It’s difficult to coordinate your vacations when you’re busy professionals. So, at the start of the year you look at the holiday list and mark the ‘long weekends’ promising yourselves that you’ll take full advantage of those at least. Short ‘n sweet getaways are just what the doc ordered!

The biggest advantage of living and working in Delhi and the NCR (National Capital Region) is that there’re a host of weekend getaways within a few hours’ drive. You could take off in your own car or catch a flight, bus, or train to the destination of your choice. For the desert lovers, there’s Rajasthan to the south-west, for the mountain lovers – the hills and mountains of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal beckon. There’s enough to keep you busy through the year and more!

Well, one such weekend loomed ahead of us with a Monday thrown in for good measure…but the problem was that only one of us had this holiday bonanza. It meant that the other would have to “report sick”. A minor hurdle really. So on April 11 ’08 (a Friday), 10 p.m. Mintu decided that we were going on a trip. But where? Some minutes of net-search later we zeroed in on Rishikesh. A phone call was hastily made to “Ganga Beach Resort” and bookings were done! As simple as that.

Saturday afternoon, 2.30 p.m. saw us taking the Meerut-Haridwar highway. At 4 p.m. we were still at the Delhi border! But thankfully, after crossing the border, it was surprisingly better. Especially the Modi Nagar stretch which can be an absolute nightmarish experience with bullock-carts laden heavily with sugarcane making their leisurely way to the sugar mills. And why we have to have a busy highway right through the town beats me.

We made a brief halt at a pretty resort called ‘Big Bite’ on the Meerut bypass. To my delight and my other half’s dismay there was a bed linen factory showroom right next to the restaurant. The food was so-so but having skipped lunch, anything was welcome at that hour. The toilets were clean which was a boon.

There was quite a bit of highway traffic that day—possibly because everyone was escaping from Delhi like us. Also, work on the highway made the going slow. From Roorkee, we turned towards Haridwar. It must’ve been around 8.45 p.m. when we crossed the bridge near the Shiv Murti and saw the twinkling lights on the ghats of Har-ki-pauri (Brahma Kund) reflected on the swift-flowing waters. That was our first sight of the dark gushing waters of the Ganga. It was a surreal experience.

About 30-35 mins later we entered the town of Rishikesh. We couldn’t make out much in the dark so a few phone calls to our contact person at the resort had to be made and we dutifully followed his directions only to be stopped in our tracks by a baraat (wedding procession). So okay you’re getting married and can’t contain your excitement, but must you hold up the traffic so callously? Finally, we espied the board we’d been looking for. The road through the gates leading to the resort was a narrow one winding its way downhill. We came to a stop near a cluster of buildings and made our way to the reception area. There was a cool, gentle wind blowing from the river and in the moonlight we could see the silhouette of hills on the other side.

We were ushered into a room on the third floor. The resort has no lifts (elevators). One has to walk up brightly decorated steps to one’s room or cottage. The room was clean and quite spacious but for the rate charged, could have been better. The view, though, was excellent. The green waters of the Ganga making its onward journey to the plains against the backdrop of hills was a treat for city-sore eyes.

A word of warning though. If you’re looking forward to sinking your teeth into juicy non-veg stuff accompanied by a glass of liquor, well then, you may as well take a u-turn and go back home for that entire area is a dry one. But what you get in terms of scenic beauty and spiritual bliss is unbeatable.

Morning saw us drinking in the sights and smells of the place from the verandah as the rays of the sun spread gently through the valley. They touched the water, the vegetation and the early morning bathers on the ghat on the opposite bank.

The resort is, as we discovered in the morning, planned on a slope leading down to the river bank. There are rooms in the main building as well as separate cottages.

A buffet breakfast awaited us and then we were off with our camera exploring the place. A winding path through the cottages, spa, and swimming pool, led down to the river bank. There’s a well-kept garden surprising you with bursts of colour at different levels as you go down the path.

