can enter downtown Springfield and visit the places that helped the town stake its claim as “Shelbyville by the Sea.” Anchored by the mega-attraction, The Simpsons Ride, the newly-themed area includes iconic eateries and knick-knack nooks from the hit animated series, The Simpsons, and an all-new outdoor attraction based on the show’s “evil” alien duo, Kang &
Read MoreExplore above and below ground with this unique adrenalin-fuelled break in Snowdonia National Park in Wales including 3 nights’ luxury accommodation with Snowdonia Shepherds’ Huts, as well as a Tree Top Adventure one day and underground exploration the next. Go back to the warmth and comfort of your shepherds’ huts after a thrilling day and soothe your body and your nerves in their wood-burning sauna, ready for more adventure the next day. On your first day you’ll take an underground journey through the mountain with an experienced guide from Go Below Underground Adventures. As you explore the awe inspiring environment of an abandoned mine you’ll encounter forgotten deep blue lakes, lofty caverns and ancient mining machinery lying abandoned in the darkness. You'll cross zip lines and t
Read MoreGue is a high altitude village in Spiti Valley on the way to Kaza. The small sleepy, indiscreet village at an altitude of almost 3000 metres houses India's only known mummy preserved naturally. Village is located deep in the valley. Just three kilometres ahead of Sumdoh towards Tabo is a diversion towards Gue. Village is another 20 kilometres from there. Mummy is housed in a temple on a small hilltop at the end of the village. Temple normally remains locked and one has to search for the keys at the neighbourhood, down in the village. There is a big temple under construction close to current temple. Not much is known about the origin or identity of the mummy. No literature, just stories from the local villagers and hearsay. The mummy has been supposedly identified as that of monk Sangha...
Read Moreकश्मीर में श्रीनगर, गुलमर्ग, सोनमर्ग व पहलगाम से आगे भी बहुत कुछ है। दरअसल कश्मीर में आप जिस ओर निकल जाएं, खूबसूरत वादियां पसरी पड़ी हैं, सब एक से बढ़कर एक। इनमें से बहुत कम से ही हम वाकिफ हैं। इस बार कश्मीर जाएं तो ऐसी ही किसी नई वादी में जाएं, जो अब तक देखी न हो। इन्हीं में से एक यूसमर्ग की सैर... कश्मीर के लोग एक बड़ी मजेदार बात कहते हैं। कहने को श्रीनगर पहाड़ है और जम्मू मैदान, लेकिन जम्मू शहर पहाड़ी पर बसा है और जम्मू से सड़क के रास्ते श्रीनगर आएं तो पूरा रास्ता पहाड़ी है। जैसे ही काजीगुंड के बाद श्रीनगर की ओर बढ़ते हैं तो सत्तर किलोमीटर का आगे का पूरा रास्ता सपाट है, मानो आप मैदान में सरपट रेस लगा रहे हों। यही हाल श्रीनगर से आप कहीं भी जाएं तो मिलेगा। श्रीनगर से पहलगाम तक मैदान ही मैदान है। गुलमर्ग के रास्ते में तनमर्ग तक सपाट मैदान है। कश्मीर की खूबसूरती ही इतनी ऊंचाई पर
Read MoreAt least 33 people were believed killed and 16 injured when a bus carrying tourists plunged into a deep ravine near the popular Genting Highlands resort in Malaysia on Wednesday, 21st August 2013. The nationalities of the victims could not immediately be ascertained though media reports said most of the passengers were Malaysians and some were believed to be from the Middle East. The accident occurred on a steep and winding road when the bus carrying 49 passengers was going from Genting Highlands to Kuala Lumpur. The injured were taken to nearby hospitals. Genting Highlands, about an hour's drive out of Kuala Lumpur, has a sprawling hotel, amusement park and a casino. It is a popular destination for almost all tourists visiting Malaysia.
Read MoreCraftspeople and crafts organisations from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Afghanistan will come together with their Indian counterparts to showcase their techniques and products at Dastkar South Asian Bazaar. The bazaar, to be held in association with Delhi Tourism, will offer an insight into the cultural heritage of the region, and showcase common, shared traditions that the nations have in weaving, block printing, leather, metal work, wood carving, crafting and terracotta products. The bazaar will expose visitors to the craft of Pakistani 'ajrakh' block printing, which finds matching echoes in leather craftsmen from Rajasthan and Kutch. Phulkari from Punjab will be juxtaposed with works from Sindh and Afghanistan, and Shibori tie-dye and indigo dyeing from Bangladesh will vie wi
Read MoreRailways information site RailYatri has launched its crowd sourcing technology aimed at making rail travel safe and efficient. RailWisdom is a unique platform that collects the experiences of train travelers and collates it according to trains and stations to help people get accurate information about their routes and destinations. Perhaps, there is no other medium of transport that brings forth the diversities of this vast nation as trains and with 22 million travelers everyday, it is one of the largest public transports in the world. Through RailWisdom attempt is to bring all information related to trains and stations under one roof in order to ensure that passengers can get accurate do's and don’ts about their travel destinations and the trains they are boarding. So far, information
Read MoreGoa needs more high-end hotel rooms to hope for big-ticket tourists, says a draft investment policy prepared by a government-appointed task force that says the state can position itself as a health and wellness tourism destnation. It has also outlined the importance of medical tourism in taking forward Goa's story. The government targets granting permissions to starred hotels, across categories, to a cumulative additional capacity of around 8,000 beds in the next five years. The report also says that attracting high-end visitors will also mean creation of infrastructure and facilities which in turn will provide gainful employment for the state's youth. The current disparity in the proportion of low-end to high-end hotels will be made up by encouraging more boutique and luxury hotels in
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