Author: Tourism News live

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has decided to instruct the airport authorities to stagger the arrival of fights from COVID-19 affected areas so that the flow of passengers is maintained for the screening of passengers. From the dedicated aerobridges the passengers will arrive, escorted by airline staff to the health centres for initial thermal screening, where symptomatic passengers would be isolated and moved to designated hospital. After screening, the remaining asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to move to the designated immigration counters with passports and a copy of the self-reporting form. Airline staff in the aircraft and at ground will ... Read more

The corona virus outbreak has hit the tourism sector hard, in an unprecedented manner. In an interview, S Swaminathan , Managing Director of Dravidian Trails Holidays Pvt Ltd., Cochin, Kerala tells us why we can’t have a fixed time-frame for revival of the sector. He feels all stakeholders should spread the positive news about all the precautionary measures taken by the authorities. The authorities should now give the sector the required benefits that will help the tourism entrepreneurs rebuild the business. Excerpts: Q: Corona virus has impacted Kerala’s tourism fortunes to a very large extent. Can we attach a value ... Read more

CKTI President urges govt to take series of steps to revive sector The Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry (CKTI) has said the state’s tourism sector will witness a loss of revenue to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore this year, due to the severe impact of the corona virus. This calculation was done based on the fact that Kerala generated a sum of Rs 45,000 crore from the tourism sector last year. Hence, the confederation has requested the government to consider offering the state’s tour operators a cumulative sum of Rs 5 crore as Marketing Development Assistance (MDA). CKTI President ... Read more

No scheduled international commercial passenger aircraft should be allowed to land in India from March 22, for a period of one week, a statement from the Press Information Bureau said. All state governments should issue appropriate directions so that all citizens above 65 (other than for medical assistance) remain at home. Exemptions will be made for public representatives, government servants and medical professionals. Similarly all children below 10 should be advised to stay at home and not venture out. Railways and civil aviation will suspend all concessional travel except students and patients. States are being requested to enforce work from ... Read more

Australia has decided to halt all travel to the country for a period of six months. Only Australian citizens and permanent residents can come in, from March 20. All non-Australian residents will be barred from entering the country from Friday. The number of Covid-19 cases in Australia has crossed 700, with majority of cases coming in through overseas travel. Prime minister Scott Morrison said the travel ban was essential to stop the further spread of the virus. “The reason for this decision is that about 80% of the cases we have in Australia are either the result of someone who ... Read more

Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry (CKTI) President EM Najeeb “We are ready to give all support to any government decision to fight the COVID-19 menace. Even if they want to use all resorts and hotels as care centres in the state for quarantine measures, we will only be glad to do so.”

Uber has suspended its shared ‘Uber Pool’ class of rides, the company has said. The Uber Pool option would match up to three passengers together in one vehicle based on their destination. But the service is now seen as risky, with the spread of the corona virus. Uber Rides and Platforms Vice President Andrew Macdonald said that the company’s “goal is to help flatten the curve on community spread in the cities we serve” through suspension of the service. Its competitor Lyft has also announced that it would be “pausing shared ride options” across all markets where it offers them.

Even during the most depressing of times, there can often emerge a bright piece of news. In Venice, one of the world’s greatest tourist spots, marine life has come back to attract the crowd. Swans, dolphins and plenty of fish are seen again in the Venetian canals, much to the delight of the local people. With the advent of the corona virus, there are hardly any tourists in Italy and the same can be said about Venice, known for its canals. Tourists often take gondola rides down these canals, but with the country under a lock down there are hardly ... Read more

US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have agreed to close the US-Canada border to all non-essential travel in an attempt to curb the spread of corona virus. There is significant border crossing between the two neighbouring countries on the daily basis, with great tourist attractions on either side. “We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our northern border with Canada,” Trump tweeted. He said trade would not be affected. Both countries had already issued sweeping travel bans but had maintained exemptions for each other. Canada relies on the US for approximately 75% of its exports. ... Read more

The World Travel & Tourism Council India Initiative (WTTCII) has urged the Union government take a series of steps to help the tourism sector tide over the massive crisis brought about by the spread of the corona virus. The COVID-19, which is now a global pandemic, has already hit the hospitality and airline industry hard, with thousands of tourists cancelling their bookings. To start with, the council has requested the government to provide a GST (Good & Services Tax) holiday for all travel and tourism services for a period of two years. A moratorium on all interest and principal amounts ... Read more

