A group of investors from the United States today evinced interest in participating in eco-friendly tourist projects in Assam. This was disclosed by the investors when they called on state Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi here. The group, which included Ms Christina Neyniger, Shams Tabriz Habib and Ms Natasha Martin, have shown interests in exploring potential opportunities in some organic products for export.

The products for export range from spices, exotic fruits, vegetables to tea. “Our focus is on developing the adventure and eco-friendly tourism markets and develop Assam as the base of these activities”, Heyniger said after their discussion with Gogoi. “We are looking forward to develop and market the appropriate products and services to attract key clients in the West, Heyniger, who has vast expertise in this sector having worked globally in areas with enormous bio-diversity as Madagascar and central America, said, Gogoi while assuring the investors of government’s help and support said the climate in the state was conducive for investments.

It was announced that it has acquired the assets of Viajes MAPFRE from MAPFRE, a major insurance company in Spain and leader in non-life insurance in Latin America. The transaction encompasses business travel management, meetings and events, and leisure travel activities in Spain, with an option to acquire these activities in Latin America as well. Total sales of the newly acquired business, which will be operated under the Carlson Wagonlit Travel brand, are approximately €60 million in Spain. CWT will integrate Viajes MAPFRE employees into its organization. Under the agreement, CWT will be the travel management company for MAPFRE in Spain for at least three years.

The possibility of later servicing MAPFRE on an international basis is part of the agreement. The acquisition will enable CWT to increase its travel management activity in Spain; increase its Meetings and Events business; build upon its existing travel agency network for small and medium-size companies; and expand its leisure travel services, currently offered to employees of client companies, to the general public. MAPFRE will become the preferred travel assistance service supplier of CWT. CWT will also promote their medical insurance to its employees in Spain.

India is an enormous and hugely diverse country that offers visitors a memorable experience that is beyond most people’s expectations. The beauty of the breathtaking Himalayas in the North, magical charm of colourful Rajastan, surreal beauty of the Taj Mahal, spiritual atmosphere along the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi, and the stunning deserted coastline of Kerala, all combine to make India a truly unique holiday destination.Delhi, the capital of India, boasts an impressive fort, reminiscent of the city’s Mughal past and a maze of curious streets and alleys in the old city. Only a short trip north of the city is Agra, where you can enjoy picturesque views along the river and admire one of the world’s most impressive buildings, the Taj Mahal.

Rugby fans eager to catch a game or two in the Six Nations tournament should make sure that they do not head off to the continent without travel cover, according to Halifax Travel Insurance. The financial service provider explains that if people are planning to take another break in the next 12 months then it may be beneficial to take out annual cover rather than just a single-trip policy.

Paul Birkhead, senior manager of underwriting for Halifax Travel Insurance, states that since more consumers taking short breaks, annual cover is proving to be an attractive option for many travelers.”The main benefit of annual cover is that you only need to take out your policy once a year to be insured for as many trips as you like within a 12-month period, allowing rugby fans to focus all their attention on getting to the game,” he concludes.

IT has been named the new President of Travel Insured International by the company’s Board of Directors. He becomes the company’s second President, succeeding Travel Insured’s founder Peter Gehris, who continues as Chairman and CEO. Additionally William Scully III has been appointed as Travel Insured’s Vice President of Operations, a new position. Scully joins the company from Hartford Life Insurance Co., where he served as Assistant Vice President for Investment Products Technology. Gehris, who remains Travel Insured’s COO while adding his duties as President, joined the company in 1994. He has risen through the organization directing company growth in operations, operating systems, sales and customer support areas. “My father has been, and continues to be, an amazing mentor,” Jon Gehris said. “I have learned a tremendous amount about successfully running a business and creating a winning environment within Travel Insured.”

Most recently Gehris served as Executive Vice President and COO, overseeing Travel Insured’s day-to-day operations. He established new performance standards for superior customer service, and supervised Travel Insured’s recent upgrade of company Web and GDS Travel Distribution technology. Travel Insured is now embarked on the strongest growth cycle in its history with 2008 projected to well surpass the record sales results of this year.

Scully worked with Travel Insured International Founder and CEO Peter Gehris as Director of Operations and Treasurer at Travelers Equities Sales Inc., a subsidiary of Travelers Insurance, in the mid and late 1980s. “I am extremely excited to have Bill join Travel Insured’s leadership team,” said Travel Insured President Jon Gehris. “We will benefit from his experience and his proven track record of developing outstanding teams and operational workflows. More than ever, Travel Insured’s growth opportunities will be well supported by Bill’s leadership.”

There’s no marker there, but it’s one of 400 places in a new book called “On the Road to Freedom: A Guided Tour of the Civil Rights Trail” (Algonquin Books, $18.95).Many of the sites included in the book are well-known - like the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, now the National Civil Rights Museum. But Charles E. Cobb Jr., who wrote “On the Road to Freedom,” says he also wanted to include little-known places - like the road near Anniston - “for the person who has a real interest in the civil rights movement and is not necessarily your ordinary tourist.”

While “On the Road to Freedom” is a travel guide, organized by destination, with street addresses for historic sites, it is also full of stories. Some are known to every schoolchild - like Rosa Parks’ refusal to give her seat on the bus to a white passenger - but others will be new to many readers, like a 1944 incident in which a black woman named Irene Morgan was jailed for refusing to yield her seat on a Greyhound bus headed from Virginia to Maryland.

