Category: Top Stories

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

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said that the state would be supporting tourism sector employees who have been affected by the pandemic by protecting as many jobs as possible. Speaking at a meeting with Rhodes tourism professionals, Mitsotakis committed to provide for tourism sector employees, particularly seasonal staff in the “hard winter ahead”, to preserve as many jobs as possible, and to protect income “until the next tourist season, which I want to believe, I am almost certain, will be very different”, he said. The prime minister added that seasonal enterprises, those that generate over 50% of their turnover in the summer will be ... Read more

Uttarakhand is looking to develop a ‘Ramayana Circuit’, comprising all holy sites linked with Ramayana in the state, to boost religious tourism. Under the initiative, officials are keen to bring holy sites associated with Ramayana and build them for tourists to visit and learn about. “We have some holy sites and temples in the state which are linked with Ramayana. We will develop all of them and bring it under our initiative of Ramayana circuit to boost religious tourism in the state,” state tourism minister Satpal Maharaj said. “We have some holy sites and temples in the state which are ... Read more

Goa has framed new quarantine rules by which institutional quarantine has been made mandatory for symptomatic passengers till test result is available. The new directives require all passengers landing in Goa to go for 14-day home quarantine or 14 days of paid institutional quarantine. Passengers can skip home quarantine in the following cases: If the passenger furnishes a COVID-19 negative certificate issued by an ICMR-recognized lab. The test should not be older than 48 hours prior to the arrival in Goa. If the passenger chooses to take a swab test upon landing at a cost of INR 2000, and goes ... Read more

The iconic Emirates A380 will begin serving travellers on flights to Toronto starting August 16. The airline has already resumed A380 operations to Amsterdam, Cairo, Paris, London Heathrow and Guangzhou.  Customers can fly the Emirates A380 from Dubai to Toronto five times a week. Flights can be booked on emirates.com or via travel agents. Emirates flight EK 241 will depart Dubai at 9:10 and arrive in Toronto at 15:05 local time. The return flight, EK 242 will depart Toronto at 21:45 and arrive in Dubai at 18:30 local time, the following day. The Emirates A380 experience remains a favourite amongst travellers for its spacious ... Read more

TGI Hotels and Resorts has announced that seven of its properties have won the TripAdvisor 2020 Travellers’ Choice Awards. La Montana by TGI – Ooty, TGI Star Holidays Resort – Yercaud, TGI Kairos – Yelagiri, TGI Grand Fortuna – Hosur, South End by TGI – Bangalore, Fountain Tree by TGI – Bangalore and TGI Apple INN – Jaipur are the properties that have won the awards. “We are immensely delighted about the recognition. This incredible news could not have come at a better time for our team,” said Amit Kumar – Chief Marketing Officer of TGI Hotels & Resorts. “It is uplifting and much appreciated to ... Read more

ITC Hotels has reopened its Grand Goa property after taking into account all possible safety and hygiene measures. With its ‘We Assure’ initiative, ITC Hotels is trying to offer guests comfort and peace of mind, keeping in mind the pandemic situation. At ITC Hotels, all additional safety measures have been deployed to mitigate the risk of infection, the hotel chain said in a press release. The ‘new normal’ protocol makes thermal screening, safe distancing and usage of masks mandatory across all levels of operation at the hotel. Usage of disposable gloves during service and additional protective gear, where required is ... Read more

Sinclairs Hotels has announced that three of its properties namely, Sinclairs Retreat Ooty, Sinclairs Retreat Kalimpong and Sinclairs Siliguri have won the Tripadvisor 2020 Travellers’ Choice Awards. These three properties have been ranked in the top 10% of hotels worldwide and placed in an exclusive group ‘Best of the Best’ based on ratings and reviews from travellers across the world. Swajib Chatterjee, Chief Operating Officer, Sinclairs Hotels Ltd. said, “We are delighted that three of our iconic properties have won the prestigious Tripadvisor’s Travellers’ Choice ‘Awards. The credit goes to our team for the consistently high standards of service to ... Read more

Singapore is seeking to open the door to a wider range of business and leisure visitors to boost its hard-hit tourism sector, with the return of mass travel still a long way off amid the pandemic, according to the head of the country’s tourism agency. The industry expects more job losses in the coming months once existing government support for rent, taxes and salaries starts tapering off, Keith Tan, chief executive officer of the Singapore Tourism Board said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin. Job losses so far in the sector have been in the “very low thousands,” ... Read more

Dubai’s medical tourism sector is bouncing back from the effects of Covid-19, with a recent resurgence in numbers of visitors seeking medical treatment as restrictions on travel are gradually lifted. With more countries than ever out of reach to medical tourists in neighbouring nations, many are looking to Dubai for the level of treatment they require, The National has reported. “Dubai is quite an attractive prospect given its ease of access for those from neighbouring countries,” said Christian Schumacher, chief executive of King’s College Hospital London, Dubai. “We are seeing an upturn in the number of visitors from countries with ... Read more

Jalesh Cruises has said that it will commence cruise operations from November 6, following the Indian government’s decision to allow sailing from October 1. As a result, MV Karnika will set sail on that day, the company said in a press release on Tuesday. To offer a safe and secure holiday on the sea, Jalesh Cruises will offer all passengers free rapid Covid-19 testing at the time of embarkation. Passengers will receive their test results in 15 minutes, board the ship without any fears or worries and set sail into the blue. Jurgen Bailom, President and CEO, Jalesh Cruises said, “The announcement ... Read more

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) says that if the country remains closed in the last quarter of the year, the number of foreign tourists will dramatically shrink to seven million for 2020. TAT deputy governor for tourism products and services, Thapanee Kiatphaibool, said while domestic tourism has started to rebound, most businesses are still feeling the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first six months of this year, the number of foreign tourists stood at 6.69 million, a contraction of 66% compared with 2019, according to a report by Bangkok Post. The industry, however, has been helped by ... Read more

Air New Zealand has partnered with Tourism New Zealand on a campaign launched this year to get Kiwis holidaying around the country while foreign tourists aren’t allowed. The winter phase of the ‘Do something new, New Zealand’ campaign launched on Monday and hopes to boost the number of people hitting the slopes at Aotearoa’s ski fields. Holiday destinations Taupo, Christchurch and Queenstown will be promoted through social media, digital display advertising and online during the campaign. Bjoern Spreitzer of Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) says working with Air NZ is “vital to continue positive momentum”. As well as increasing domestic capacity ... Read more

Singapore will make incoming travellers wear an electronic monitoring device to ensure that they comply with coronavirus quarantine, even as it reopens its borders. From August 11, the devices will be given to incoming travellers, including citizens and residents, from a select group of countries, Reuters has reported. Travellers to Singapore are required to activate the device, which uses GPS and Bluetooth signals, upon reaching home. They will receive notifications on the device which they must acknowledge. Any attempt to leave home or tamper with the device will trigger an alert to the authorities. Singapore, which has not given details ... Read more

Kenya Airways resumed international flights on Saturday, heading to about 30 destinations for the first time since the routes were suspended in March due to the coronavirus, Reuters has reported. The carrier, in which Air France KLM holds a small stake, resumed domestic flights in mid-July after the government cleared local air travel. “We announced we are starting with 27 destinations, we increased it to 30 just following demand,” Allan Kilavuka, the airline’s chief executive officer, said during a ceremony ahead of seeing off a flight to London. He said for the rest of the year the airline expected demand ... Read more