India Tour – The Land of Temples

Broadly speaking, the temples of India can be divided into time-wise, region-wise, and deity-wise like ancient temples, medieval temples and modern temples; north-India temples, south India temples, central India temples, east India temples, northeast India temples; Hindu temples, Sikh temples, Jain temples, Ganapati temples, Shiva temples, Krishna temples, Hanuman temples, Durga temples, Vishnu temples, Brahma temples etc. Some of the famous temples of India with marvelous architecture are Birla Mandir, Bodhi Temple, Chattarpur Mandir, Dilwara Temple, Dwarkadhish Temple, Golden Temple, Jagannath Temple, Jwalamukhi Temple, Kailash Temple, Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Khajuraho Temples, Lakshmi Narayan Temple, Maha Bodhi Temple, Lingaraja Temple, Lotus Temple, Mukteswara Temple, Somnath Temple and Sun Temple – Konark. 

India Tours – Land of All Religions

Since the time immemorial, the land of India is regarded as the land of spiritualism marked by the evolution of different mythological literatures in the form of the Vedas, the Puranas, the Granthas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Yugas and the Bhagavatham are set in different periods of time in Hindu mythology. Presently, the cities of India like Varanasi, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Vaishno Devi, Amritsar, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Bodhgaya, Nalanda, Madurai, Puri, Rajgir, Sarnath, Tirupati, Allahabad, Ayodhya, Deoghar,  Dharmashala, Dwarka, Kalahasti, Kanchipuram, Kollur, Mathura, Nashik, Rameswaram, Sabarimala, Somnath, Sringeri, Srirangam, Swamithope,  Tirumala-Tirupati, Ujjain, Virpur and Vrindavana are living examples of all the Indian mythologies mentioned above and renowned for pilgrimage tourism of India. During the course of time, many other religions came into existence when Indian society in particular and world society in general were on their way of perfection. It was Islam which was entirely different and unique to the Indian society professed the concept of universal brotherhood and equality when the society was crept with inequality. However, all other religions like Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism emerged as offshoots of Hinduism. Today, secular India boasts other religions like Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Wahabism with the second largest population of Muslims in the world after Indonesia!

India Tours - A Land of Ever Charming

The land of India is fascinating and bewitching the heart of the secernating traveler for its World Heritage Sites as well as world heritage monuments and palaces; for its ever charming beach holidays, backwater holidays, various kinds of water sports, adventure activities, hill station tours to Shimla, Manali, Nainital, Darjeeling, Ooty etc., desert tour to Rajasthan, historical tour and culture tour; for its ever-demanding medical tourism, Ayurveda tourism and Yoga tourism; for its Royal Tour by Palace On Wheels or Deccan Odyssey. All these features of Indian tours and travels symbolize as Incredible India with the largest democracy in the world on the one hand and cultural diversity on the other. Perhaps, this is the main reason India is regarded as the hub of all types of tourism.

Future of Indian Tourism

The report “Indian Tourism Industry Forecast (2007-2011)” gives an overview of the current state of tourism in India, emerging trends as well as future trends in this sector on both the accounts viz inbound and outbound tourism. A detailed picture of the Indian hotel industry, its occupancy rate and room supply by 2011.Key facts and the analysis of the major players (tour operator & hotels) Thomas Cook India Pvt. Ltd., Kuoni India Ltd., Cox & Kings India Ltd., Raj Travels & Tours Ltd., prominent Hotels & Resorts such as Taj Hotels, The Oberoi Group, Hyatt Corporation, ITC Welcomgroup. The new government efforts  on promoting tourism such tourism policy and various certified schemes have been mentioned here. A list of tables and figures both at  the worldwide level and India level have been presented for further reference and detailed overview of the industry.

BCCL buys stake in Travel Company

BCCL has acquired stake in Culture Holiday (I) Pvt. Ltd, a company owning TravelChaCha.com, a travel portal, which provides end-to-end travel planning services.

Travelchacha.com specializes in offering single-window booking portal to a traveller for all his travel needs, including flights, hotels, cars or tour packages.

The portal provides extensive range of complete tour packages, from a short weekend tour, expansive leisure holidays, hill stations, beaches, pilgrimage, honeymoon and historical tours within India or abroad with the best rates in the industry. Speaking on the tie-up with BCCL, Sanjay Bhasin, CEO said, “We are pleased to take our BCCL partnership to the next level.”

“This relationship will allow TravelChaCha.com to continue to innovate and grow as a travel portal,” Bhasin added.

source: Times of India, New Delhi, Friday, June 13, 2008.

Culture Holidays and Its Management Philosophy

Culture Holidays is popular around the world because of its management philosophy to make every single tourist fully satisfied by providing executive-level services that are unmatched with enthusiastic and dynamic individuals translating a different version of tourism and making the tour events memorable and enjoyable! Culture Holidays works meticulously to offer unique and customized itineraries that help the visitors capture the heart and soul of a destination. Not only this, it takes into consideration the budget and time of the visitors before constructing any kind of tour package. Besides, Culture Holidays also offers customized tour packages and designs their tours according to their interest. In order to provide complete customer satisfaction, it offers a comprehensive range of travel and tourism related services that include: hotel reservations, airline ticket reservation, railway reservation, package tours, tailor-made tours, short tour package, cars/cabs, multi-lingual travel guides, honeymoon passion packages, customized itineraries planning, instant hotel, reservations, house boat rentals, family and group tours - both custom and tailor made, students educational group tours, meet and assist services, special interest tours, infrastructure for corporate conferences/dealer meets etc.

