New Year Eve

Travel tech firm OYO witnessed a record 4.5 lakh-plus bookings on New Year's eve, its highest bookings per hotel per day for India in the last 5 years, Founder and Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal said. In a series of tweets, Agarwal spoke about the "busiest day of the year" for the travel technology company and shared that OYO saw higher bookings in Varanasi as compared to Goa. "Over 450k-plus bookings were made on this New Year's Eve globally. This is 35 per cent more than last year. We are also seeing the highest bookings per hotel per day for India in the last 5 years," Agarwal informed. The year 2022 saw a major uptick in travel and tourism. Globally, leisure destinations have led the travel recovery curve, while in India, business and cultural travel have significantly contributed to the sector. "Bookings from Goa are rising by the hour. But guess the city that is overtaking Goa? Varanasi," Agarwal said in a tweet. He also shared information from OYO's annual travel trends index ...

Let us usher in the new year with a resolve to take India to greater heights of progress and prosperity

Delhi Police has identified 125 spots prone to drink-driving as part of efforts to keep a vigil on revellers on New Year's eve on Saturday and deploy nearly 1,900 traffic personnel to identify violators, an official said. Alcometers will be used to issue challans to violators, the police said. Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) SS Yadav said, "Around 1,850 personnel from Traffic Police will be deployed along with local police staff for joint checking for which the points have been identified. "We have identified around 125 points of drink-and-drive where the teams will be deployed." There are around 45 major spots across the national capital where New Year celebrations take place. There will be focus on these spots, the police said. Of the 657 challans issued on New Year's eve last year, 36 were related to drink-driving, they said. Personnel in large numbers will be deployed at places with heavy footfall, including party hubs such as Connaught Place, Chanakyapuri and Hauz K

A quite hill town, a bustling beach, or an international city: Indians are taking their pick to greet the New Year

Over 600 people were fined by the Delhi Police on New Year's eve for violations such as drunk and dangerous driving, officials said on Saturday. Thirty-six challans were issued for drunk driving, 103 for dangerous driving, 370 for driving without helmet, 48 for triple riding and 100 for other violations, according to police. The total number of challans issued is 657, they said. Last year, police had issued 1,336 challans more than double than this year. The numbers are less mainly because a night curfew is in place in the national capital in view of rising Covid cases. Adequate security arrangements had been be put in place on the eve of new year to implement the guidelines issued by Delhi Disaster Management Authority keeping in view the spread of COVID-19 here, police had said.

The CM said that the people and the government together will defeat Corona again like they did in the past

Fireworks cancelled in London, Paris, Kuala Lumpur; South Africa lifts curfew, announces Omicron wave has passed

As there were some inputs about a possible terror threat during the New Year celebrations and as railway stations are soft targets, the security of prominent stations has also been increased

Cafes and clubs have either cancelled or scaled down the events depending on local restrictions.

The US will lift travel restrictions to eight southern African countries on New Year's Eve, the White House announced Friday.

Restaurants, cinema halls, theatres, gyms will continue to operate at 50 per cent capacity

Viewing areas that normally accommodate about 58,000 people will be limited to about 15,000 to allow for more distancing

In a changed world, owing to the pandemic, while people are no longer going to traditional places of work, they are looking for a third space - a home away from home

Events that are going ahead are taking place in a scaled-down fashion

Tom Harris, the president of the Times Square Alliance, said all spectators aged 5 and over will be asked to show proof of full vaccination

In pics: This is how India celebrated New Year amid coronavirus pandemic

Here's how different cities celebrated New year eve in India

The year 2021 may turn out to be more of the same as 2020 in many ways, but there are at least 10 things that India is expecting to make the year look new

Where will you be as the clock strikes 12 to usher in a New Year? That was the question doing endless rounds on Thursday

The Mumbai Police are on "high alert" and have put in place "anti-sabotage and anti-terror" measures considering

Restrictions in place for New Year celebrations: What's allowed, what's not

Listen to the podcast to know about restrictions imposed by state governments due to Covid-19 and its highly transmissible UK strain