Velaa Is Every Reason You’ve Wanted To Vacation In The Maldives

Early 2024 saw record-breaking increases in tourist arrivals to the Maldives, and I can see why.

More than 20 universities from around the world will present research at the Tenerife Global Summit 2024, which will be held from 19 to 21 June 2024. The conference will bring together national and international experts from different fields related to the tourism sector to discuss the state of the art of the industry and the challenges it faces.

Even by Saudi standards, the goals are ambitious: By 2030, the country wants 330 million passengers to pass through its airports annually, up from around 112 million last year.

It’s been a dazzling spectacle of the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, since Friday, May 11, across the night sky of the U.S., Canada and Europe, high-energy particles from the sun interacting with the earth's magnetic field to cause dazzling and mesmerizing geomagnetic storms.

India may be famous for its fragrant, spice-infused chai, but in Bengaluru (Bangalore) and elsewhere across South India, another hot caffeinated drink reigns supreme.

The sun-drenched sepia photograph shows a dapper European, handkerchief in pocket, cigarette in hand, sitting among a row of men dressed in bisht and keffiyeh. The moment was captured during Jacques Cartier's first visit to the Persian Gulf in 1911, on his way back to London from Delhi—part of a sales trip encouraged by his father, Alfred, then the head of Cartier. The decline of the Ottoman Empire and the 1905 Persian Constitutional Revolution had flooded Europe's artistic centers with new influences, forging an aesthetic then known as “the Muslim arts.” Eager to learn more, Jacques spent four months traveling throughout Asia and the Middle East, rifling through bazaars and emporiums and mixing with high society.

India is a key source market for the neighboring countries of Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. In February, India was the biggest source market for Nepal, accounting for more than 25% of foreign tourist arrivals in the country.

Airbnb execs have used the phrase “expanding beyond the core” to mean launching new products and services for guests and hosts, and also their hope to lift growth beyond the company’s main five markets: The U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, and France.

One of the Middle East’s annual big-ticket industry events, the Arabian Travel Market (ATM), takes place this week in Dubai and opened this morning, while the UAE continues to attract visitors from around the world. Just this year, Dubai was ranked first in the Top 100 City Destinations Index 2023 by Euromonitor International. This comes against a backdrop of the world recovering from Covid-19, high inflation rates affecting travel, and turmoil in the region. Although the global travel market continues to recover, few can doubt that the dark clouds that have hovered over the Middle East since the Israel-Gaza war broke out in October of last year have taken a toll on tourism and business travel alike in countries like Egypt and Jordan.

It’s been four months since the #BoycottMaldives trend started in India, and Maldives wants those tourists back.

On a leafy stretch near Kolkata's Southern Avenue, the three-level designer store Bombaim is a hive of activity. Young locals breeze through its centuries-old doors, trying on silks and gowns, admiring the space's bones. Large windows allow ample sunlight to stream through, illuminating the mulmul curtains that fall from the ceilings. Outside, lush tejpatta, or bay leaf, trees grow. The Art Deco grills and the city's signature khorkhoris, or louvered windows, reflect the store's previous life as a turn-of-the-century residence. Bombaim's owner, Richa Kanoi, made a point of preserving its historic splendor. “The launch was more about celebrating the space than the clothes,” she says.

The EU has just made it easier for Indian nationals to travel to Europe.