The Delhi government has ordered three premium hotels in Aerocity area, near the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport to block 182 rooms for paid quarantine facilities for people flying in from abroad who are to be quarantined. These ‘Home Quarantine’ rooms would be for people who have been quarantined but are not satisfied with the quarantine facilities of hospitals and wish to be shifted to hotel rooms, according to The Indian Express. These people would have to pay the rent of these rooms. According to the orders of the Delhi government, the IBIS Hotel will have to set aside 92 ... Read more

All international airports in Sri Lanka will be closed for operation of inward international commercial passenger flights with effect from Thursday until March 25. The country’s civil aviation authority has said the decision was taken as per the instructions from Sri Lanka’s health authorities. The onslaught of the corona virus has hit Sri Lanka’s aviation industry hard, just like all countries globally. The statement will be reviewed by the Sri Lankan authorities at a later date.

IndiGo has announced that it will be cancelling its flights on Delhi-Istanbul and Chennai-Kuala Lumpur routes till March 31. “These are purely temporary and precautionary measures. We understand that these measures will cause inconvenience to our customers and we will be refunding the full amount to the impacted passengers,” the airline stated in a press release. The airline has already cancelled flights between Bangalore-Kuala Lumpur until March 31 and Delhi-Kuala Lumpur until April 30.

Indian low-cost carrier GoAir has suspended all international operations in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic, and asked its employees to opt for leave-without-pay on a rotational basis till April 15. “The sharp decline in air travel that we are currently experiencing is unprecedented,” GoAir said in a statement. The airline said that its short-term and temporary rotational leave-without-pay programme will not only help the company counter the short term reduction in capacity, but will also ensure that a cross-section of employees stays away from the workplace to ensure business continuity.

  കേരളം ടൂറിസം ഡിപ്പാർട്മെന്റ് അവരുടെ ഹെൽപ്‌ഡെസ്‌ക് പ്രവർത്തനങ്ങൾ ത്വരിതപ്പെടുത്തി. ഇതിന്റെ ഭാഗമായി വിദേശ ടൂറിസ്റ്റുകൾക്ക് താമസസൗകര്യം ഒരുക്കി കൊടുക്കുകയും, ഭക്ഷ്യ വസ്തുക്കൾ സമയത്തിന് എത്തിച്ചു കൊടുക്കാനും സാധിച്ചു 1 ഇന്നലെ രാത്രി 11.45 ന് എറണാകുളം വെല്ലിംഗ്ഡൻ ഐലന്റിൽ എത്തിയ ഡെൻമാർക് സ്വദേശിയായ വനിത സഞ്ചാരിക്ക് Help Desk ൽ വന്ന ടെലിഫോൺ സന്ദേശ പ്രകാരം എറണാകുളം ജോയിന്റ് ഡയറക്ടറും DTPC സെക്രട്ടറിയും ഇടപെട്ട് ബോൾഗാട്ടി പാലസിൽ താമസ സൗകര്യം ഒരുക്കി നല്കി. അവർക്ക് 20-ാം തീയതി സ്വദേശത്തേക്ക് മടങ്ങി പോകുന്നതിനുള്ള ക്രമീകരണങ്ങൾ ഫോർട്ട് കൊച്ചി സബ് കളക്ടറുമായി ചേർന്ന് ഒരുക്കി നൽകിയിട്ടുണ്ട്. 2 ഇന്നലെ വൈകിട്ട് ഫോർട്ട് കൊച്ചിയിൽ എത്തിയ യു.കെ, ജർമനി എന്നിവിടങ്ങളിൽ നിന്നുള്ള നാല് ടൂറിസ്റ്റ്കൾക്ക് പോലീസിന്റെയും ആരോഗ്യ വകുപിന്റെയും സഹായത്തോടെ മഹാരാജാസ് ആശുപത്രിയിൽ പരിശോധനയും താമസവും ഒരുക്കി നല്കി. അവർ ഇപ്പോഴും അവിടെ തുടരന്നു. അവർക്ക് ഭക്ഷണവും മറ്റുംനല്കുന്നതിനുള്ള ക്രമീകരണങ്ങളും ഒരുക്കിയിട്ടുണ്ട്. 3 മൂന്നാറിൽ ... Read more