The group has tied up with travel technology provider Amadeus’s e-Travel Management technology to launch the software in India.

“Our software for planning travels for business houses has come at a time when corporate travel managers are facing tremendous pressure to reduce travel cost and move towards video conferencing. We have got a very positive feedback from the industry,” Bird Group executive director Ankur Bhatia said.

Due to economic downturn, organisations are desperately looking at reducing travel costs. “Our software would plan out and provide the best deal for the traveller,” Bhatia said.

The USCIS is also looking at implementing a risk assessment program for applications “based on objective criteria relating to fraud indicators,” the spokesman said. That would enable the agency to give greater scrutiny to H-1B petitions that raise flags during the review process.

The Namma Metro Station at CMH Road.

The Namma Metro Station at Ulsoor.

The Namma Metro Station at MG Road.

Jammu & Kashmir consist of three regions – Jammu, the Kashmir valley and Ladhak. The capital of Jammu and Kashmir is Srinagar in summer and Jammu in winter. While Jammu is considered as the holy place for Hindus and Muslims, Ladhak is known for its Buddhist culture and its mountain beauty popularly called as “Little Tibet”. The Kashmir Valley, known as the “Paradise on Earth” is famous for its beautiful mountain landscapes.

GoAir has announced a unique marketing promotion aimed at combining Valentine’s Day and forthcoming holiday season.

Branded as GoAir’s Valentine promotion, according to the offer, GoAir is giving away one free ticket for each paid flier, which means the passenger pays for one ticket and his companion flies free.

The offer is valid on all bookings made from February 9 to February 14 for travel from February 15 to June 30, 2008.

It’s easy to spend an afternoon exploring this friendly community of tree-lined streets and a smattering of Victorian buildings just west of the city’s Civic Center neighborhood. Casual eateries and design-minded stores are plentiful, and there’s no need to get an early start — most of the businesses don’t open until 11 a.m. Many establishments are closed on Mondays.

Crime plagued the neighborhood before the looming freeway overpass that bisected it was damaged in the 1989 earthquake and eventually demolished. Since then, stylish shops, restaurants and galleries have gradually moved into the colorful storefronts, helping drive out the shady characters of the area’s past.

Only in Las Vegas could a hotel like the Luxor exist. The Egyptian-themed hotel and casino opened Oct. 13, 1993, at a cost of $375 million. It has 4,408 guest rooms and a 120,000-square-foot casino.
The light on top of the pyramid has a brightness of 41.5 billion candle power. That’s one bight light — bright enough, the casino says, that an astronaut could read a newspaper 10 miles in space and airplanes as far as 250 miles away can see it.

The Controversy Tram-Inn offers guests the opportunity to sleep on a train or in two trams that were active several years ago in Germany and Amsterdam. The hotel in Hoogwoud, the Netherlands, strives to have fun with its rooms. The train includes a Jacuzzi built in a Mexican sombrero.

Traveling through Holbook, Ariz., on old Route 66 many travelers through the years have stumbled upon the Wigwam Motel, where you can rest your head in a teepee.

“The cranberry industry is Massachusetts’ number one agricultural crop,” said Jeff LaFleur, of the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association. “This is a historic industry that is part of the area for well over 150 years. This is where the cranberry industry was born.”
In fact, 27 percent of the world’s cranberries come from Massachusetts.

The tasty, tart treats not only provide a fruity snack, but also a beautiful scene during the the early autumn months in New England. “When the bog is flooded, it’s the most picturesque time of the year,” LaFleur said. “It’s with that crystal blue water — the crimson red fruit — and you put some new England foliage behind it, and you have a picture perfect Cape Cod post card.” But the waterlogged bogs, which make for picture-perfect scenery, and easier harvesting, aren’t always flooded with water.

“Ninety percent of the time, cranberry bogs are dry,” said Chris Severance of A.D. Makepeace Company. “When we’re getting ready to pick the crop,” he said, “we’ll flood the bog with that water.” “The berries naturally want to float, but they’re still attached to the plant by the stem,” Severance added.

After the bog is flooded, harvesters drive around and knock berries off the vines, which causes them all to float. “We then round all the berries up using boom,” Severance said. “It’s a process we call corralling, and trying to get them all snug together in one place.” The harvest season for the fruit runs between six and eight weeks, and the cranberries are picked until the end of October, according to LaFleur.

“It’s a whole year’s worth of work coming down to this narrow period to get the crop in,” he said. “Once those berries are all gathered together, we’ll get them all to a loading area, we’ll put the pump truck in that location, and we’ll suck all the berries off the bog, clean them, and get them in the back of tractor trailers, and off they go to the market,” Severance said.

Continental Airlines, which starts operations on October 2, will also offer the same fare on the Mum-Newark-Mum sector. Both carriers offer non-stop flights on the route. Other players like Air India, Jet Airways, British Airways and Lufthansa are likely to follow suit with new fares to compete with the US carriers, travel industry sources said.

