Category: Top Stories

New Zealanders got out in force around the country during the school holidays, with some areas enjoying a boost of more than 50% in domestic tourist numbers compared to last year, according to a report by New Zealand Herald. New data shows the number of New Zealanders outside of their home region peaked at 550,000 on July 11 – the highest since March. Kaikoura had a 56% boost in numbers and the West Coast 51% as the South Island benefited most from increased travel by Kiwis, who are now largely confined to this country for holidays as a result of ... Read more

Uttarakhand’s minister of tourism Satpal Maharaj has urged Prahlad Patel, the Union Minister of Tourism and Culture, to release funds for the ongoing tourism projects in the mountain state. Maharaj requested Patel to provide in-principle approval of the ‘Mahabharata Circuit’ concept note. It’s the state’s pet tourism project as it believes the circuit can be a trailblazer. The Union minister was also requested to sanction funds for the ‘Swadesh Darshan’ and ‘Prasad’ schemes. Maharaj informed Patel that 98% of the construction work of the Eco and Adventure Destination in Tehri has already been completed under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme. The ... Read more

The UAE has introduced mandatory testing for all airline passengers travelling to the country. Travellers must undergo tests in their country of origin and present a negative test report at check-in desks before flying to the Emirates. The new system will be in place from August 1, says a report by The National. The National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) said the rules applied to “all Emiratis, residents, and tourists, arriving via the country’s airports, irrespective of the countries they are coming from”, according to state news agency Wam. The rules also apply to all transit passengers passing ... Read more

Emirates has announced that it will resume passenger services to Seychelles from August 1, coinciding with the country’s re-opening to international tourists. Operating flights to Seychelles five times a week with a Boeing 777-300ER, Emirates offers travellers convenient access to this popular Indian Ocean holiday destination. The Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, off East Africa. Seychelles is home to numerous beaches, coral reefs and nature reserves, as well as rare animals such as giant Aldabra tortoises. Mahé, a hub for visiting the other islands, is home to capital Victoria. It also has the mountain rainforests ... Read more

Marriott International has announced the opening of its 800th property in Asia Pacific, the JW Marriott Nara in Japan. The launch marks the entry of the JW Marriott brand into Japan. The company also expects the EDITION and Aloft brands to debut in Japan before the end of the year. “We remain confident in the resilience of travel, our owners and franchisees, guests and associates as well as the future prospects of lodging in Asia Pacific, our second largest market,” said Craig S. Smith, Group President, Asia Pacific for Marriott International. “We are encouraged by recent trends, especially in China, ... Read more

While tourism businesses have called for more government help, Tourism New Zealand is counting on Kiwis spending more on their domestic travels to help the sector recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. New research commissioned by the tourism board found that cost was one of a number of potential barriers to travel, with more than a quarter (28%) of survey respondents saying they believe holidays in New Zealand are too expensive and lack value for money, according to a report by Stuff. “When people travel overseas they tend to spend more because they try new things,” Tourism New Zealand general manager ... Read more

Fiji has announced a range of incentives in its annual budget of 2020-21 to promote tourism, including tax cuts, pricing reductions across the hospitality sector and a move to drop quarantine requirements for tourists from New Zealand. Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum while presenting the budget said several measures have been taken including tax reductions to stimulate the tourism sector, its biggest income earner. Hotel accommodation, food and beverages prices have been reduced, and the first 150,000 visitors to its shores will get $400 each towards packages including flights, accommodation and food and beverages, according to a report by Stuff. Sayed-Khaiyum said market surveys had ... Read more

Within 24 hours of the flight ban being lifted on Wednesday, around 1,200 Britons had landed in Greece. By Friday, a reported 200 planes had flown from the UK to the country’s 18 regional airports, according to a report by The Guardian. “Today, we can’t wait to have them,” said Charalambos Varvarigos, the vice-mayor of Laganas, the Zakynthian resort often associated with youthful hedonism. “We have always had a big soft spot for the English. Only 60% of our hotels are open but they are beginning to come,” he said. Britons are Greece’s most lucrative European market, with more than ... Read more

Etihad Airways will resume passenger flights from Abu Dhabi to Shanghai from July 27. “The service will operate with an initial weekly flight using a Boeing 777-300ER, featuring business and economy cabins,” the airline announced in a statement on Monday. Robin Kamark, Etihad Aviation Group Chief Commercial Officer, said, “We are delighted to announce the resumption of scheduled services to China, as we gradually return to more destinations on our global network, supporting the recovery of economic and social activities worldwide. Our priority now is to build the network back up on markets that have opened up and to provide ... Read more

The number of hotel room bookings under the “Rao Pai Tiew Gun” (Let’s travel together) campaign has reached 3.6 million. The campaign is one of the government’s tourism stimulus measures, providing a 40% discount per night (but not exceeding five nights) to 5 million travellers. Traisuree Taisaranakul, a deputy government spokeswoman, said that travellers are still booking hotels in the major tourism cities, most of them in the western and eastern regions, according to a report by Nation Thailand. People mostly booked hotels near the seaside for largely one-night stays. For slightly longer stays, people mostly booked hotels in the ... Read more

In an effort to persuade more travellers to visit a portion of Eastern Montana, a coalition is seeking improvement to facilities along a 163-mile stretch of the Yellowstone River between Hysham and the North Dakota border. The 12-member Lower Yellowstone River Coalition — composed of business people, conservationists, politicians and recreation-minded individuals — sees the initiative as a way to boost tourism at a time when outdoor recreation is surging amongst a pandemic-anxious public, Billings Gazette has reported. “Outdoor recreation along the Yellowstone has not been promoted, nor seen its potential fully developed east of Billings, and it’s time to improve that situation ... Read more

Saudi Arabia is sticking by its target of attracting 100 million visits by 2030 despite the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its fledgling tourism sector, Arab News has reported. Saudi Tourism Authority Adviser Mahmoud Abdulhadi said that about a half a million tourism visas had been issued between last autumn and the arrival of the pandemic in the Kingdom in the spring, which brought international air travel to a halt. “Whenever there is a crisis of sorts (such as the coronavirus pandemic), tourism is probably the first to suffer but also the first to rebound, so this gives ... Read more

Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, has warned that tourism entities that fail to comply with health and safety protocols designed to facilitate the phased reopening of the tourism sector amid the COVID-19 pandemic, will be shut down. Speaking at the Golf View Hotel in Manchester, during a tour of the newly opened South Coast Resilient Corridor on the weekend, the Minister stressed that: “If you are not COVID compliant we are going to shut you down and whether you’re big or you’re small, because we cannot compromise on health security.” Minister Bartlett said: “The start of the South Coast ... Read more

The United States territory of Guam has announced its plan to allow short-term travellers from Taiwan to enter the island free of quarantine beginning July 24, according to Taiwan News. In Guam, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is waning and its pandemic restrictions are easing as business gets back to normal. The tourism reliant island is set to initially relax the social gathering rule, reopen schools and businesses on July 20, followed by border relaxation on July 24. Those who plan to visit Guam for five days or less and are from listed “low-risk” countries will be exempt from quarantine as ... Read more

Suvarnabhumi Airport is seeing an increase in passenger traffic after the government eased lockdown measures in the fifth phase that allowed domestic travel, Nation Thailand has reported. Wing Commander Suthirawat Suwanawat, general manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport, said that from July 1-15, the airport had seen operation of 3,205 flights (1,604 incoming and 1,601 outgoing) or 214 flights per day on average. “The total number of passengers using the airport was 174,912 (85,758 incoming and 89,154 outgoing), or 11,661 passengers per day on average, which is a big jump from the previous months when the fifth phase of the easing of ... Read more