The conflict led the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down segregated seating on interstate travel. If you drive six miles southwest of Anniston, Ala., you’ll pass the spot where a bus was bombed in 1961 and the passengers - civil rights activists known as Freedom Riders - were beaten by a mob.

Travel medical insurance is a kind of insurance that is linked to the coverage of the expenditures made to meet out the cost due to medical reasons. In other words, it can be said that these types of medical insurance policies will be covering the medical, surgical and dental emergencies experienced by individuals in various places. As a wise man, you need to always focus on how you are going to manage the expenditures that may occur as an emergency condition, during travel. Let us imagine that you have not taken this type of travel medical insurance policy, you are stunned to cough out fifty thousand US dollars from your own money for some emergency medical reasons, during the travel.

You get a great relief when your insurer settles your expenditure pertaining to such emergencies. Nobody can predict what will happen to us during the travel to many places. Hence, we need to be prepared in this regard, always. But as a consumer, let’s choose some insurance firms that can offer high rate as the settlement amount, when there are some medical reasons, during making of any travel to any place. Many firms may insist on different premium amounts to be paid pertaining to the travel medical insurance. Similarly, there are many firms that will reveal the linkage between age factor of an individual and the policy amount that is to be paid.

Some firms also make many advertisements with regard to the multi trip policies and link to the travel medical insurance. However, it is the individual’s choice to select the type of package in this insurance policies pertaining to the travel medical insurance. By selling direct to the consumers like you, some leading travel medical insurance firms are saving the consumers up to forty or fifty percent in commissions charged by other routinely functioning travel medical insurance firms.

Canada’s leading online travel insurance provider, launch new quotation module to its Travel Insurance Quotes System (“TIQS 2.4”). TIQS 2.4 now offers Snowbirds and senior Canadian traveler’s comparative quotations of Canadian medical insurance that does not require completing a medical questionnaire. Now all Canadian seniors, in spite of age or medical condition, can purchase medical insurance for trips out of Canada. Many of the Canadian travel medical insurance companies now offer seniors medical insurance without answering a medical questionnaire. TravelInsuranceQuotes.ca has designed a quotation system that allows the seniors to input their ages and trip length and return a report of medical insurance plans that are guaranteed issue travel insurance plans. The applicable pre-existing condition clauses are clearly displayed for easy comparison.”

Many Canadian seniors with pre-existing medical conditions feel as though they do not qualify for travel insurance. Our purpose in developing the guaranteed issue travel medical insurance system is to demonstrate that medical insurance is available for everybody. Our system will allow seniors to compare plans by price, availability and, most importantly, applicable pre-existing condition clauses. Seniors can determine if the guaranteed issue plans right for their travel plans.

According to InsureMyTrip, Travel insurance covers many things that are omitted from healthcare plans and other policies and consumer may not be aware of this.The comment comes in light of economic troubles in the US, which are threatening to have an effect on the global economy, and are causing concern among some travellers, InsureMyTrip notes.” No one wants to lose money, so it is important to purchase Travel insurance to protect trip investments,” Jim Grace president of InsureMyTrip commented.

He added that those taking “once in a lifetime” holidays did not want to risk losing the break they have worked hard to pay for, should anything go awry. Among the areas Travel insurance offers protection for in addition to cover for cancellation of a holiday are bankruptcy, travel delays, illness or injury, pre-existing medical conditions, medical expenses and missed connections.

The International Cricket Council has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Gullivers Sports Travel, which will trade under the business name Cricket Logistics, to act as its exclusive licensee in the provision of official travel and tours services for its events.The agreement is effective immediately and is an eight-year deal to cover all ICC events through to, and including, the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015.ICC General Manager – Commercial, Campbell Jamieson said: “During the tender process, we received several attractive proposals but Gulliver’s was the stand-out candidate. “

Gullivers has a proven track record in specialist sports event-related travel and also offered a compelling royalty structure with high levels of financial security for the ICC,” he said.” Its successful involvement in previous ICC events, including three ICC Cricket World Cups, the ICC Champions Trophy in 2004 and the ICC World Twenty20 2007, as well as major events in other sports such as rugby and soccer, means we are entirely confident in its ability to deliver the best possible service to cricket fans around the world.” Under the terms of the agreement, Cricket Logistics will work with the ICC by developing and marketing attractive domestic and international travel and tour packages for all ICC events and also by managing the operational travel requirements of teams and officials attending those events.

It is the first time the ICC has made an appointment of this length in the area of travel and tour services as previously it was made on an event-by-event basis.” By entering into a longer-term agreement I think it will enable us to focus on a long-term marketing plan and growth strategy in this area,” said Mr Jamieson.“ We want to make sure cricket fans from around the world have direct access to our events and therefore tour and travel packages will continue to be offered to suit a range of tastes and budgets,” he added, David Hall, director of Gullivers Sports Travel said: “We are really very excited to be going into partnership with the ICC. Cricket is a sport that is growing in popularity around the world and, more and more, people are keen to travel and support their team. Our passion is about making sure those fans can get the sort of wonderful experience that will stay with them forever.