Category: Top Stories

With the spread of coronavirus under control and domestic leisure travel growing, Middle East travel professionals are now looking to China to initiate international tourism. A joint survey conducted by the Ivy Alliance Tourism Consulting, China Comfort Travel Group (CCT), and Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), was discussed by a panel of experts during the three-day ATM Virtual event that is currently taking place. Danielle Curtis, the exhibition director (Middle East) of the Arabian Travel Market, said: “In China we are already witnessing the green-shoots of recovery and many industry experts are looking to China to kickstart international tourism.” Moderated ... Read more

Jalesh Cruises, India’s first premium cruise liner, has launched an industry-first application programme interface (API) with leading travel companies like Akbar Travels, Riya Travels, and Jagsons Travel Pvt Ltd. Through this partnership, Jalesh Cruises will integrate with the travel agencies’ existing systems by providing them with a convenient and seamless experience and update on a real-time basis. This will be done by connecting the data streams and allowing travel partners to access products, services on their portal, by corresponding the data flow across the connected supply chain. Through the API integration, the travel agents can avail of the benefits of ... Read more

The number of flights on offer from Munich Airport will be increased over the next few weeks. In the past few months, international air travel in particular had come to a virtual standstill on account of the numerous travel restrictions. Now, many airlines are starting to ramp up their operations again, starting June. Lufthansa will be flying regularly from Munich to Brussels, Milan, Rome, Vienna, and Zurich again within the next few days. On Tuesday, June 2, the airline reopened its route from Munich to Chicago. The first flight to Los Angeles is scheduled to take place on Wednesday. Initially, ... Read more

In accordance with relaxations in lockdown conditions as announced by the West Bengal government, Sinclairs Burdwan is reopening its property from June 5. The rooms, suite and the restaurant will start functioning from that date, but the bar will remain closed till further notice. The swimming pool also will not be operational. At Sinclairs Burdwan, high standards of cleanliness will be  maintained with special emphasis on hand washing hygiene to sanitising of guestrooms and common areas, the hotel said in a press release on Tuesday.  Sinclairs Burdwan is spread over approximately 4 acres of land and in view of its ... Read more

Greece has opened its hotels, thereby kick-starting its tourism sector chained by weeks of lockdown. The hotels opened yesterday, June 1, with strict safety regulations in place. Business remained quiet because international flights from its main airports will only start from June 15. With borders remaining shut in key tourism markets, some hotels have decided to reopen later, due to low reservations. Following are a number of new rules that must be followed by all hotels in Greece, according to the government decision. – All hotel employees (including interns) must wear a face mask (surgical or cloth) and disposable gloves. ... Read more

There will be no price hike for package tours and routes in 2020, vice president of the Russian Travel Industry Union, Yuri Barzykin said in an interview. “Will the package tours and routes become more expensive this year? No, they will not be more costly,” he said. The domestic tourist traffic will recover by August in absence of the second wave of the coronavirus spread, Barzykin said. “However, according to estimates of specialists, the traffic will decline in the domestic market by 30-50%, although the outbound tourism will not operate,” he added. “I believe Europe will start opening for us ... Read more

The InterContinental Moorea Resort & Spa in the French Polynesia will close permanently, with its business suffering hugely due to the coronavirus pandemic. The resort’s area general manager Guillaume Epinette cited “unforeseeable market conditions resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.” “The global health and economic downturn resulting from the novel coronavirus has had an exceptionally devastating impact on the travel and tourism industry,” said Epinette in a statement. “The permanent closure of the InterContinental Moorea Resort & Spa has been a very hard but carefully considered decision taken to preserve our other hotels within Pacific Beachcomber hotel group.” Pacific Beachcomber Hotels ... Read more

Greek Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis has presented a new plan for the promotion of domestic tourism. To start with, there will be an increase in funding of the Greek Manpower Employment Organization’s (OAED) subsidised social tourism programme to 30 million euros. Second is a 10-million-euro tax relief programme for companies, so they in turn can provide holiday coupons to employees. The third is bringing back the ‘Tourism for All’ programme with a 30 million-euro budget, which provides subsidised holidays for the unemployed, pensioners, and others who qualify due to low income. Theoharis noted that some 70 million euros will be ... Read more

Major players in Canada’s tourism and travel sectors have formed a new coalition to restore the industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Called the Canadian Tourism Roundtable, the cross-Canadian coalition is calling on all levels of government to work together to streamline and clarify rules around travel in order to ensure safe, accessible and timely travel for Canadians as early as this summer. The Roundtable comprises leaders from various sectors, including airports, airlines, hotels, chambers of commerce and others. The $102 billion travel and tourism sector, which has been devastated by the pandemic, supports some 1.8 million workers ... Read more

Tourists can return to Florida Keys from today, after a gap of two months. Highway checkpoints will come down and visitors can once again hit all the restaurants and attractions, a Miami Herald report said. But it won’t exactly be the same as before the pandemic. There will be rules to follow. Here’s what you can and can’t do if you are planning to visit: Monroe County requires masks in public. They should be worn while inside a business, working in public, on public transportation and when around people besides immediate family. They can be taken off while eating in restaurants, ... Read more

The Greek digital governance ministry has announced that it would be increasing its cash rebate for film produced and shot in Greece, to 40%. The plan is to enhance the country’s position as an attractive filming destination and bring in investors. The decision was announced during a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. On the initiative of the National Center of Audiovisual Media and Communication (EKOME), Greece is following the example of 30 European countries, including France, the UK, Spain and Italy, offering incentives to producers and investors to film on location. Besides the rebate increase, the new ... Read more

Based on the number of issued air tickets, China’s domestic air travel has reached more than 50% of what it was during the same period last year. This is according to data collected and analysed by travel analytics company, ForwardKeys. In addition, analysis of flight ticketing data reveals a significant uptick in last-minute domestic flight bookings in China between May 11 and 21. During that period, the lead time between ticketing and travel shortened dramatically; 72% of flight tickets were issued within 4 days of the travel date, compared with 51% at the equivalent point in 2019. This phenomenon is ... Read more

For years, Kuoni has been famous for luxury long-haul holidays but now it is planning to sell tailor-made holidays in and around Britain. It has announced plans to launch a new range of bespoke holiday itineraries throughout Scotland, England, Wales and the island of Ireland, as part of the plan. For this initiative Kuoni has partnered with McKinlay Kidd, which has been creating tailor-made holidays throughout the UK and Ireland since 2003, using local knowledge and expertise to design premium road trips with personal touches. A new UK section of the company’s website went live on Friday, featuring a range ... Read more

Dining at a table where each person is enclosed by a clear plastic shield might look and sound futuristic, but it could be one way for some restaurants to reopen, according to a report by international news agency AP. The prototype plastic shields are known as the “Plex’eat,” and they resemble big clear lampshades suspended from the ceiling. They are being showcased temporarily at H.A.N.D., a Parisian restaurant seeking a way to reopen its dining room as coronavirus restrictions are relaxed. As restaurateurs around the world seek to resume in-person dining amid the pandemic, they want to adhere to social ... Read more

Expedia Group, one of the world’s largest online travel agencies, is committing $275 million to help partners rebound from the impact of COVID-19. Research carried out by Expedia Group in April 2020 shows lodging partners want support from online travel agencies (OTAs) in four priority areas as they look to rebound from the pandemic: Demand trends insights on leisure and domestic travel, investments in marketing and demand generation for travel and destinations, increased visibility on sites and financial relief. Expedia Group’s recovery programme is comprised of global initiatives to support industry recovery and property-level relief designed to help independent partners ... Read more