Latest innovation from tourism offers trips with a social mission to travelers who want more from a holiday than sea & shopping. This summer, vacationers can pair a visit to the colonial Colombian city of Cartagena with an program aimed at raising awareness about the modern slave trade. [...] "I have been asked whether the tour, given its theme, was 'depressing,' " Karen Weiss, who took a similar trip to Thailand, explained. "I assure you that it was not.

Do you know something about Luxembourg most people don't? Or maybe you have a specific angle on a well-known Luxembourgish subject, place or activity? If so, then Luxembourg's Economy Ministry is hoping to recruit you as a "guide for one day" as part of its latest nation-branding effort. The guided tours that will be offered through this initiative will start from June 23 and can range from local life, night life, shopping, history, Luxembourgish markets, cafés and gastronomy to leisure and sports.

Iran’s Cultural Attaché in Moscow Reza Maleki stressed the need to further promote relations between the Islamic Republic and the Russian Federation, saying enhanced cultural ties between the two nations will pave the ground for closer political relations. “Relations between Iran and Russia should not be confined to the level of the governments,” Maleki said in a meeting about cultural relations and their impact on political ties held at the University of Tehran’s Faculty of World Studies.

The Karnataka government has decided to intercede in the state's airlines business by asking more countries to operate direct flights to Bengaluru. [...] According to the minister, the state has already approached few nations like Australia, Israel and Japan which have consulates in the city for the purpose of pushing their national carriers and private airlines to operate direct routes.

Tourism is a key foreign exchange earner in East Africa. Rwanda, which is still heavily dependent on foreign aid after the 1994 genocide tore the nation apart, has been seeking to boost the sector. Tourism generated $404 million from 1.3 visitors in 2016, and revenues are expected to climb 14 percent to 460 million in 2017.