Author: Tourism News live

Indian domestic flight services would begin from Monday in a “calibrated manner”, laying the ground for gradual resumption of scheduled commercial flight operations. “Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday. All airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from May 25. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) for passenger movement are also being separately issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation,” Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted. All domestic passenger flight operations have been suspended for the 54-day lockdown period that began on March 25. However, cargo flights, medical evacuation flights and ... Read more

Kerala Tourism has stated that hotels accommodating non-resident Keralites (NRKs) on paid quarantine will have to follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) as detailed below: PRE- REQUISITES AND CONDITIONS • The guests willing for paid quarantine should register themselves with the online portal designed for paid quarantine hotel bookings. The details of persons shall also be provided. • The guest should not be having any symptoms at the time of checking in at the hotel • Only family members who have travelled with them would be allowed to share the hotel room. • The guests should be willing to abide ... Read more

Maharashtra has set up a task force for revival and growth of the tourism sector in the medium to long term, state tourism and environment minister Aditya Thackeray has said. The state government wants to develop Maharashtra as a tourism positive state, the minister said. “We have to take Maharashtra ahead, pitch it to the world. I am really keen that Maharashtra will be the first to declare and deliver something for the hotel industry,” the minister said while addressing various concerns of the hospitality industry. A collaborative approach from all the stakeholders is required for revival and growth of ... Read more

Eleven European Union (EU) member states have agreed on a set of principles to ensure freedom of safe travel, in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. The agreement was announced following a videoconference that took place between the ministers of foreign affairs of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Spain, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Austria and Slovenia. “Freedom of movement and travelling across Europe is a fundamental part of the European project,” the ministers said in a joint statement. In accordance with the guidelines announced recently by the European Commission for restoring tourism and transport in the post-Covid-19 period, the ministers’ agreement focuses on a phased and ... Read more

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has assured hotel representatives that his government will consider granting approval for reopening hotels in the next three days, where they can start dine-in services with limited customers at a time. Many hoteliers met the CM in Bengaluru on Tuesday and threatened to start pushcart service on footpaths if the government does not allow them to restart full-fledged services. The hoteliers said they are ready to take up all measures including sanitising, wearing of masks and other precautions. In Karnataka, there are about 50,000 hotels including darshinis, of which 15,000 are in Bengaluru alone. According to ... Read more

The domestic flight operations in India will resume once the state governments are ready to open airports, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday. The Centre alone cannot make a decision in this regard, Puri added. “It is not up to Centre alone to decide on resuming domestic flights. In the spirit of cooperative federalism, the state governments where these flights will take off and land should be ready to allow civil aviation operations,” said Puri on social-networking platform Twitter. Commercial flight operations in the country have been suspended since March 25 when the government first imposed a ... Read more

Fortune Hotels, a member of ITC’s hotel group, has announced the launch of a comprehensive safety and hygiene programme for guests and associates. Termed ‘Safe Stays at Fortune Hotels’, the initiative revolves around safety and hygiene protocol, from pre-arrival to check-out. This programme is set on 10 pillars of safety and hygiene that will be diligently implemented across its hotels as they re-open/commence operations. The programme comprises an all-encompassing protocol and best practice adherence around 10 key pillars namely- deep cleaned & sanitized rooms, safe public spaces, social distancing for hospitality, F&B hygiene and safe handling procedures, safe meetings, hygiene ... Read more

The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has criticised the stimulus package announced by the government, completing ignoring the concerns of the hospitality sector. “I am really shocked that tourism and hospitality was completely ignored despite PM Modi mentioning hospitality as one of the five pillars in his speech. We don’t know what was the criteria of importance. Is space programme more important than tourism? We had made 20 representations to the Department of Tourism and Ministry of tourism but not even one has been considered,” said Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice-President, FHRAI (Federation of Hotel & Restaurant ... Read more

Cambodia is hoping that Chinese tourists will drive its tourism growth when the world is cleared of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s tourism minister Thong Khon has said. Khon said the COVID-19 pandemic has made a deep impact on the country’s tourism business. However, he was optimistic that Chinese tourists would support the kingdom’s tourism growth when the coronavirus crisis ends. The minister said mutual help and trust between the two countries in the fight against COVID-19 has deepened bilateral ties. China has become the largest source of foreign tourists to Cambodia since 2017. Cambodia’s tourism industry, with revenues of ... Read more

The coordinated rolling out of new health and safety protocols for every part of the tourism value chain – including travel, accommodation, food, and leisure – will make it safer to travel, World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has said. “Trust is the new currency of our ‘new normal’. And tourism is ideally positioned to be the vehicle to channel trust,” said Zurab Pololikashvili, UNWTO’s secretary general. If people trust in governments and in the tourism sector to keep them safe from harm, they will indeed travel tomorrow, he added. “As the ultimate person-to-person sector, and one that promotes solidarity and friendship, ... Read more

The latest hotel booking data from Smith Travel Research (STR) has revealed for the first time in the many weeks since the pandemic took hold, US hotels have sold over ten million room-nights during the week that ended May 9, 2020. These numbers demonstrate an uptick of more than three million room-nights over the week of April 11. US hotel occupancy rose to 30.1% for the weekend of May 9, showing an increase in weekend occupancies for the second week in a row. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) at hotels in resort destinations was still down by 82.4%, as compared ... Read more

The Indian tourism sector must be feeling an orphan right now. Despite being a huge foreign exchange earner and providing jobs to millions, the industry has been left in the cold. The Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package does not have anything significant for travel, hospitality or tourism, and that’s a shame considering that employees working in these sectors have been hit the hardest by the pandemic. Two of the leading tourism associations, the Confederation of Accredited Tour Operators (CATO) and Association of Professionals in Tourism (APT) have come out in the open criticising the stimulus package, which they consider ... Read more

Italy has opened its churches, cafes, restaurants and bars, as it continues to relax its lockdown rules. Italians are once again out in the open, sipping cappuccino and gulping down cold beers, while of course keeping away from other customers as part of social distancing norms. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said gyms and cinemas would soon be able to welcome the public again, as the government seeks to restart economic activity. “We’re facing a calculated risk in the knowledge that the contagion curve may rise again,” Conte said during a televised address. “We have to accept it otherwise we ... Read more

Bali, Indonesia’s popular tropical holiday island, could reopen to tourists in October. The island is today seen as a model by Indonesian authorities in tackling the pandemic, and hence the government deems it fit for reopening. The virus was curbed in the region with the help of about 1,500 traditional village committees. The island has a population of 4.2 million and is heavily dependent on tourism for its revenues. It was said that Bali may end up being a coronavirus hotspot with its large number of foreign visitors, but the island effectively controlled the outbreak. As of Friday, Bali had ... Read more

Hundreds of skiers hit the slopes at Slovenia’s highest ski resort on Sunday after it reopened following a coronavirus lockdown that lasted nearly two months, news agency Reuters has reported. Slovenia became the first European country on Thursday to declare an official end to its coronavirus epidemic. The small mountainous country of around two million people has so far reported 1,466 coronavirus cases and 104 deaths. Slovenes still have to respect social distancing and are obliged to wear face masks in indoor public spaces as well as disinfect their hands when entering such areas. There were about 200 skiers at ... Read more