Category: America

Travel to Italy for non-essential purposes must be avoided due to the current coronavirus situation, the United States Embassy in Italy has announced. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a Level 3 Notice for Italy regarding the COVID-19 situation, which also recommends that travellers must avoid trips to Italy unless it’s necessary, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports. “The European Union (EU), which includes Italy, currently prohibits non-essential travel (i.e., tourism) into the EU for residents of most non-European Union countries.  There are exceptions for residents of a few non-EU countries, but they do not currently include United States residents,” the US ... Read more

Here’s your chance to work from Las Vegas, if you had enough of working out of your home? MGM Resorts is rolling out the red carpet to target business professionals with a travel package called “Viva Las Office.” Incentives include cheap rooms, discounted jet service, private pool access and even an “executive assistant”, says a CNN report. There are three different “Viva Las Office” packages offering remote workers a playful workweek in Sin City. There’s a three-day minimum stay, and prices starting at $100 with your choice of amenities that include access to a private pool, free massage, daily food and drinks ... Read more

The Eastern Caribbean island of Dominica is now open for tourism. The “Nature Island” officially reopened its borders to international travellers (including those from the United States) on August 7, Caribbean Journal has reported.   All travellers to Dominica must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test result taken within 72 hours prior to the day of their arrival. They must complete Dominica’s COVID-19 travel screening questionnaire, at least 24 hours prior to travel. Discover Dominica Authority CEO Colin Piper told Caribbean Journal that all travellers will be tested via Rapid Diagnostic Test upon arrival.  Those who are tested will be subject to mandatory quarantine ... Read more

SpiceJet flew its first flight to Canada this week, carrying 352 passengers from New Delhi to Toronto. This marks the low-cost carrier’s second long-haul flight, after its recent Amsterdam flight. SpiceJet is pushing to break into the long-haul market, using wet leased A330neos, and now has permission to fly to the US and UK. SpiceJet’s flight to Canada is its first outbound repatriation flight, carrying Canadian citizens and residents to Toronto. The previous flight, from Amsterdam to Bangalore, and onward to Hyderabad, on August 1, was the carrier’s first long haul flight.  The flights are a part of India’s Vande Bharat Mission, which ... Read more

It has been a bad week for Mexican tourism promotion, and it got worse Friday when the English language version of the country’s tourism website appeared with hilarious mis-translations. Entire states like Hidalgo and Guerrero apparently got machine-translated as Noble and Warrior. Worse for the VisitMexico.com site, there was systematic and inexplicable re-invention of the names of some fairly well-known tourist towns. The Caribbean resort of Tulum somehow became Jumpsuit. The nearby lagoon of Bacalar, on the Caribbean coast, was switched to the Gulf coast state of Tabasco, said a report by the Associated Press. The snafu came one day after ... Read more

The United States has lifted an advisory from March that said US citizens should avoid all international travel due to the coronavirus pandemic. But American travellers are still restricted or banned in many parts of the world, including in the European Union. The State Department on Thursday said it would instead resume travel services considering each country on a case-by-case basis. The announcement comes as President Donald Trump seeks a quick return to normal in the United States, which has suffered by far the highest number of deaths from COVID-19. “With health and safety conditions improving in some countries and ... Read more

Virgin Atlantic has filed for bankruptcy in the United States as the global airline industry reels from the coronavirus pandemic. The company, which is based in the United Kingdom, filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in New York on Tuesday, CNN has reported. Virgin Atlantic hasn’t been immune from the airline industry’s pandemic problems. In July, the company received a £1.2 billion ($1.5 billion) rescue deal to keep the airline solvent just days before it was due to resume passenger flights. The carrier said that the recapitalization plan would be deployed over 18 months and has the support of shareholders, new investors ... Read more

Brazil has reopened international air travel to foreign tourists, even as the country’s coronavirus outbreak ranks as the world’s second worst, according to a news report by Reuters. Air travel was suspended in March. Tourists from all countries may travel to Brazil as long as they have health insurance for the duration of their trip, the government said in a decree which did not explain the rationale for the decision. Brazil is reopening its air borders faster than other countries in the region with less severe outbreaks, such as Colombia, Argentina, Panama and Peru which remain closed to international commercial ... Read more

Air India has announced 12 additional flights from August 18-30 to Canada and Vancouver from Delhi under the 5th phase of the Vande Bharat Mission. Bookings for the flights are now open on the airline’s official website or booking offices. As India is set to begin the fifth phase, more bilateral air bubbles are expected to be announced with more countries. The fourth phase of the Vande Bharat Mission brought back as much as 2.5 lakh Indians from 53 countries around the world. Under phase 4, a total of 1,197 flights have been scheduled so far, including 945 international flights ... Read more

Delta is continuing to make it easier for customers to book, change or cancel their travel plans, and to fly comfortably with more space for safer travel. Effective July 30: We’re extending our change-fee waiver to new flights purchased through August 31. We’re offering the ability to rebook travel for up to two years for customers who purchased flights prior to April 17, 2020, that are pending travel through the end of year. We’re implementing automatic seat blocks through at least September 30, which will automatically block seats adjacent to those selected by a customer once a reservation is complete ... Read more

The Kerala High Court has refused to grant any relief to Johnny Paul Pierce, a 74-year-old US citizen, who had sought extension of his stay in India as he feels safer in Kerala than in America. The high court said that extension of visa tenure of foreign nationals is the exclusive domain of the Government of India. Justice CS Dias observed that a foreign citizen cannot claim fundamental right to reside and settle in India, adding that the power of the Government of India to expel foreigners is absolute and unlimited. Pierce’s visa is valid till January 26, 2025, but ... Read more

Leisure travel to downtown Los Angeles has sagged during the coronavirus pandemic, but guest rooms at the 94-year-old Hotel Figueroa are hot commodities as always. These days, however, most guests are locals taking day trips from home so they can work. A special program titled Work Perks aims to reposition some of the hotel’s 268 rooms as day-use offices, says a report by CNN Travel. According to Managing Director Connie Wang, this is a great opportunity for work-at-home warriors to get out of their houses and spend workdays in clean, quiet and socially distanced spaces that come with high-speed WiFi, unlimited printing ... Read more

Imagine working under swaying palm trees, with a drink in hand, looking into the sea? Classy restaurants and golf courses can be seen at a distance, for your consideration. Water sports and massages can come in handy too, when you need some break at work. Is it for real? Yes it is. Welcome to Barbados. Like most of its Caribbean neighbours, Barbados has been good at keeping covid-19 out. Usually,  tourism brings in more than half of its foreign earnings. Now, many tourists are banned and the economy is reeling, says a report by The Economist. The tourism minister, Kerrie Symmonds, ... Read more

As Caribbean beaches and resorts begin welcoming back international tourists, there’s one group that’s increasingly being left out: Americans. Tropical vacation spots across the region are giving US citizens the cold shoulder amid fears they might spread the coronavirus, cutting Americans off from one of the few regions that was still accessible to them, Bloomberg reports. This week, the Bahamas will begin barring commercial flights and passenger ships from the US, even as it invites Canadian and European tourists to visit. The Dutch countries of St. Maarten and Curacao have also reopened to almost everyone but US travellers. With nearly ... Read more

A senior Republican senator has said that the backlog for an Indian to get a permanent residency in the US is more than 195 years, and urged the US Senate to address this issue with a legislative resolution. A Green Card, or a Permanent Resident Card, is a document that is issued to immigrants into the US which acts as proof that the bearer of such a card has been granted the privilege to reside permanently in the country. Senator Mike Lee said that the current Green Card policy offered nothing to the offspring of an immigrant whose deceased parent’s ... Read more