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.

The PPEM will allow the two countries to exchange information, identify common objectives and strategies and create opportunities for people in both countries to benefit from the sharing of social, cultural and economic capital across government, academia, business and civil society.

The State Department on Monday removed from its website an article about the history and lavish furnishings of President Trump’s privately owned Florida resort club Mar-a-Lago, following questions about whether the federal government improperly promoted Trump’s moneymaking enterprises. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) pointed to the travelogue-style blog piece Monday, asking in a Twitter message why the State Department would spend “taxpayer $$ promoting the president’s private country club.”

“A ‘citizen diplomat mindset’ means being intentional when interacting with individuals from a different country by believing that one of your roles is to positively represent the United States,” explained Jennifer Clinton, president of citizen diplomacy non-profit Global Ties. “Our reality today is that citizens around the world are having much greater influence on local, national, and international relations.”

The United Nations World Tourism Organization Commission for Africa (UNWTOCAF) 59th conference participants stressed the need for re-branding Africa to develop the continent's tourism sector. [...] The major challenge facing Africa is the negative images held about the continent. A constitutional amendment or a gun shot at any par tarnishes the entire continent, according to him.

Finland’s education system, basic income experiment, appeal as a travel destination and possible membership in Nato were the most dominant themes in global media reports about the country in 2016, finds a survey conducted by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.