Category: News

Reopening of restaurants and hotels in the national capital would be a welcome step towards reviving tourism and hospitality activities, Union Minister of State for Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel has said. While taking stock of the preparedness of the Hotel Ashok run by India Tourism Development Corporation under the Ministry of Tourism, he said the decision to reopen hotels was a highly welcome step. The re-opening by ITDC comes after an order issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) permitting hotels to operate in Delhi from August 24. “Opening of the two biggest segments of the tourism industry — ... Read more

Middle East airlines Emirates and Etihad Airways have again asked cabin crew to take voluntary unpaid leave as they try to manage the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, said a Reuters report. Aviation has been one of the worst-hit industries during the pandemic and Emirates and Etihad of the United Arab Emirates have cut thousands of jobs, sources have said. In an internal memo, Emirates crew are told they can take unpaid leave for between one and three months from September 1 to November 30 owing to expected staffing requirements, the Reuters report said. Emirates, which in July asked pilots ... Read more

As global tourist destinations open slowly amid the domestic recovery in the gradual unlock phase, things may get better during the upcoming festive season and the tourism sector can return to some normalcy by the end of the year, online travel major MakeMyTrip said on Tuesday. The Indian tourism industry has been severely hit due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Vipul Prakash, Chief Operating Officer, MakeMyTrip, the industry is expecting to gain its momentum during the upcoming festive season, IANS says in a report. “We have seen improvements with the opening of major markets like Europe, Dubai and Maldives, ... Read more

The San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has become the first airport in the United States to launch the rapid COVID-19 testing program for airport employees. The airport has tied up with Dignity Health-Go Health for the same. This partnership provides employee testing both at airport and at nearby Dignity Health-GoHealth care locations. The airport testing facility, located in the International Terminal, is currently returning test results in less than an hour, and anticipates further reductions in test result wait times. The GoHealth Urgent Care Return to Work program provides knowledgeable and experienced clinical guidance and resources, rapid COVID-19 testing capabilities ... Read more

Association of Tourism Trade Organizations, India (ATTOI) has received ‘Safe Travels Stamp” from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) to follow international norms for ‘safe, secure and seamless’ journeys and stays in the post-COVID world. ATTOI will follow the norms under a ‘Safe Travels Stamp’ curated by London-headquartered WTTC, the global body for the sector, said Mr C S Vinod, President of the ATTOI which promotes tourism in various sectors and strengthens business relationships. The stamp, designed to usher in the new normal and build trust in travellers to travel again, will permit travellers to recognise those governments and ... Read more

The Kerala Tourism Department is trying to promote regional tourism through its new initiative called ‘Keralam Kanam’ or ‘Let’s see Kerala’, in which the people of the state are encouraged to visit the backwaters, beaches, hill stations and houseboats to get over the stress caused by the pandemic. The official launch of the online project www.malayaliyatra.com will be done by Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran on August 26 (Wednesday) at 12.30 pm via a video conference. With the COVID-19 devastating the tourism industry, the Kerala Tourism Department is trying its best to recapture the past glory of the industry. It is hoped ... Read more

Himachal Pradesh’s hotel industry has requested the government to relax stringent conditions imposed amid the pandemic. In a representation to the government, the Tourism Industry Stakeholders’ Association said tourists were facing difficulties due to a lack of clarity on the part of the implementing authorities. The hoteliers met Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Urban Development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj and the Chief Secretary recently and highlighted the issues faced by them. “Tourists are unwilling to visit Himachal. They have to procure a negative Covid test report for every member of the family. Most of them do not want to prolong the ... Read more

The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH) has requested India’s Tourism Minister and the Ministry of External Affairs to seek an immediate revision of the negative travel advisory issued by the United States. The USA has issued a travel advisory, rated Level 4 for India. On a scale of 1-4 this is the highest level of risk rating, carrying with it the advice of ‘do not travel’. The level four advisory advises the US citizens not to travel to India due to COVID-19. The previously highlighted concerns that are mentioned include terrorism and crimes against women. FAITH ... Read more

With the coronavirus pandemic dealing a severe blow to Malaysia’s tourism sector and domestic travellers unable to revive the industry, the country’s tourism ministry has welcomed the government’s decision to launch travel “green zones” for foreigners, says a report by Arab News. “We’ve always been consistent in our approach of asking the government to review international borders,” Tan Kok Liang, president of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA), told Arab News, adding that the green zones are “most welcome.” Domestic travel, despite several efforts taken by MATTA, is not enough to “regenerate sustainable revenues streams” for the ... Read more

The Indonesian island of Bali has bowed to the inevitable and will remain closed to foreign tourists until the end of 2020. For months, local government officials have insisted Bali would reopen to overseas tourists on September 11. It began allowing domestic tourists to visit on July 31, Sydney Morning Herald has reported. Earlier this month the Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan had supported the reopening, though he subsequently back-tracked. Bali’s economy is heavily reliant on foreign tourists and has been smashed by the coronavirus pandemic with hotel occupancy rates dropping by up to 95%. The decision to keep ... Read more

The executive chairman of Trip.com Group, Asia’s biggest online travel agency, says he wants to see Japan and China reopen their borders to each other for leisure travel “later this year,” projecting a strong recovery in tourism demand despite the coronavirus pandemic. A recovery in domestic travel would come first once infections start to ease, and the “next question” would be when Japan and China can reach an agreement about reciprocal travel, Co-founder and Executive Chairman James Liang in a recent video interview. “I hope this kind of agreement can be reached later this year,” Liang said from the Chinese ... Read more

The tourism industry of Kerala is largely supportive yet not even 50% of the industry partners are associating with the Responsible Tourism (RT) Mission activities, says Rupesh Kumar, the State’s Responsible Tourism Mission Coordinator. We hope by implementing the RT Classification system, industry partners will automatically cooperate with the Mission since RT Classification is a promotional tool in the international tourism market. Our activities have created a new face for Kerala Tourism in the national and international tourism market and RT has become a kind of tagline for Kerala Tourism, he says. Excerpts from an interview: Q: In what way has ... Read more

Costa Rica will soon reopen its doors to American tourists — but only from six states. Starting September 1, residents of Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont will be permitted to travel to the Central American country, according to an announcement made by Costa Rica’s tourism board. “In these six states, there has been a very positive evolution of the pandemic and their epidemiological indicators are of high quality,” Gustavo Segura, Costa Rica’s Minister of Tourism, said in a statement. In order to enter the country, American travellers will be required to present a valid driver’s license ... Read more

The Indian Railways is working on a much-awaited project to connect the Char Dham sites in Uttarakhand through a 327-km-long railway line, ANI has reported. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, taking to Twitter, announced that the Indian Railways is going to make the Char Dham Yatra easy for crores of devotees. “Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Railways is going to make the Char Dham Yatra easy for crores of devotees. Devotees will be able to travel by rail to visit Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath, and Kedarnath situated in the holy plains of Uttarakhand,” Goyal tweeted. The railway line will ... Read more

A report from the United States Travel Association states nearly half of the 16.9 million jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector were wiped out in March and April, but at least in Niagara Falls, there are some signs that brighter days are ahead. “We are seeing some slight indications of recovery now,” said John Percy, the President and CEO of Destination Niagara USA, adding, “We’ve seen that hotel bookings have increased 28% week over week on an average.”  There could be many reasons for the recent uptick. For example, pent up demand for travel. “Our areas match up to what our ... Read more