Culture Holidays – India’s prestigious Tour & Travel Management Company

Culture Holidays is a leading corporate and leisure Travel Management Company located in New Delhi backed by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India is working in accordance with the aims and objectives of Ministry of Tourism to promote Indian Tourism industry. Apart from the Government recognition Culture Holidays also collaborated with various prestigious national and international travel associations like IATA, ASTA, IATO and TAAI to promote the tourism industry of India worldwide. For the convenience of the corporate world and tourists all over the world, the Culture Holidays besides http://www.cultureholidays.com has created many sites after the name of specific services it provides to its customers like http://www.travelchacha.com is devoted to combined holidays packages. The Company has very dedicated and committed team of hardcore qualified professionals with average experience of 12 years in overseas client servicing and growing in geometric proportions.

Peace and Security is one of the First Conditions to Flourish Tourism Industry

The Times of India on 12 June, 2008 has highlighted the present state of nature and its impact on Indian tourism industry as “Road blocks, bomb blasts and striking public transport are hardly the perfect settings for a relaxing holiday but tourists in India have seen all this and more in the past two months. The Jaipur serial blasts and then the Gujjar agitation in the state, the civil unrest in the Darjeeling hills and the transporters’ stir in Jammu and Kashmir have together left the tourism industry reeling.

 

“Trade representatives say the coming winter season, when most foreign tourists visit India, may be a lean one. ‘‘The country’s image has been hit. When tourists are stranded, it has a domino effect that lasts a long time,’’ Subhash Goyal, president of the Indian Association for Tour Operators (IATO), said. He added that the peak season could see a 20%-30% drop in advance bookings this year.

 

“The US, UK and Australia have already issued advisories asking travellers to keep a low profile and avoid the eastern region, J&K and Rajasthan. Regarding the northeast and east India, the UK foreign office has said, ‘‘It is strongly recommended that if you intend to visit the region you should contact your hotel or lodgings beforehand to ensure there is no localized disruption. The disruption will also affect visitors to Sikkim.’’

 

“Political protests in Darjeeling due to the indefinite strike by Gorkha Janamukti Morcha have left thousands stranded without transportation or accommodation. According to estimates, there are about 10,000 visitors to Darjeeling in a month. ‘‘There are 100% cancellations as news trickles about the nightmare that visitors are going through,’’ a local tour operator said.

 

“Road blockades and lack of public transport have greeted travellers in Siliguri and neighbouring areas. Though the administration has been making efforts to run additional trains and buses, the agitation has crippled the tourism industry.”

BIHAR RENAISSANCE – THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION

The land of Bihar is rich but people are poor! The land with its boundless fertility considered to be among the most fertile region in the world, unparalleled treasure of its mineral wealth like Iron, Coal, Mica, Bauxite, Uranium and other minerals, many natural resources in its forest wealth, agriculture dominated economy and the potential manpower embodied in its population; and is projecting its figure as the most backward state of India. As mentioned in the URL of UNESCO http://www.unesco.org/courier/1999_02/uk/dici/txt1.htm, “Bihar is India’s most backward state, with the lowest literacy rate and per capita income. On the other hand, it is the richest state in terms of mineral resources, accounting for 40 per cent of India’s total production.” “Dire poverty and oppression are the grim facts of life for the Dalits (‘untouchables’) of India’s most backward state” “the trains are overcrowded and the buses are ramshackle. In the south-central plains, 100 kilometres east and west of Patna, the state capital situated on the south bank of the Ganges, bad road conditions make it hard to move around. As well as having to surmount these obstacles, travellers in this region may even need passes from private parties.” Who are responsible for this grim situation of Bihar – God or Human Being? Or it is the fate of this state? Or it is the multiplied results of the extreme exploitation? Or the result of continuous drain of labor, mind and intellectualism combinedly generated the theory of drain of wealth? How many Biharis who once migrated for any reason do return back to the state of Bihar whether they are students or labors? All these questions strike the basic sense of rational order to think and rethink over this problem like “Why Bihar cannot become Bangalore?” or “Why Bihar cannot become Britain?” or “Why Bihar cannot regain its past glory?” Can all the people, especially of Bihar living all around the world come together to reconstruct the fractured portion of Bihar to regain its past glory.

INCREDIBLE ANDHRA PRADESH

Andhra Pradesh is one of the Union of States of a Sovereign, Secular, Democratic Republic of India popularly known as the “Rice Bowl of India” located in south India and bounded by Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa in the North and North-West, Madhya Pradesh in the North-East, Tamil Nadu in the south, Karnataka in the West, and the Bay of Bengal in the East. The state of Andhra Pradesh is the 3rd largest state of India blessed with rocks, forests, verdant green fields, lakes and 1000 Kms. of coastlines and 23 districts out of which 8 districts have direct access to the sea coastal areas along with 34 network of rivers and more than 20 notified sanctuaries with fertile coastal plains, semi arid Deccan plateau and the lofty hills capes combinedly struck the imagination of tourist to explore the beauty of this place. Not only this, the incredible tour to Andhra Pradesh is famous all over the world for its world’s tallest masonry dam, million year old caves, South Asia’s first lion safari and the world’s richest temple.