Author: Tourism News live

Amsterdam announced on Thursday that it would ban vacation rentals including those on the home-sharing site Airbnb in three areas that make up the central old town from July 1. In the other neighbourhoods of the Dutch capital, vacation rentals will be allowed only with a special permit, and only for up to 30 days a year, to groups of no more than four people. Critics have long complained that the rise of Airbnb-style tourist rentals has torn the soul out of the centre of Europe’s best-loved tourist cities, from Edinburgh to Barcelona. Amsterdam housing councillor Laurens Ivens said in ... Read more

Dubai Tourism has teamed up with Snapchat with the aim to remind travellers of the fantastic weather in the Middle East and showcase all the top attractions virtually. Currently Dubai is preparing to welcome back tourists from July 7. Snapchat users will be able to select from four different augmented reality (AR) Snapchat Lenses, which have been developed with the intention of transporting users to Dubai (virtually) to experience the famous attractions that Dubai has to offer, including the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Frame, Al Seef and Madinat Jumeirah. “Dubai Tourism is delighted with the success of this creative partnership with ... Read more

In an effort to encourage domestic travel and offer much-needed support to Canada’s tourism sector, the Canadian government has announced that it would be committing a total of over $70 million. The funding includes $30 million towards domestic marketing through Destination Canada, and a little over $40 million towards destination marketing organizations (local tourism groups like Tourism Toronto) and select tourism-related projects in Southern Ontario, Northern Ontario and the West. There are also discussions to distribute funds to other regional development agencies for Atlantic Canada, Quebec and the North. “Our tourism sector and the 1.8 million people it employs across ... Read more

Uzbekistan is initiating a unique approach to restore its tourism industry by paying tourists $3,000 if they contract COVID-19 while visiting. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed an official order regarding this. “These are additional measures for the development of tourism in strict compliance with enhanced sanitary and epidemiological security.” As part of this decree, businesses across the country were awarded additional privileges for reopening guide services and translators, who are now able to reinstate their services. The funds for the purpose will come from the “Uzbekistan. Safe Travel Guaranteed” initiative. The dollar amount is meant to be equal to the estimated cost ... Read more

The Eiffel Tower reopened to visitors Thursday morning after having been shut down for more than three months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the Paris landmark’s longest closure since World War II. The reopening is a dramatic sign of people reclaiming public spaces in France following more than 100 days of restrictions. But the tower’s highest point is still not open – and for now, visitors will need to take the stairs. The stairs-only rule is one of several restrictions at the site, which draws millions of tourists during a normal year. Face masks are compulsory for all ... Read more

More than 30% of civilian pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses and are not qualified to fly, the country’s aviation minister has revealed. Addressing Pakistan’s National Assembly, Ghulam Sarwar Khan said 262 pilots in the country “did not take the exam themselves” and had paid someone else to sit it on their behalf. “They don’t have flying experience,” he said. Pakistan has 860 active pilots serving its domestic airlines — including the country’s Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flagship — as well as a number of foreign carriers. PIA has grounded all its pilots who hold fake licenses, effective immediately. “PIA ... Read more

Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading US airlines, announced that its member carriers will voluntarily pledge to refund tickets for any passenger who is found to have an elevated temperature, during a screening process conducted by federal authorities prior to travel. Last month, A4A and its member carriers announced they are supporting the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to begin conducting temperature screenings of the traveling public and customer-facing employees as long as necessary during the COVID-19 public health crisis. As all screening processes for the traveling public are the responsibility of the US government, having temperature checks ... Read more

India’s leading heritage hotel chain, WelcomHeritage, has announced the appointment of Abinash Manghani as its Chief Executive Officer. Earlier, he was with the ITC Hotels where he was responsible for the leisure & luxury verticals nationally and area manager for north India. He has been in the hospitality industry for over three decades. Speaking on his appointment, Abinash Manghani, CEO, WelcomHeritage said, “I am extremely delighted to join the WelcomHeritage group.” “WelcomHeritage Hotels, Palaces and Resorts are uniquely positioned and offer a “Safe Haven” during this pandemic. We have started the ‘Safety Ensured” initiative at all our properties to ensure cleanliness and disinfection ... Read more

The Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), which owns the Taj group of hotels, has announced the launch of its online food delivery platform, Qmin. Consumers can use the platform to order food from eight restaurants in Mumbai including Golden Dragon and Souk from Taj Mahal Palace, Thai Pavilion and Trattoria from President and Ming Yang from Taj Lands’ End to name a few. The launch will cover top ten markets in India including Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru among others over a period of five weeks. The Qmin mobile application will be launched on July 25. Puneet Chhatwal, managing director and ... Read more

The Oberoi Group, in association with Tourism Industry Stake Holders Association (TISHA) and Shimla Hotel Restaurant Association (SHRA), conducted an awareness programme on COVID preparedness on Thursday. Aligned with the Standard Operating Procedures issued by the Government of Himachal Pradesh, the programme was conducted with the vision to educate and build confidence amongst the hoteliers and restaurateurs in the state. The purpose of this programme was to help the hoteliers of Himachal Pradesh learn the finest practices and deliberate strategies for implementing high standards of safety measures. The training programme focussed on preparing the hotels to be COVID ready in ... Read more

The Delhi Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association on Thursday announced that Chinese nationals would no longer be provided accommodation in over 3,000 hotels and guest houses across the city. Said association president Sandeep Khandelwal, “The Chinese are not the world, we can survive without them as well. We are all law-abiding citizens and no one will take law in their hands, but this would make the Chinese worried. War and trade cannot happen at the same time.” Khandelwal added that the association would also try to get five-star hotels on board with this decision. While a majority of hotels have ... Read more

Texans travelling to New York, Connecticut or New Jersey will have to quarantine for 14 days under travel restrictions announced by governors in those states. The governors put the restrictions in place to prevent a new wave of coronavirus-infected visitors arriving from states where there has been a sharp uptick in cases following the reopening of businesses, bars, restaurants and entertainment venues. Texas is one of nine states with infection rates high enough to fit into the required quarantine category, but other states could be added if rates increase, Dallas News has reported. ”We now have to make sure the ... Read more

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his approval for declaring Kushinagar Airport in Uttar Pradesh as an international airport, during a cabinet meeting. Its elevation as an international airport will help the state to grow its tourism fortunes. Kushinagar Airport is located in the vicinity of several Buddhist Cultural Sites like Sravasti, Kapilvastu, and Lumbini. Kushinagar itself is a Buddhist cultural site. Declaring it an international airport will offer improved connectivity, wider choice of competitive costs to air-travellers from Kushinagar. It will result in boosting domestic/international tourism and economic development of the region. Kushinagar is located in the north-eastern part of Uttar ... Read more

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has told India’s flag carrier Air India that transportation of passengers — whether UAE nationals or not — to the emirates will not be allowed. If any one wishes to fly on a Vande Bharat Mission flight from India to Dubai, he or she will require “specific approval from the Embassy of UAE in New Delhi and UAE ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation (MOFAIC),” said an Air India spokesperson on Wednesday. “All passengers including the Indian Nationals who are holding valid Residency Permit/Work Permit of United Arab Emirates and have procured approval of the UAE’s Federal Authority ... Read more

Australia is likely to keep its borders shut to international travellers till 2021 to contain the spread of COVID-19. Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has announced that one of the reasons that helped Australia to contain the virus successfully was its decision to close down the borders. He added international border restrictions are likely to be there for some time to come. When he was specifically asked if it was more likely to happen next year, he added, “I think that is more likely the case”. It has been three months since an indefinite ban was implemented on international travel due to ... Read more