Category: Top Three Stories

The national committee of IATA Agents Association of India (IAAI) has urged the entrepreneurs, employees & self-employed stakeholders, to participate in a nationwide e-signature campaign as a follow-up appeal to the Prime Minister of India, to prevent loss of jobs and revenue in the tourism sector. Travel agencies, tour operators, GDS & technology companies, travel & tourism training institutes, tourist guides, home stays and the entire supply chain of travel & tourism businesses in India, should participate in the campaign, IATA said. To participate one can e-sign the appeal online @IAAI, or visit website: iaai.in, IAAI president Biji Eapen said. ... Read more

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), including leaders from the tourism sector, has requested the Kerala chief minister to provide a subsistence allowance of Rs 9,000 for every employee in the sector. In a virtual conference attended by Pinarayi Vijayan, the tourism industry said the moratorium for loans and interests should be extended for a minimum period of one year. A soft loan with low interest rate for the industry to meet the costs for a year, electricity to be charged on actual usage basis for the hospitality sector, GST holiday for the tourism industry for a year and road ... Read more

The Kerala government is planning to announce a stimulus package for industries such as tourism, minister Kadakampally Surendran has said. Addressing the tourism stakeholders through a virtual meeting organised by Kerala Travel Mart (KTM), the state tourism minister said a big public relations (PR) initiative has to be taken up for the industry to come out of this present crisis. “Our PR work should improve. The message should go out that Kerala is a safe destination to visit,” minister Surendran said, reminding everyone about the solid work that the state has done to control the spread of the virus. At ... Read more

Association of Tourism Trade Organisations India (ATTOI) is inviting all the stakeholders of the entire tourism industry in Kerala to a scheduled virtual meeting on Tuesday. The virtual conference on April 7, to be hosted on Zoom, will start at 12.20 pm IST. Kerala Tourism Minister Kadakampalli Surendran will also join the meeting. For joining the online session you have to download the Zoom software from your Google Playstore. You can use your laptop/desktop/smartphone for this purpose. Make sure you have a microphone, camera and uninterrupted internet connection and your surrounding must be quiet while attending the session. Join Zoom ... Read more

Phuket, the tourism magnet of Thailand, is entering the shutdown phase from Monday. Transportation to the island will be banned, and the lockdown will last for a month. Phuket Governor Pakkapong Taweepat has said boats, cars and trucks providing essential goods and services are exempted. Last week the government had imposed emergency rules and now the decision to enter the lockdown phase is a clear indication that the country is in a very cautious mode, as it fights the epidemic. About 56% of total employment in Phuket is in tourism-related industries, the Bank of Thailand said in a note. Thailand’s ... Read more

Taking into account the unparalleled introduction of travel restrictions across the world, the United Nations specialized agency for tourism, UNWTO, expects that international tourist arrivals will be down by 20-30% in 2020 when compared with last year. However, UNWTO stresses that these numbers are based on the latest developments as the global community faces up to an unprecedented social and economic challenge and should be interpreted with caution in view of the extreme uncertain nature of the current crisis. An expected fall of between 20-30% could translate into a decline in international tourism receipts (exports) of between US$300-450 billion, almost ... Read more

The German Consulate has informed the Kerala government that it is planning to evacuate German tourists on March 28. The plan is to bring all of them to Thiruvananthapuram on March 27, and they have drawn up a list of 151 tourists for this purpose. Kerala Tourism secretary Rani George said, “I would request the help desks in association with the volunteer groups to contact them and find out where they have been in past 14 days in Kerala, whether they have any symptoms or tested negative.” ” If not please coordinate to provide assistance to do the tests. This ... Read more

Hyatt Hotels has announced furloughs and pay cuts as the hotel industry reels from the corona virus pandemic. Hyatt on Wednesday said the pay cuts would affect all of its employees from April 1 through May 31. The company did not provide details on the amount of the pay cuts. The company will also impose temporary furloughs or significantly cut the schedules of two-thirds of its U.S. corporate employees. The chain had about 55,000 employees at the end of 2019, according to its annual report. Given the financial impact on our business, we have had to make difficult decisions that ... Read more

Indian-American hoteliers have come to the rescue of Indian students in the US. Many Indian students are left stranded following lockdown measures in the country, following the coronavirus pandemic. The hoteliers are providing a great help to these students by offering them free accommodation and meals. Many of the students have been asked to vacate their hostels and with India banning international flights for a week from March 22, more than 6,000 rooms in nearly 700 hotels were offered to them by Wednesday following a call from the Indian Embassy. The Indian Embassy have been running a round-the-clock helpline since ... Read more

The corona virus crisis will hit the hospitality sector harder than 9/11 and the great economic recession combined, Marriott International Arne Sorenson has said. “What we’re seeing is dramatically worse than what we saw in those two prior crises,” Sorenson told CNBC. In those two instances, the worst quarterly declines in global revenue that Marriott experienced was around 25%, Sorenson said. “We’re now seeing revenue down 75% plus, probably I suspect nearing a 90% decline in the United States. And obviously at those levels there just isn’t any business in hotels,” said Sorenson, who suspended his salary for the year. ... Read more

Airplane manufacturer Boeing has said it would halt production at its Washington state factory for two weeks due to the accelerating spread of the corona virus in the region. Boeing plans to reduce production this week and will suspend all operations on March 25 for 14 days. During this period, the company will be conducting deep cleaning activities at impacted sites. Employees will continue to work from home if they can, and those who can’t will receive paid leave for 10 days. “Critical distribution operations in support of airline, government, and maintenance, repair and overhaul customers will continue,” Boeing said ... Read more

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the deadline for filing returns of goods and services tax (GST) for the months of March, April and May has been extended to June 30. The last date for filing belated income tax returns for FY18-19 has also been extended to the same date. But the move to extend the GST filing deadline cannot in any way provide sufficient relief to some of the hardest hit sectors in the economy, most notably the travel and tourism segment. The tourism sector had asked for a GST holiday for a period of 12 months, ... Read more

Private vehicles of employees working at the Bengaluru airport were obstructed on Tuesday while they were traveling to their workplace. Buses were also prevented from going to the airport with employees. Hari Marar, MD & CEO of the Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL) said these employees perform tasks that are critical for the functioning of the airport, including security, airlines, immigration, customs, fire services, air traffic control and technology support. In support of the Government’s decision to bring the situation under control, the airport will remain closed to passengers from March 24, 2359 hours IST, to March 31, 2359 hours ... Read more

Kerala has decided to close its borders and enter a lock-down mode, as Covid-19 cases continue to rise. The lock-down will continue till March 31. Essential services will remain open, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said. Borders will be closed and the state will intensify monitoring activities. The chief minister announced that all liquor shops in the state will remain closed until further orders. These measures were decided during a high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Minister. Public transport will not be allowed to ply but private vehicles will be allowed. Hospitals and petrol pumps will function. Restaurants will be shut ... Read more

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has said that all domestic commercial airlines will cease operations from the midnight of March 24. Airlines have to plan operations so as to land at their destination before 11.59 pm. The decision will not apply to cargo airlines. The government has not decided when to restart operations. India had already stopped international flights into the country. Airlines around the world are taking measures to curtail flights in a bid to control the spread of the virus. With flight schedules in disarray, airlines are expected to bear massive losses. Most carriers have requested their respective ... Read more