Category: India

The Union Tourism Ministry has launched a new webinar series called ”Dekho Apna Desh” to provide in-depth information on several destinations and the expanse of the culture and heritage of India. The first webinar touched upon the long history of Delhi. It was titled “City of Cities — Delhi”s Personal Diary”, the ministry said. The webinar will be available in the public domain soon. The official links of the Ministry’s social media handles, IncredibleIndia on Instagram and Facebook, will feature the webinars. Union Minister for Tourism and Culture Prahlad Singh Patel said, “The series of webinars will be an on-going ... Read more

IndiGo on Tuesday announced that it will resume its operations from May 4, in a phased manner. The nationwide lockdown is scheduled to end on May 3. To begin with, it will start with domestic operations only, and international routes will be added later on. “In its endeavour to reconnect critical air corridors post the lockdown, IndiGo will resume flight operations from May 4. Initially starting with a slightly curtailed capacity, the airline will increase the operating capacity over the subsequent months, also reopening selected international flights, depending on the existing international travel guidelines,” IndiGo said Ronojoy Dutta, Chief Executive ... Read more

Goa will not allow air travellers to enter the state without a health certificate. Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Tuesday said that even after the Centre opens up airports once the COVID-19 lock-down is eased or lifted, no one can enter the tourist haven without medical clearance. Vishwajit Rane said he had already urged Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to take up the issue with the Union Civil Aviation ministry to not allow air travellers to enter the state without a COVID-19 certificate. The Civil Aviation Ministry can inform the various airlines about this condition, he said. “Each state has ... Read more

Former tourism minister of India, KJ Alphons, has said the industry will need a big package from the Union government to tide over the crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has devastated the global tourism industry, he said, and all stakeholders will have to put their minds together to find a solution. The Indian tourism industry had generated a gross revenue of $234 billion in 2018, employing 81 million people, said the former minister who had played a critical role for the tourism industry during the first term of the Narendra Modi government. “Now all that revenue is ... Read more

The coronavirus crisis can result in 18-20% erosion of nationwide occupancy across the hospitality sector, Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has said. The cascading effect of the global coronavirus pandemic is crippling the country’s tourism and hospitality industry at an “astonishing pace”, the industry body noted. Hence, the ICC has recommended setting up of a ‘Travel & Tourism Stabilisation Fund’ with direct benefit transfer to each unit to prevent financial loss and consequent job loss. Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA) has come down by about 67% annually in the January-March quarter, while for domestic tourists, the figure is lower by nearly ... Read more

The Association of Tourism Trade Organisations India (ATTOI) is inviting all the stakeholders of the entire tourism industry in Kerala to a scheduled virtual meeting on Monday. The virtual conference on April 6, to be hosted on Zoom, will start at 11.30 am IST. Kerala Tourism secretary Rani George IAS will also join the meeting. Industry stakeholders has been having meetings online, due to the rapid spread of the pandemic that has hit the tourism sector hard. For joining the online session you have to download the Zoom software from your Google Playstore. You can use your laptop/desktop/smartphone for this ... Read more

A charter flight will take off on Saturday from Cochin International Airport with French tourists, who were stranded in Kerala due to the pandemic. The flight will take off at 8 am tomorrow. All the district coordinators are requested to make arrangements to transfer them to the Novotel Kochi at Info Park, Kakkanad, and from there they will proceed to the airport. These tourists were staying in various properties in Kerala. Payment in this regard will be made by the Consulate of France in Pondicherry. The French Government has also introduced a web site to help french citizens in difficulty ... Read more

Russian tourists stranded in India will be evacuated on Saturday from Thiruvananthapuram. The evacuation by Ural Airlines will take place by 2 pm and the tourists have to register at Uday Suites, Shanghumugham at 7 am on the same day. The details have been shared to the tourists by the Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation in Thiruvananthapuram. The helpdesk contacts in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam have been shared with the Russian consul. The state tourism department has been undertaking efforts to evacuate the 175 stranded Russian tourists for the last one week. They had targeted the first week ... Read more

Oman Air will operate an evacuation flight on April 3 to three destinations namely Kochi, Bengaluru and Chennai to lift Omani nationals stranded in India. The Sultanate of Oman has secured permits from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Director General of Civil Aviation to operate the flight. The authorities concerned are requested to issue passes for any Omani national wanting to travel to the nearest airport to board the flight without any hindrance, the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman said.

The Ministry of Tourism has received over 500 requests on its Stranded in India portal which was launched on March 31, to help international tourists. The ministry is is coordinating assistance to tourists with the help of the Ministry of External Affairs and other state officials to address these queries. It has also been coordinating with respective embassies regarding the various problems faced by the guests. The majority of requests received from foreign tourists were related to information on getting back to their home country ot extending their visas to stay back in India. The other issue was getting to ... Read more

The Association of Tourism Trade Organisations India (ATTOI) has conducted a virtual members conference, and said various tourism stakeholders should reach out to tourists who had previously visited the state, in order to rekindle connections. As one of the key members of ATTOI, Baby Mathew said that over time thousands and thousands of tourists have visited Kerala. If hotels and resorts can reach out to them via e-mail or any other suitable platform just to enquire about their well-being, that would be a great gesture. This is a time to keep up marketing efforts and keep in touch with guests. ... Read more

As a progressive measure to sustain livelihoods of those employed in the tourism sector, the Kerala state government should announce a job retention scheme in the wake of the corona virus pandemic, the Association of Tourism Trade Organisations India (ATTOI) has suggested. ATTOI said the government may pay the salaries of tourism employees in the private sector, so that the industry gets some time to crawl out of the crisis. The tourism sector has been heavily impacted due to booking cancellations, resulting a massive drop in inbound tourism. The sector is likely to lose more than Rs 20,000 crore as ... Read more

The Ministry of Tourism has set up a portal to disseminate information regarding the services that can be availed by stranded foreign tourists. The portal called ‘Stranded in India’, hosted on the Incredible India website, has been set up to extend support to all foreigners who are stuck in India due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The portal will help tourists get information of state tourism departments and regional offices of the Ministry of Tourism, to help them stay safe and healthy. The portal will help tourists find information on ways of getting back to their respective home countries too. Please ... Read more

With the hospitality sector facing a complete shutdown due to the corona virus pandemic, the Association of Tourism Trade Organisations India (ATTOI) is placing a special emphasis on online refresher courses to keep tourism and hospitality employees productive and engaged. ATTOI is looking at the possibility of every job in the industry having a set protocol to follow and a handbook that will list down the processes that need to be adhered to. ATTOI President Vinod CS says such an initiative will help the employees update themselves during this period of inactivity. “Today everyone has access to smart phones and ... Read more

The hospitality sector has been ravaged by the corona virus pandemic, with booking cancellations at a record high. In an interview while detailing the impact that the outbreak is having on the sector, UDS Hotels CEO Dr.Raja Gopaal Iyer says it’s important for hotels to control the costs going forward. Iyer says the strategy should be to depend more on technology and reduce manpower costs. Excerpts: Q: The hospitality industry is going through probably its worst ever phase in history. Did you think that the crisis would end up having such a devastating effect on the industry? A: I am ... Read more