Category: India

The Indian government has decided to allow certain categories of foreigners, including Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders, to enter India amid restrictions on the entry of people from abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among those allowed entry into India are married couples one of whom is an OCI cardholder and another Indian national, and students who are OCI cardholders and whose one parent is Indian or an OCI cardholder. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has allowed certain categories of foreigners, including OCI cardholders and minors who hold OCI cards and whose parents are Indian nationals, a senior ... Read more

Cricket is a huge tourism attraction in India, with thousands of fans travelling to the country to get a glimpse of the stars. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the biggest annual tournament in the country that draws enormous crowds both from within and overseas. But with the tournament unlikely to be held in India this year due to the Covid-19 situation, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is exploring options to hold it abroad. IPL 2020 was suspended until further notice after it missed its April-May window due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. However, the BCCI is ... Read more

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government has decided to allot land, measuring 54.40 hectares in Sindhudurg to Indian Hotels Company Limited, which runs the Taj Hotels, to construct a  five-star tourism centre. The project has been stuck for over 25 years. The land has been given at a 90-year lease for the construction of cottages in Vengurla, part of Sindhudurg, for tourism development.  The proposal of the allotment of land for the construction of the hotel to the leading players in the hotel industry was taken after the state government announced Sindhudurg as a tourism district more than two decades ago. ... Read more

Is India a golfing country? Can golf tourism be developed here, as an additional revenue stream? Do we have enough golf facilities in the country? These questions were deliberated at length under the Dekho Apna Desh webinar series, organised by the Ministry of Tourism. The session was moderated by Rupinder Brar, ADG, Ministry of Tourism and presented by Rajan Seghal, Co-founder Passionals; Amish Desai, Director, Beleast Travels P Ltd and Arun Iyer, Managing Director, My Golf Tour. All three panellists have decades of experience and hold badges of specialisation in various areas of travel and tourism industry, besides being avid ... Read more

Air India on Friday stated that 10 additional flights will be operated to and from the USA under the third phase of the Vande Bharat Mission. These flights will be operated between June 20 and July 3 to bring back Indians stranded in America. Bookings for the same will open on June 13 from 6 pm onwards on the Air India website.  The 10 additional flights comprise four, to and from, New York and one each, to and from, San Francisco and Chicago.  Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava has said  that the Vande Bharat Mission has repatriated a ... Read more

The Bullet Club and adventure travel go hand-in-hand. The Royal Enfield range of motorbikes have long served the inquisitive Indian traveller well, providing muscular support whether it’s a Himalayan expedition or North-Eastern sojourn. And after a lull thanks to the lockdown restrictions, Royal Enfield is back again. It has resumed operations at more than 90% of its retail network across India. As of today, more than 850 stores and 425 studio stores across India are operational for sales and service. While most of these stores are completely operational, the stores in certain cities are functioning partially or on alternate days as advised by local authority ... Read more

Jalesh Cruises, India’s first premium cruise liner has introduced ‘Future Pass’, designed to provide flexibility for its travellers. Travellers can book their cruise holiday now and be able to finalise their travel dates until August 31, 2021. In addition, if purchased before June 30, 2020, an exclusive discount of 25% can be availed on the Future Pass.  Amid the current sentiment towards travelling, this offer will help travellers restore their confidence to book at a later date as per their convenience. A study reveals that while many consumers have cancelled their trips, they have not lost their desire to travel. ... Read more

The Rajasthan government has announced that interstate movement will be regulated in view of an “unprecedented surge” in Covid-19 cases in the state. Under the new guidelines issued by the Home department, all persons going out of the state will need to obtain a pass for travel from the district collector and Superintendent of Police. If the permit is issued by a sub-divisional magistrate, Deputy SP or the local police station, then they have to inform the collector or SP. According to the order signed by Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Rajeeva Swarup, counters will be setup at airports, railway stations ... Read more

Home sharing platform Airbnb India has said it will focus on domestic tourism and local experiences to revive business. The company said that Indian hosts earned over ₹190 crore in 2018 using its platform and it will continue to focus on providing them support during these tough times. Amanpreet Bajaj, country manager, Airbnb India, said that people in India are looking for staycations and holidays within 300 kms of their location preferably at secluded locations. “Travellers want control over the place they are staying in and they do not wish to share it with others,” he said. Since the pandemic began, ... Read more

The Ministry of Tourism’s Dekho Apna Desh webinar series showcased Chhattisgarh, in an effort to highlight India’s rich diversity. The 30th session of the Dekho Apna Desh webinar series held on June 9, was moderated by Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General , Ministry of Tourism.  P. Anbalagan, Secretary (Tourism & Culture), Government of Chhattisgarh, set the background for the session with his introductory remarks. The session was presented by Jaspreet Singh Bhatia, Founder, Icecubes Holidays, Jeet Singh Arya, Founder, Unexplored Bastar and Thommen Jose, author & blogger. Chhattisgarh, carved out of Madhya Pradesh, came into being on November 1, 2000, ... Read more

There is a saying that greater are the chances of Arabs learning Malayalam, than Malayalis learning Arabic, in the UAE. If there is one Indian state that has been able to pull its weight during lockdown, as far as the Gulf countries are concerned, it is Kerala. Sensing the strong demand, India has announced 44 more repatriation flights from the UAE to Kerala. These flights will operate from June 19 to 30. Population-wise and in terms of the number of stranded Indians registered to fly back home from the UAE, Malayalis outnumber Indian expats from other states. The readiness of ... Read more

An animal rights organisation has apprised the Union Tourism Ministry that humans can contract tuberculosis from elephants, glanders from horses, and camel pox and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome from camels. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has knocked on the doors of Minister of Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel urging him to ban the use of animals in tourist spots as it could lead to spread of zoonotic diseases and pose a threat to public health. In a letter to Patel, PETA India CEO Manilal Valliyate drew attention to another imminent zoonotic threat and said, “We are letting ... Read more

Next time you travel to Tamil Nadu, names of many places in the state may look a bit different.  The state government has issued a notification as per the recommendation of an expert committee for changing the names of 1,018 places, in accordance with how they are exactly pronounced in Tamil. The district collectors will now take steps for changing the names of these places through the local bodies concerned. The announcement in this regard was made way back in December 2018. But the official release, came only on Wednesday evening. So, Coimbatore is now Koyampuththoor, Vellore is Veeloor and ... Read more

Only 30 hotels have applied to the Goa Tourism Department for permission to reopen, as the state prepares itself to restart tourism. “We have received around 30 applications from various hotels as of now. We will scrutinise these and after the government takes a call, we will allow them to open,” Director (Tourism) Menino D’Souza has said. The number of applications is low, considering the state is home to several hundreds of hotels and home stays. The state’s hospitality sector has seen many people lose their jobs due to the pandemic, and many of the hotels are not in any ... Read more

Hotels in Darjeeling, probably Bengal’s top tourist destination, have decided to down their shutters indefinitely from July 1. Though the West Bengal government has allowed the reopening of hotels and restaurants from June 8, the Darjeeling Hotel Owners’ Association says it is not feasible to operate with only a few tourists arriving due to the pandemic. The decision may affect the livelihood of 10,000 families associated with the industry in the hill station and its outskirts. There are 380 hotels in Darjeeling town and its outskirts that accommodate nearly 4.5 lakh tourists every year. “We do not see any tourist ... Read more