Category: Top Three Stories

Edgard Ziebat is not your regular tourist. He is a wanted criminal in his home country of Germany and had landed in New Delhi on March 18 from Vietnam. That’s where his luck ran out. He was looking to get to Turkey, but India ended up cancelling all flights to that country on the same day. Few days later, India suspended all international flights as the coronavirus pandemic was gathering pace. So, there he was, stuck at the transit area of the Indira Gandhi International airport with nowhere to go. When airport authorities contacted the German embassy, they refused to ... Read more

Greece’s premier vacation island, Santorini, may acquire a new look soon. While preparing to open up for a post COVID-19 summer tourism season with increased hygiene standards, resorts and bars in Santorini may have a new guest in the form of plexiglass screens. A Santorini bar owner has already taken an independent step when he surrounded the bar’s beachside lounge chairs with plexiglass screens for increased protection, Reuters reported. Demilmar, the famous bar located at Santorini’s famous black sand beach of Perissa, came up with the idea to encase lounge chairs in plexiglass. The bar management said it didn’t want ... Read more

China appears to be leading hospitality major Marriott’s recovery. Occupancy rates in China have gone from single-digit lows in February to just over 30% currently, “China does appear to be recovering and holding. I know there is lots of debate on if there’s a resurgence of the virus in China,” Marriott President and CEO Arne Sorenson said on Monday during the first quarter earnings call. “By and large, what we hear there is reassuring.” Coronavirus first impacted Marriott’s China portfolio in January before ramping up elsewhere in March. Marriott properties in Chinese resort markets saw close to 70% occupancy rates ... Read more

The Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, has won this year’s SKYTRAX Award for Best Regional Airport in India and Central Asia. In a statement, Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) has said that the airport was voted by customers as the Best Regional Airport in India & Central Asia for the third time in four years at the 2020 World Airport Awards. “For an 11-year old airport to be named Best Regional Airport in India & Central Asia for the third time is a remarkable achievement for Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru. This award reaffirms our commitment to provide a world-class experience for ... Read more

Even when the world stands still in a state of shock and surprise, a group of friends from the tourism and hospitality fraternity is joining hands to raise some funds through voluntary contributions to help at least 100 chosen, needy and deserving people within the tourism trade, with a strong resolve that no one from the industry should even think of committing suicide. “In the first phase we intend to offer assistance for medical aid and educational aid. In case you know a person from within our industry or in your organisation who deserves any of the afore-mentioned assistance, please ... Read more

The Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) Society has urged its members to contribute to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, to support the government in fighting the pandemic. “It is our responsibility to extend support to the government by contributing our humble share towards Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, even though we are in deep trouble,” said KTM President Baby Mathew, in a letter addressed to the members. “Every small amount of help from us is valuable and we can collectively extend our financial support to the government. Requesting all the members to make this effort successful by contributing financial assistance as much ... Read more

The state government should immediately announce relief measures for the benefit of micro and medium scale entrepreneurs in the tourism sector, the Association of Tourism Trade Organisations India (ATTOI) President, Vinod CS has said. “Concerns of taxi drivers, guides and such other people in the unorganised sector have not been addressed. The government has promised action but nothing has come through so far,” he said. “It’s high time the government announced something substantial. We have been waiting for many weeks now. Small time tourism entrepreneurs, tour operators and homestays need help at this time. I hope the government will do ... Read more

The South Kerala Hotelier’s Forum (SKHF) has urged the state government to waive off fixed electricity charges for the next six months, instead of allowing deferment of the same. Most of the other states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat etc have already waived of fixed charges for HT consumers since March 2020. These states have big factories and industries where the fixed charges are huge. Still, these states were the first to announce such big relief measures to consumers, SKHF secretary general Manoj Babu said. “We had requested the Kerala government for waiver of fixed charges. But as the ... Read more

Domestic tourism will help the sector get back into shape as more people will look to take ‘revenge holidays’ after being in the lock-down phase for so long, President of The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) Nakul Anand has said. He said travel would be essential as the entire population has been staying inside and going out to some place within drivable distance may be one of the things they may want do. “Every disaster comes with seeds of opportunity. We must keep one eye on the microscope and one on the telescope, as the opportunities ... Read more

The Kerala government has said the industry can defer the payment of fixed electricity charges for a period of six months. This was announced by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, after tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran discussed the matter with the state electricity board (KSEB) chairman. The request from the trade was for waiver of fixed charges. But since the fixed charge is for contracted demand, KSEB has to make this payment to the suppliers. “We have informed KSEB that unlike industries, the recovery of the hotels and resorts in the tourism industry will be delayed as it will take time for ... Read more

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have called for support from governments to the aviation industry, to protect jobs and ensure that air services can be maintained. The economic situation facing the aviation industry is severe. Air passenger demand is down 80%. Airlines are facing a liquidity crisis which threatens the viability of 25 million jobs directly and indirectly dependent upon aviation, including jobs in the tourism and hospitality sectors. In a joint statement ITF and IATA called for governments to: Ensure that the protection of health workers caring for those with COVID-19 ... Read more

The South India Hotels and Restaurants Association (SIHRA) has urged the Kerala state government to help the hospitality sector by issuing suitable directions to the electricity board to help them reduce their overheads. In a letter to electricity minister MM Mani, SIHRA vice-president (Kerala) Suresh M Pillai said power bills are one of the major expenses for the hospitality industry. The letter requested the minister to waive off demand charges during the lock-down period and energy bills be charged on the basis of actual consumption units. The load factor incentives should be calculated excluding the lock-down period and average bills ... Read more

The Ayurveda Promotion Society (APS) is devising a plan to fight the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which has ravaged the travel and tourism industry. In an online meeting convened on Saturday, APS members discussed the importance of surviving the crisis first before launching into top gear. While most members talked about the importance of marketing campaigns revolving around how ayurveda can build immunity, some felt that the concept should not be overstated. Dr D Ramanathan, President, Ayurveda Medicine Manufactures Association of India (AMMOI), said the Indian government is seeing a growth of 20% this year in the ayurveda industry ... Read more

Indian carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet have said that the money paid by customers – for air travel before May 3 – will be kept under a credit shell. IndiGo said it is in the process of issuing the credit shell for customers, and this can be used within one year from the date of issue. SpiceJet said since flight operations have been suspended till May 3, bookings will automatically be cancelled and the amount will be kept under credit shell, which can be used to make a fresh booking for travel till February 28.

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the US hospitality sector hard. About 80% of rooms in the US are empty, according to a new study. Hotel occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room were down significantly year-over-year for the week of March 29 through April 4, per a new report from STR, a firm that analyses hospitality industry data. Compared with the week of March 31 to April 6 last year, hotel occupancy was down nearly 70%, with only 21.6% rooms filled. “Data worsened a bit from last week, and certain patterns were extended around occupancy,” Jan Freitag, STR’s ... Read more