The resort offers (like most hotels in that area) meditation, yoga, and ayurvedic massages for those who want to take it easy. For the more adventurous, there’s river rafting, rapelling, rock climbing, and other such outdoor activities. For these activities, you are taken to Shivpuri at a distance of about 24 km, where all the action is. Even though we’d heard of it from friends who’d been there for camping before, it didn’t prepare us for the fascinating sight from the road above of rows and rows of camps down in the valley. It seemed as if there was a fair down there with brightly coloured tents on the river beaches.

We crossed the bridge at Shivpuri and enquired about rafting trips. We were told that all trips for the day were fully booked but that we could still take a chance. It seemed as if all of Delhi had decided to descend on Shivpuri that weekend! Well, down we went on the rough, muddy track to the river where batches of people were waiting for their turn and taking instructions. We tried our luck but in vain.

So we shelved the experience for another day and decided to spend some time frolicking in the water instead. We watched as rafters zoomed past us shrieking and shouting and generally having a good time on their way to Rishikesh where they would disembark.

On our way back later, we met groups of rafters going back to Shivpuri in SUVs with their rafts secured safely on the roofs.

Since rafting wasn’t possible we decided to drive up to Devprayag without any fixed agenda. If we liked it there, we thought we’d stay the night there somewhere.

Higher and higher we climbed, passing camps on beaches on the way dotting the valley below.

At a place called Teen Dhara, we decided to stop at a local dhaba and savour the local fare on offer. All I’ll say is … we should have stuck to wafers and coke instead! So much for local fare.

On we went towards Devprayag but by this time we noticed that the petrol meter was not looking too encouraging. And we hadn’t passed a single petrol station since we left Rishikesh. We were told that we’d find one in Devprayag but when we did come to it finally, the attendant nonchalantlyly informed us that it was not functioning and we could try our luck at Srinagar (not to be confused with the capital of J&K) which was 35 km away! Not wanting to push our luck any further, we decided to stop at Devprayag (which is situated at the confluence of the rivers Bhagirathi and Alakananda) for a while and admire the merging waters. The colour of the waters of the two rivers is pretty distinct—one green and the other, a muddy brown.

A short while later, it was back on the road again towards Rishikesh in search of petrol. That done, and still undecided about whether to drive back to Delhi or stay another night in the area, it was the road again.

A Ginger hotel just short of the Haridwar bypass decided it for us. Having heard praises about the chain from a friend, we thought we’d give it a try too. Well, more about it in the next entry.

The two sides signed the agreements on cultural cooperation following discussions between Queen Beatrix and Dr. Singh. The first agreement was signed between the Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni and the Netherlands Foreign Minister J.M. Verhagen and the second by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations Director-General, Pavan Verma, and the Chairman of the Stichting Amsterdam-India Festival, Simon Reinink.

The Queen, visiting India after 21 years, also met Vice-President Hamid Ansari and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani. She is accompanied by Prince of Orange Willem-Alexander, his spouse Princess Maxima, Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen, besides a high-level business delegation.

Recently, the Queen met Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, which won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Queen had an interaction with Dr. Pachauri during her visit to the Tata Energy Research Institute.

“The tourism sector in the state is still neglected. We are failing to exploit it. We have identified some new areas including tea tourism in North Bengal which will attract foreign tourists. Plans are also underway to develop eco-tourism in the Sunderbans,” Bhattacharjee said while inaugurating an annual convention of Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI).

The government would develop tea tourism jointly with private companies. Small hotels would be set up in tea gardens where tourists could stay, play golf and visit nearby wildlife sanctuaries, he said.

Referring to development of eco-tourism in Sunderbans - a world heritage site, Bhattacharjee said he had talks with the Centre and UNESCO in this regard. The state government has also appointed an expert agency to promote eco-tourism in the Sunderbans.

The state Chief Minister said his government was trying to improve infrastructure to boost tourism.

“The government should not run hotels and restaurants, but develop infrastructure. The Centre should also work in this direction,” he said.

On FHRAI’s demand for reducing luxury tax, he said he would talk to his “Orthodox” Finance Minister Ashim Dasgupta and take a “balanced view” as tourism creates a lot of job opportunities. “I will try to solve your problems,” he said.

