Misc

Snippets

MTDC to introduce houseboats

The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) will introduce houseboats for tourists by this October. These 80-feet long plush and eco-friendly houseboats will be launched at selected locations of Tarkarli-Nerur Par and Aronda Creek. They will be centrally air-conditioned with luxuriously furnished bedroom, living room, dining area and kitchen. The cost for the same would be on the lines of a three-star hotel and will include all meals.

Hong Kong to host PATA Travel Mart

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has announced that Hong Kong has been chosen as the host city for the 2006 Pacific Asia Travel Association Travel Mart to be held this September. Hong Kong's selection follows a successful bid process involving the HKTB, in which 41 country/destination members of the association were invited to participate.

PATA looks to 'new opportunities'

The 55th and final PATA Annual Conference held in Thailand this April has decided to create a new event starting in two years' time. The event that is slated to be shorter, more innovative with greater focus on business will be launched in 2008. The board said that it has taken the long-term view to vote for a more tightly focussed business event that demonstrates its growing role as the convener of high-level discussions on major travel issues globally.

Chhattisgarh to become eco-tourism hub

Chhattisgarh will soon open herbal shops offering medicinal facilities at over 35 tourist sites and rest houses in a bid to become a hub of eco-tourism. Tourism minister Brijmohan Agrawal said that the state would set up a 25-acre herbal and medicinal park in Kurud area of Dhamtari district near Raipur to supply products to these herbal shops. He added that the government was focusing on creating world-class infrastructure facilities in and around tourist sites and that private firms have flooded the government with proposals to bring in over Rs 400 billion in the tourism sector.

WTTC India Initiative's annual retreat slated for September

The World Travel and Tourism Council's India Initiative is scheduled to have its annual retreat in September this year. The tentative venue of the meet is Udaipur. The WTTC president, Jean Claude Baumgarten, who was recently on a visit to India, opined that India needed to improve its infrastructure in order to compete with other potential destinations.

ITH profit for 2005-06 up 53%

International Travel House has reported a turnover of Rs 490.33 crore during the year compared with Rs 400.85 in 2004-05, an increase of 22.3 per cent. Its profit after tax came to Rs 7 crore against Rs 4.58 crore in the previous year, showing a growth of 52.83 per cent. It is opening one-stop holiday boutiques at all its offices. It opened two new offices in Mumbai and Bangalore and one additional office in Gurgaon during 2005-06.