Three decks of 500-year-old hand-painted European playing cards from the Middle Ages are on display at an exhibition in New York. Two of the decks of cards were made in Germany and |the other in the Burgundian Netherlands. The cards are being shown in “The World in Play: Luxury Cards 1430-1540”, an exhibition at |The Cloisters until April 17. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, of which The Cloisters is the branch dedicated to art and architecture of medieval Europe, said the cards on display had never been used for playing, noting that they are in too good a condition for that to have happened. – DPA

Investing in the future

Singapore remains at the top of Myanmar’s hotel industry investor list with investments in 21 hotel projects in the country in 2015. Vietnam with US$440 million and Thailand with more than US$340 million are the next two top investors. Asian countries contributed the largest share of investments with US$2.6 billion, followed by the UK, Luxembourg and the UAE with US$17 million. Last year’s new foreign hotel projects included the 21 from Singapore, one from Vietnam, 10 from Thailand, four from Hong Kong, three each from Japan and Malaysia, one from South Korea, three from the UK and one each from Luxembourg and the UAE. Between 2011 and 2015, the hotels and tourism sector was the fourth largest magnet for foreign investment in Myanmar – Eleven Media/ANN

Shandong Airlines, a subsidiary of the Chinese government-owned Air China, has started direct flights from New Delhi to Kunming in Yunnan province, becoming the first Chinese carrier to connect the cities. Up until now, passengers from North India to Kunming had to transit in Kolkata. Shandong Airlines is operating four flights a week from Delhi to Kunming on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays with convenient timings and attractive fares. – The Statesman/ANN

Bridging the gap

Members of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce are urging the West Bengal state government to start a daily flight service between Nepal and Kolkata that would help to increase the bilateral trade and tourism between the two countries. The state is just a short distance to Nepal and several Nepali students study in the city. A direct flight would help to increase the people-to-people contact and would also contribute immensely to tourism, Rajesh Kazi Shrestha, the president of Nepal Chamber of Commerce, said. – The Statesman/ANN

There’s an app for it

Lonely Planet, the popular guidebook for budget travellers, has launched a free app, Guides, featuring guides to 38 cities around the world, including such major destinations as London, New York, Paris and Rome, Cape Town, Kyoto and Vienna. Each of the Guides features an average of about 1,000 entries including sights, hotels, restaurants and shops as well as maps. The app is available for both iOS and Android operating systems. The publisher still produces books and e-books, and offers much of its content online.

Singapore Airlines will introduce Flight SQ291 in September connecting three cities – Singapore, Canberra and Wellington – in one flight. The new flights from Singapore will connect the capitals of both Australia and New Zealand and will be operated with 266-seat retrofitted Boeing 777-200s fitted with 38 Business Class seats and 228 Economy Class seats. Singapore Airlines will be the first airline to offer flights between Canberra and Wellington as well as the first to operate regularly scheduled international services to and from Canberra. Visit http://www.SingaporeAirlines.com

Seoul’s got soul

Join South Korean student volunteers for the Seoul Free Walk Tour around the historic centre of Jeong-dong and Bukchon as well as some areas on the eastern side of Gyeongbokgung Palace. The Jeong-dong tour starts at Gyeongbokgung Station and visits sites around Deoksugung Palace, many of which are related to early Western involvement in the country in the late Joseon era. The Bukchon tour starts at Anguk Station, moves to the Bukchon Cultural Centre and then to Gyedonggil for a glimpse of 1970s and ’80s Seoul. Other stops include a craft centre and scenic spots in Bukchon Village. A tour of Seolleung was planned, but development has been put on hiatus, organisers said. For more information and to sign up for a tour, visit http://SeoulFreeWalkingTour.wix.com/seoul.

Tourist arrivals to Nepal fell to a six-year low of 538,970 in 2015 as the April 25 earthquake and subsequent Tarai district unrest kept visitors away, according to the statistics just released by the Department of Immigration. The inbound figure includes rescue personnel and volunteers who converged on Nepal to help the earthquake victims and were counted as tourists. Nepal received 251,148 fewer tourists last year, representing a sharp drop of 31.78 per cent over the 2014 figure. The impact of the deadly earthquake is another major disaster for Nepal’s tourism industry with arrivals plunging 55.59 per cent to 97,510 during the four-month period (May-August) following the quake.

There’s an app for that

Emirates airline has launched a Thai mobile site (emirates.com/th), enabling Thai customers to enjoy more convenient and better quality services. The Thai-language site provides information on booking and seat reservation, check-in, flight timetable and real-time flight status. Emirates customers can access these functions on the Emirates mobile site anytime and anywhere with their mobile devices. Visit http://www.Emirates.com/th.

Rooms with a view

Located in the Central Business District of Kunming, Yunnan Province, the new Sotitel Kunming occupies the 27th to 52nd floors of a tower and offers travellers a unique hospitality experience that incorporates French elegance and art de vivre with distinctive elements of Yunnan’s colourful ethnic cultures and traditions. The hotel houses 400 guestrooms, three restaurants and two bars. The rooms feature unique designs inspired by a beautiful peacock symbolising Yunnan’s Dai minority, and handcrafted leather wall coverings that conjure up a chic Parisian apartment in the centre of Kunming.