Many hotels are coming up in the metropolis, including one by Indian Hotels, and a Singpore-based company would set up seven hotels in the state.

National tourism organisations from Dubai, Singapore, Thailand, Maldives and Sri Lanka and India participated in the conference, which and highlighted new developments made by them with efforts for networking closely.

Goa had a special slot as a key tourism destination in Asia and the presentation on Goa was made by the managing director, Goa Tourism Development Corporation ltd, Mr Sanjit Rodrigues, which was well received.

India tourism regional director, Mumbai made a presentation on `Incredible India’.

The conference also had a networking session and a travel meet organised. Apart from national tourism organisations of various countries the conference was also attended by the Sri Lankan Holidays and Sri Lankan Airline, partners and franchise operators, travel agents, hoteliers.

The two sides also signed memoranda of understanding on cultural cooperation after deliberations between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Queen Beatrix, who began her four-day State visit here on Thursday.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Ambika Soni and Dutch Foreign Minister M J M Verhagen signed a memorandum of understanding on cultural cooperation.

Another memorandum of understanding on cultural cooperation was signed by Pavan K Varma, Director General of Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Simon Reinink, Chairman of Stichting Amsterdam India Festival.

Earlier, the Queen was accorded a ceremonial reception by President Pratibha Patil at the forecourt of the majestic Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma and Leader of the Opposition L K Advani called on the Queen here.

In her first visit in 21 years, the Queen is accompanied by Prince of Orange William-Alexander and his spouse Princess Maxima, and a high-level business delegation comprising CEOs of eight top companies.

The discussions between Singh and Beatrix also focused on enhancement of ties, especially in the fields of trade and investment.

The two leaders are scheduled to attend a Round Table of CEOs of eight top companies based in The Netherlands with their Indian counterparts.

Source

-The Economic Times

Aroonjit Singh Rosha, senior executive, cleartrip.com said, “Currently, the annual turnover of the online travel sector in India is around $ 295 million. It is growing at over 170 per cent per annum and is expected to reach $2 billion by the end of the year 2008.”

“The growth of the online travel sector is mainly fuelled by the penetration of online travel shops across malls and the supermarkets. Such outlets are better equipped to offer superior services than the traditional offline travel shops,” added Mr Rosha.

“The online travel shops not only enable face-to-face interaction with the customers but also transact travel bookings at competitive rates on a real-time basis,” he said.

“Indian corporate executives now-a-days prefer to avail the facilities offered by the cellular companies to book air tickets, cars, hotels and the holiday packages through online travel companies using short messaging services. This concept is expected to gain immense popularity in future among the corporates as well as leisure travellers in India,” added Mr Rosha.

ezeego1.com senior executive Neelu Singh said, “Currently, the business of online travel sector accounts for two per cent of the Indian travel industry turnover. However, the factors like increasing penetration of internet and the credit cards across the country, and the rise in disposable incomes of the middle class population are boosting the growth of online travel segment of the industry. Also, the online travel business from tier-II and tier-III cities is increasing by over 100 per cent per annum,” said Mr Rosha.

“The various types of travel packages offered by the low cost carriers in India have revolutionised the online travel sector in our country,” Mr Rosha added.

Source

- The Asian Age

With every hospital, however, there is a clear pattern — in terms of the countries from which “patient tourists” hail. The African countries, West Asia and Afghanistan keep blipping up on the radar. Indian expats have begun coming back home to get complex surgeries or procedures done.

“The potential of Chennai is very good as a health tourism hub. The number of patients we are getting has doubled in the last five years. ,” says PVA Mohan Das, managing director of MIOT Hospitals. Chennai’s advantage is its position on the global map and ease of accessibility, besides the presence of many specialists and care centres, offering service at affordable rates. “Our aim is to make Tamil Nadu a global healing destination,” says M. Rajaram, Director of Tourism and managing director of Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation.

The TTDC had identified a voluntary non-profit medical organisation Meditour India as nodal agency for promoting medical tourism in the State, involving medical practitioners, tourism department staff and medical department nominees. A special medical tourism desk has been set up at the TTDC office on Wallajah Road. Tourist guide K. N. Anandhi, who often accompanies foreigners seeking medicare in India, says that with the right kind of impetus from the State Government medical tourism could scale to even greater heights.

