General Awareness

TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS - December 2018

Dec 2018

Jan 28, 2019

Marriott Eyes Over 10% in Raheja's Chalet Hotels

Marriott International, the world's largest lodging company, is considering buying a significant minority stake in Chandru L Raheja's hotels business.
Marriott plans to acquire at least 10% in Chalet Hotels, which owns high-end properties in India — including the JW Marriott Mumbai and the Bengaluru Marriott — for about Rs 574 crore. Besides Chalet Hotels, Raheja owns Shoppers Stop, in which Jeff Bezos's Amazon has an investment, and Inorbit Mall.
Marriott's move to buy a slice of Chalet Hotels indicates the Nasdaq-listed, $22-billion chain's big bet on the Indian market where it operates 100 properties.
After the US and China, India is the third country where Marriott has a hospitality portfolio running into three digits.

Jan 25, 2019

DNA Tourism is the Next Big Travel Trend

Booking.com, one of the largest accommodations booking sites, surveyed 21,500 travelers this summer about their dream trips, and 40% reported that they wanted to take or had actually taken a trip based on the results of home DNA tests.
The growing number of travelers who take a heritage trip, as they are called, or at least consider one, based on results from at home DNA tests. They are available through companies and typically entail a saliva sample or cheek swab; the results arrive via email or mail within three to six weeks.

Jan 16, 2019

Rashid Al-Habtoor plans to acquire Leela Hotels

Emirati business tycoon Rashid Al-Habtoor plans to acquire the Leela Group of Hotels in India with an equity infusion of about $600 million (about Rs 4,200 crore) and has made an offer in a letter to finance minister Arun Jaitley and the hotel.
Al-Habtoor, who is also a leading polo sports icon of the Gulf region, has offered to make the investment in Hotel Leelaventure through the FDI route and pay the entire debt of the lender institutions as well as the asset reconstruction company that might be approximately $600 million, including the open offer to the public for acquisition of their shares under Sebi norms.

Jan 13, 2019

World's Largest Oil Paintings To Adorn Victoria Memorial

Kolkata's iconic Victoria Memorial is scheduled to undergo a complete makeover by January-end and put on display after at least two decades "The Jaipur Procession", believed to be one of the largest oil paintings in the world.
The 23-ft wide by 16.5-ft high masterpiece by Russian painter Vasily Vereshchagin shows richly caparisoned elephants advancing majestically with horses and footmen in a procession in front of the Amber Chowpar in Jaipur in 1876.
The Prince of Wales and Maharaja Ram Singh of Jaipur are seated on the first elephant. Done during the British Raj, the painting was originally the property of Edward Malley of New Haven in the US.
It was acquired by the Maharaja of Jaipur and presented to the Victoria Memorial in 1905.
The painting has been described as the largest in oils in India and, probably, the second largest in this medium in the world.
This will be on display again in the Royal Gallery of the Museum after more than two decades.
The made-over Memorial is likely to be inaugurated in the last week of this month. Work on its modernisation was taken up under a Rs.60-crore renovation project funded by the Union ministry of culture.
Built between 1906 and 1921, the Memorial is billed as one of India's most popular tourist destinations.
It drew around 3.8 million tourists in 2018. It has 25 galleries and display areas, including the Royal Gallery, Portrait Gallery, Durbar Hall and the Calcutta Gallery.
In an effort to increase footfalls, the Memorial's timings will be extended by two hours to 8 pm on the weekends from January 20.
Apart from "The Jaipur Procession", another 18 ft x 12 ft oil painting titled "Delhi Durbar" will be on display.
The painting shows Viceroy Lord Curzon seated on an elephant and leading the ceremonial procession of the second Delhi Durbar, past the Jama Masjid in 1903.

Jan 12, 2019

Tourism Project Mooted for Sirmaur

In a bid to promote rural tourism, a Rs 10.46-crore project, being funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has been mooted for Sirmaur district.
Deputy Commissioner Sirmaur, Lalit Jain, said places like Haripurdhar, Nohradhar, Churdhar and Rajgarh-Habban in the district would be developed from the tourism point of view.
A team of ADB officials has already inspected the proposed sites where tourism promotion activities have been planned.
The amount would be spent on constructing a path from the picturesque Nohradhar to Churdhar peaks, facilities like a cultural platform, parking spaces, toilets, etc. in the Bhagyani Temple complex in Haripur, constructing an approach road to a historic fort at Haripur, beautification of the coveted Shirgul temple, developing an artificial lake on Giri river near Karganu, setting up a cafeteria, water sports and landscaping of the area, developing a new site for paragliding, etc.

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