Category: Round Up

There is a saying that greater are the chances of Arabs learning Malayalam, than Malayalis learning Arabic, in the UAE. If there is one Indian state that has been able to pull its weight during lockdown, as far as the Gulf countries are concerned, it is Kerala. Sensing the strong demand, India has announced 44 more repatriation flights from the UAE to Kerala. These flights will operate from June 19 to 30. Population-wise and in terms of the number of stranded Indians registered to fly back home from the UAE, Malayalis outnumber Indian expats from other states. The readiness of ... Read more

Only 30 hotels have applied to the Goa Tourism Department for permission to reopen, as the state prepares itself to restart tourism. “We have received around 30 applications from various hotels as of now. We will scrutinise these and after the government takes a call, we will allow them to open,” Director (Tourism) Menino D’Souza has said. The number of applications is low, considering the state is home to several hundreds of hotels and home stays. The state’s hospitality sector has seen many people lose their jobs due to the pandemic, and many of the hotels are not in any ... Read more

Hotels in Darjeeling, probably Bengal’s top tourist destination, have decided to down their shutters indefinitely from July 1. Though the West Bengal government has allowed the reopening of hotels and restaurants from June 8, the Darjeeling Hotel Owners’ Association says it is not feasible to operate with only a few tourists arriving due to the pandemic. The decision may affect the livelihood of 10,000 families associated with the industry in the hill station and its outskirts. There are 380 hotels in Darjeeling town and its outskirts that accommodate nearly 4.5 lakh tourists every year. “We do not see any tourist ... Read more

To ensure that visitors feel safe while eating out, restaurants need to take several measures to make them feel comfortable and at ease, post lockdown. Towards this the Ministry of Tourism has laid out procedures to be followed by   restaurants and dining facilities in other accommodation units. Restaurants in containment zones shall remain closed. Only those outside containment zones will be allowed to open. Takeaways to be encouraged, instead of dine-In. Persons above 65 years of age, persons with comorbidities, pregnant women and children below the age of 10 years are advised to stay at home, except for essential and ... Read more

Air India will operate special flights to India from June 15-30, for Indians stranded in Europe. The bookings will begin today at 8 am GMT (1.30 pm IST). This is under the third phase of Vande Bharat Mission. “Please note that the applicant should be registered with the local Indian Embassy/High Commission,” Air India tweeted. Many passengers, however, may not be able to book domestic tickets to their home states. The High Commission of India, London, has said all passengers who wish to travel to any destination in India may travel to Delhi. However, passengers will have to undergo quarantine ... Read more

A major organisation in the tourism trade has raised concerns over the high price of tickets for domestic air travel, saying it will make it hard for the sector to recover. Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) president Tan Kok Liang told Free Malaysia Today (FMT) that the impact would be felt on domestic tourism involving air travel, such as between Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia. “Sabah and Sarawak depend significantly on domestic tourists from Peninsular Malaysia,” he said. He proposed that the governments of the two states waive some travel restrictions so as to encourage tourism despite ... Read more

The Centre and state governments should leverage India’s massive network of heritage sites as a tool for development and employment generation by providing improved services to domestic and international tourists, a NITI Aayog report suggested. Each Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) site should be a profit centre, NITI Aayog said. “Food and beverage revenues are not leveraged to the extent possible, and sites with already heavy footfalls are losing a massive opportunity. Lease, rental and revenue sharing models are used globally in this respect and the same can be mirrored here,” noted the working group report on ‘Improving Heritage Management ... Read more

Hiring declined by 61% in May due to the nationwide lockdown to contain COVID-19 pandemic, a study has said. This is the second consecutive month in which more than 60% decline in hiring has occurred. Recruitment fell to 910 job postings in May compared to 2,346 in the same month last year, according to the study by NaukriJobSpeak Index, which is a monthly index that calculates and records hiring activities based on the job listings on Naukri.com. The report further revealed that the decline in hiring is led by industries like hospitality, travel, and aviation (91%), retail (87%), auto ancillary ... Read more

Given the current COVID-19 outbreak, it is important that all hotels, restaurants and other hospitality units take suitable measures to restrict any further transmission of the virus while providing accommodation and other tourist services post lockdown, the Ministry of Tourism has said. The guidelines aim to minimise all possible physical contacts between a staff and guests and maintain social distancing and other preventive and safety measures against COVID-19. It also tries to make the traceability of the guests easier, in case a situation in future warrants so. These guidelines will apply to Bed and Breakfast (B&B), Homestay and Farmstay units. ... Read more

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has slammed the decision of the UK government to make travellers arriving in the UK, undergo a 14-day quarantine. This will cost millions of tourism jobs, he warned. He said his airline is experiencing a “collapse of inward bookings” for flights this summer, because people are being told to self-isolate for 14 days under government measures that came into effect on Monday. The British government is looking to guard against a second wave of coronavirus. All passengers, bar a handful of exemptions, now have to fill out an online locator form giving their contact and travel ... Read more

Abad Hotels & Resorts will restart its properties across Kerala from today, after the government decided to lift lockdown restrictions to revive the economy. Abad, one of the best-known hospitality groups in Kerala, has properties in Kochi, Munnar, Marari Beach, Wayanad, Kumarakom, Thekkady, Kovalam and Alleppey. “Keeping pace with the present times, we have revised and enhanced our standard operating procedure to provide greater care to guests,” Abad Hotels & Resorts stated in its note, while announcing the reopening of its units. ·     Temperature check on arrival for all residential and non- residential guests. ·     Safe status on Arogya setu app as ... Read more

Sinclairs Hotels on Monday reopened its Siliguri property, a few days after restarting operations at Sinclairs Burdwan. The hotel has been opened in line with protocols laid down by the authorities, the hospitality group stated in a press release. Located at the Pradhannagar area, Sinclairs Siliguri is an expansive property spread over a campus of around 3 acres with a large lawn, a huge terrace and ample open spaces. It has taken extensive steps in sanitizing the entire property and setting up safety protocols to ensure that all norms with regard to touch-free check in and check out as well ... Read more

As part of its repatriation drive, India has announced additional flights from Doha, to meet demand. The Indian Embassy in Qatar has updated a list of repatriation flights from Doha to various cities in India. These flights are set to operate between June 9 and June 19. Air India Express will now be operating flights from Doha to Coimbatore, Delhi, Kannur, Kochi, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Madurai, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram and Trichy. The third phase of Vande Bharat Mission is set to commence on June 11 and will be carried out until June 30.

Repatriation flights from Kuwait to Kerala will begin on June 9. Only three flights are scheduled to Kerala from the Gulf country in the third phase of Vande Bharat Mission, The Indian government has scheduled a total of six flights from Kuwait to India. The first flight to Kerala will take off from Kuwait on June 9 at 2 pm and land at Kozhikode by 9.20 pm. The second flight will take off on June 12 at 3.40 pm and land at Thiruvananthapuram at 11.10 pm. The last flight to Kerala will leave Kuwait on June 14 at 11.30 am ... Read more

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has decided to permit 820 protected monuments to open across India, but Taj Mahal in Agra isn’t one of them. The Taj Mahal has been closed for tourists since March 17, the longest closure of the monument in its existence. The list put out by ASI has only centrally protected monuments that have active places of worship. Although the Taj Mahal has a mosque where regular Namaz is conducted every Friday, the monument is closed on that day and hence will have no impact on tourism. Rajiv Tiwari, President of the Federation of Travel ... Read more