Airlines often make special arrangements for medical patients, from assistance in disembarking from aircrafts to arranging for ambulance services at the airport. International airlines such as Emirates have even made arrangements to provide seriously ill patients with oxygen supply during travel. For travel within India, airlines such as Air India offer concessions in fares. For passengers requiring stretcher service, nine seats on the aircraft will be removed to accommodate the patient.

Madras Medical Mission (MMM) gets its overseas patients mainly from Afro-Asian countries through private-public partnership programmes. MMM’s chief executive officer A. John Punnoose said it received patients from Iraq, Nepal, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Africa and Afghanistan. The hospital has a tie-up with either the health ministries of respective countries or social organisations that route the patients to Chennai.

While patients come in shopping for all kinds of treatments, renal failure, and cardiac, orthopaedic, fertility, and paediatric problems are some of the more sought-after interventions.

However, no such list can be exhaustive, considering the wide range of complaints people come to Chennai seeking treatment for and the rapid advancements in technology.

Madras ENT Research Foundation managing director Mohan Kameswaran said patients from Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, Kenya, East Africa and Europe came for specialised surgeries such as cochlear implants and tracheal stenosis, apart from routine surgeries and treatment for voice disorders.

Chennai’s Apollo Hospitals receives about 20,000 international patients every year, of which over 2,000 come as medical tourists. International patients are referred by doctors in countries such as Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Seychelles and Mauritius. In Guyana Indian referral doctors refer patients to India. The hospital has tied up with over 10 international insurance companies, has third party administrators in some countries and in some others it has set up office too.

It has also tied up with SOS International and Emergency Assistance, Japan, to airlift sick patients and bring them to India for treatment. In countries such as Oman and Mauritius, Apollo has tied up with the Health Ministries. Medical tourists come for elective surgeries. Birmingham hip resurfacing surgery is the preferred treatment in countries such as the U.K., the U.S. and Canada. Patients who have been suggested hip replacement surgery seek Chennai for resurfacing surgery, said Jithu Jose, Manager, International Patient Services at Apollo Hospitals. Chennai Medical Tourism, a fledgling division of Chennai Marketing Services, networks with doctors more than hospitals.

R. Sathish, the division’s manager, said, “Some Sri Lankan patients cannot afford the high-end hospitals. A doctor, who may also consult at a smaller hospital, will treat them there.”

After treatment, the families of patients usually take a break. City tours and Puducherry or Mahabalipuram trips are popular.

Some patients have even started combining business trips with treatment.

Recently, a Japanese patient, who was on a work-related trip to Chennai, opted for kidney dialysis, said a medical tourism agent.
Source :
-The Hindu

Most tourism boards are going aggressive to promote their destinations to tap the growing trend of Indians showing interests in Australia. Heena Munshaw, managing director, Beacon Holidays, remarked, “Australia doesn’t come with a baggage of history and hence, is preferred as a destination for tourists. It is increasingly becoming popular amongst family and honeymooners.” Similarly, various tourism products from Tourism Tasmania and Tourism Queensland are targeting family, honeymoon and incentives with natural beauty, world heritage sites, beaches and MICE.

Supriya Correa, marketing manager (India), Tourism Queensland, said, “Destinations could be packaged differently to suit the needs of various groups. We are informing Indian agents to sell the destinations with different approach to leisure, FITs, honeymoon or family.” Sudhir Warrier, executive chairman, Sydney Showboats & Majestic Cruises, has seen a lot more honeymooners and family arriving to Sydney and to his showboats.

On the other hand, Rochelle Gomes, project manager (global), Palazzo Versace, added, “Being the only fashion hotel brand in the world, Palazzo Versace resort attracts FITs, incentives and honeymooners with an experience of a lifetime. We have even incorporated lots of Indian cuisine like the distinguished Jain food owing to increased number of Indians. The hotel is also experiencing longer stays by guests.”