Government-owned Air India has announced a non-stop flight between Mumbai and New York from August 1, four days before Jet Airways is to start flying from Mumbai to New York with a Brussels stop-over.

Instead of scanning the prints of just two fingers of visa applicants, as is now the case, US embassies and consulates are beginning to require scans of all 10 digits to better screen out undesirables, the department said.

Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways said that the market share of the combined entity is seen at 33 per cent post the acquisition of Sahara.

Now you can visit the American Super Heroes Museum in Indianapolis. The museum opened March 31.

Its founder, Dane Nash, 52, was fascinated with Superman as a child. He opened the museum to showcase his large collection of Superman, Batman and other memorabilia – including costumes worn on TV and in films from the 1930s on, according to The Indianapolis Star.

Nash also plans to eventually display his replica of the Batmobile — a Corvette engine and a capsule over the driving compartment that pops up and slides back.

The museum, at 20 W. Louisiana St., is open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. and Sundays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Details at http://www.heroesmuseum.com/ or 317-687-1938. Admission is $5; free for kids under 8.

Today, tech savvy travelers can use online apps to make sure they are getting the best gas prices in every city, find the classic rock station in every town along their route, have a reserved parking space when they arrive at their destination, and even sign up for a program that lets them text message other cars using just their license plate number.

But despite all the online technology roadtrippers and vacationers could be using to improve their trips, most of us are still resorting to Web 1.0 sites like Mapquest, simply because we didn’t know there was a better way.

In this article we introduce you to 25 of the best online travel apps, so that the next time you need to take a trip, you will be prepared.

Boats are the only mode of communication between the islands of the Sundarbans archipelago. There are many narrow creeks, but sometimes the rivers stretch so wide as to tip over the horizon.

While occupancies shot up by 89% in Delhi as compared to 78% in Bangalore, the revenue (yield) per available room (revPAR) was higher too at Rs 11,686 in Delhi as compared to Rs 11,521 for Bangalore in November 2006 and the trend is likely to continue for the next couple of months.

The current situation of high prices and low availability is expected to continue and intensify around key events such as the Commonwealth Games in 2010, say sources.

“A demand-supply mismatch and a shortage of rooms has helped Delhi outperform Bangalore and this trend is likely to continue for the next couple of months,” says Cris Infac analyst Binaifer Jelani. Average room rates in Delhi shot up from Rs 9,158 in November 2005 to Rs 13,144 in November 2006.

Heavy inflow of tourists (domestic and international) into Delhi during the third quarter which spills into January and February led to higher occupancies. The hospitality sector, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council is expected to earn $25 billion in foreign exchange by 2015.

... and now INDIA

The plan proposes that the tourism industry to be treated as an independent group of industry like the Information Technology, and the various fiscal and tax incentives be used to generate revenue, create infrastructure and employment.

Among the most eye-catching proposals sent to the Planning Commission, is the ministry’s suggestion for ‘no tax regime’ for a period of ten years for the tourism industry. Under the plan, the profits should not be taxed if 50 per cent of the money is ploughed back into investments in the tourism industry.

The ministry’s logic is that it would encourage existing industry to invest further into the sector.

In what could bring down the costs for the tourists, there is a proposal to remove service tax from total cost which includes capital cost components like hotel, transport charges, guide and entrance fees.

This Great Wall which appears like a gigantic dragon, winds up and down across deserts, and mountains, even grasslands, and then the plateaus stretching around to 6,700 kilometers east to the west of China. However, with over 2000 years of history, it is still one of the most fascinating attractions all around the world owing to its architectural grandeur and historical significance.

Built in Ming dynasty, the wall starts from the Shahaiguan Pass in the east to the Jiayuguan Pass in the west then traveling in the provinces of Liaoning, Hebei, and Beijing, and then Tianjian, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and Shaonxi and the Gansu.

The history of the Great Wall of China is very exciting in its origins, originally built during the spring and autumn. It began as an independent wall for many different states when they first built it. It did not become the “Great” wall till the Qin dynasty. The Emperor Qin Shihuang succeeded in joining the walls together to defend from the Huns in the north after the famous unification of China.

Below are the photographs of some of the famous forts in Maharashtra.

Suvarnadurga

more….........

Klaksvik, second largest town located on island of Bordoy

Photo: Olavur Frederiksen

The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) estimates that as compared to the present 97,000 hotel rooms in the country, India will need 30,000 additional rooms in various categories over the next three years. The current growth of hotel rooms is less than 2,000 rooms a year, and with high occupancy rates of 77%, hoteliers have doubled tariffs in the last two years.

The consulate said it had also issued certain passports under the Z series between February and September 2007.

No reason was given for the withdrawal of the passports.

According to the statement, fresh applications from the holders of such passports were being invited along with fresh photographs.