Category: News

Bali’s provincial government has announced plans to open the island to tourism for domestic Indonesian tourists from July 31. The plan will be executed as long as Bali’s reopening scheme for local residents, starting July 9, runs effectively. Tourist attractions will be selectively opened to avoid new sources of virus transmission, says Indonesia Expat in a report. The Indonesian island of Bali where 70% of the population depend on tourism, has seen extensive jobs losses since closing its borders in April. The economic impact so far has been greater than that of the Bali bombings of 2002, with losses of around 9.7 trillion ... Read more

Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham is hoping that Australians would be able to travel to New Zealand again by September if the coronavirus flare-up in Victoria is brought under control, says a report in the Sydney Morning Herald. As Australia’s $60 billion-a-year tourism industry reels from the global pandemic, the governments from both countries have discussed plans for a travel bubble that would allow travel across the Tasman without mandatory quarantine. Simon Birmingham said on Friday that despite the flare-up of COVID-19 cases in Victoria, it was viable for quarantine-free travel between the two countries to reopen in September. “That’s a realistic ... Read more

Thailand’s Immigration Bureau is considering extending the current visa amnesty for foreigners stranded in Thailand. The Foreign Ministry’s deputy spokesperson made the announcement at the s daily Covid-19 briefing by the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. The Cabinet’s last resolution was to grant an automatic visa extension for foreigners stranded here to stay until July 30, The Thaiger has reported. The deputy spokesperson asked for patience and said the bureau’s decision on the subject will be announced soon. In April, the Cabinet granted a second automatic visa extension for foreigners for 3 months. The extended amnesty was a bid to prevent long ... Read more

Pubs in England will open today at 6 am (BST) as lockdown measures eased past midnight. Downing Street said the opening time for pubs was a “sensible precaution” to avoid midnight parties that may be conducted to celebrate the reopening of the pubs which were shut since March. British Summer Time (BST), the civil time in the United Kingdom, is advanced one hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) so that mornings have one hour less daylight and evenings get one hour more. The pub industry said the reopening was “fantastic” but urged customers to respect staff and changes in ... Read more

India’s aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday announced that international air travel to and from India will remain suspended till July 31. The circular released by DGCA stated, “In partial modification of circular dated 26-06-2020, the competent authority has extended the validity of circular issued regarding scheduled international commercial passenger services to and from India till 2359 hrs IST of 31st July 2020. This restriction shall not apply to international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by DGCA.’ Just last week DGCA had announced that international air travel will remain suspended till July 15. The decision ... Read more

Telangana forest minister Indrakaran Reddy on Friday said that the state government was developing lung spaces in cities and towns by setting up urban forest parks and eco-tourism parks in  available forest land. Speaking after inaugurating the urban forest parks – Anjaneya and Narasimha – at Raigiri near Yadagirigutta, the minister said the ecological balance of a place would depend on the extent of forest area and green cover. Hence, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has taken up afforestation to improve forest coverage area. No other state has taken up sapling planting in such a big way in the country, ... Read more

To allow tourist passenger vehicles move seamlessly across the country, a new scheme is being formulated by the Indian government under which any tourist vehicle operator may apply online for an all-India authorisation permit. The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a notification for an amendment to the National Permit regime under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989 for promoting tourism across the country. “The Ministry is in the pursuit of providing seamless movement to the tourist passenger vehicles after the success of goods carriage vehicles under the National Permit Regime,” the Ministry said in a statement. This ... Read more

Even though the European Union (EU) announced on Tuesday that South Korea was on a list of 14 countries allowed to travel there, international travel still looks difficult. Anyone arriving in South Korea from overseas is required to undergo a strict two-week quarantine, either at home or at a government-run facility. They cannot leave their homes and are monitored by government officials, while those in hotels pay about US$100 per night, and there are no visits to cafés, bars, gyms or gardens. With few South Koreans spending more than one week on vacation, the burden of a two-week quarantine on ... Read more

Barbados is the latest Caribbean island planning to reopen to international tourists. The doors will be open from July 12. Americans will be able to board commercial flights on JetBlue beginning July 25 and American Airlines will resume flights to Barbados from August 5. Like most other countries reopening to tourists in the wake of COVID-19, travellers must take precautions while visiting Barbados. Within 72 hours before departing, visitors from high-risk countries (which currently include the US) are “strongly encouraged” to take a COVID-19 test, according to a press release from Barbados Tourism Marketing. Travellers from countries with fewer than 100 new ... Read more

All monuments that were closed amid the Covid-19 pandemic can be opened from July 4, the India government has said. “It has been decided that all the monuments can be opened with full security,” Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said in a tweet on Thursday. Under ‘unlock-2’ which got underway on July 1, the government is trying to open up more activities outside containment zones. But the surge in the Covid-19 pandemic in many parts of the country has meant that people have largely kept away from destinations including monument sites. The Taj Mahal, for example, has been closed ... Read more

The Himachal Pradesh government is considering reopening the tourism industry within a week, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Thursday. He was interacting with media persons on the side-lines of a review meeting of various developmental projects being undertaken in Mandi district. Thakur said that there was a demand to open the tourism industry in the state but the government was not in a hurry as the Covid-19 cases were rapidly increasing. “However, I have asked the tourism department to formulate standard operating procedures (SOPs) for tourist activities. Maybe within a week, the tourism activities will be resumed,” he ... Read more

Kerala on Thursday demanded more flights to be operated from Saudi Arabia as part of the Vande Bharat Mission. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that of the 270 flights operated as part of the mission, only 20 were from Saudi. On Thursday, leaders of the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre met the chief minister, demanding operation of more flights from Saudi Arabia. Of the 87,391 Keralites who registered to return to Kerala from Saudi, only 13,535 could return so far. Pinarayi pointed out that a majority of those who wish to return from ... Read more

Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, has announced that it will resume its direct Abu Dhabi and Dubai flights with scheduled operations starting from July 5.  Gulf Air has been operating direct flights between Bahrain and the UAE since 1954 and both Abu Dhabi and Dubai have always been key successful routes within the Gulf Air’s network. The airline currently flies to and from London, Paris, Frankfurt, Manila, Athens, Cairo and Pakistan. With the addition of Abu Dhabi and Dubai services, Gulf Air will operate 25% of its original network. Being one of the few airlines that continued operations ... Read more

Marriott International has opened a second hotel under the JW Marriott badge in the Orlando area. The JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort & Spa is a 516-room property close to Walt Disney World and about 30 minutes from Orlando Airport. It includes the debut of the brand’s new family suite concept, which offers views of the nightly theme park fireworks displays, shuttle service to Disney Parks, loft beds, larger living areas and spa-like bathrooms, says a report by Travel Weekly. A Kids Conservatory is designed for games and crafts, and an Activities Garden features a rock-climbing wall, a minigolf ... Read more

Japan’s latest bullet train is not just faster and smoother. It is also loaded with safety features that can withstand most emergency situations. The N700S — the ‘S’ stands for ‘Supreme’ — entered into service on July 1 and serves the Tokaido Shinkansen line, which links Tokyo Station and Shin-Osaka Station in Osaka. It can run up to 360 kilometres per hour, a new record set during a test run in 2019, making it one of the fastest trains in the world. The operating speed, however, will be capped at 285 kilometres per hour, CNN reports. It’s the first new bullet train ... Read more