Category: India

In a significant move to check the spread of the corona virus, the Union and State governments have decided to announce a lock-down in 75 districts across the country. In Kerala, the districts that will enter the shut down mode are Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Malappuram, Kannur and Kasargod. Inter-state bus services have been suspended till March 31. Railway services also have been suspended till March 31, including suburban rail services. Metro rail services have also been stopped. However, goods trains are exempted. The decisions have been taken at a high level meeting attended by Chief Secretaries of all States ... Read more

The Association of Tourism Trade Organisations India (ATTOI) has requested the Prime Minister to implement a week-long total shutdown in the country, in light of the corona virus pandemic. ATTOI President Vinod CS in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that such a move is required now, especially considering the experience of European countries. “The experience in Europe tells us that it’s not a walk-over situation. The shutdown should be implemented with force and anyone disobeying it should be fined heavily,” the ATTOI President said. “Once we jump above 1,000 infected persons, then there wouldn’t be any ... Read more

Foreign nationals who have visited one of the countries mentioned below in the past 14 days cannot enter the United States, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) has said. The countries mentioned in the list are China, Iran, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. American citizens, lawful permanent residents and their families, who have been in one of these countries will be allowed to enter the United States but ... Read more

by Benny Thomas, Director, Holiday Shop The Union government’s new proposal to collect Tax Collected at Source (TCS) from customers, will affect the travel and tourism industry very adversely. There is already a 5% GST on the holiday packages and an additional 5% of TCS will be a heavy burden for the prospective clients. So how deeply will this affect us all? As far as Indian culture is concerned, going on a holiday is not a necessary item like in the European community. If the cost of the tour increases heavily, naturally the prospective clients will postpone or cancel their ... Read more

The Nepal-India-China Expo (NICE) and Himalayan Travel Mart (HTM) have been postponed to next year, due to the spread of the corona virus and its growing impact on the tourism industry. These events were scheduled to take place from June 12-15 this year. These will now be held next year and the dates will be made known later.

Kerala’s tourism sector is currently assessing the kind of loss incurred due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation has become worse than initially expected, but the resilient tourism sector in Kerala has bounced back in the past against such difficulties. In an interview EM Najeeb, chairman and managing director of Airtravel Enterprises Group of Companies tells us how the state can recover over the next six months. Excerpts: Q: Can you brief us about the kind of losses that the tourism sector is facing due to the outbreak of the corona virus? A: The corona virus has ... Read more

Recovery from this present scenario especially with regard to international tourist traffic is going to be difficult, the Tourist Guides Federation of South India, has said. The rapid spread of the corona virus has hit tourism sector badly and the tourist guides are a worried lot. Federation president Jairaj said that it will take couple of months to activate entire flight schedules back into position. Aviation and hospitality will get heavily hit. Many of the hotels in the month of March have decided to completely wipe out the trainee section and continue with their permanent staff and that also is ... Read more

If you are traveling to Mumbai for a meeting, think again.  All offices in Mumbai and a few other cities in Maharashtra will be closed till March 31 to fight the spread of the corona virus, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Friday. Only essential services will operate in Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Nagpur, the Chief Minister said as the number of cases in Maharashtra climbed to 52. He asked employers not to stop employee salaries. “Crises will come and go but don’t stop your humanity,” said Uddhav Thackeray. He also said stopping public transport would be the “last ... Read more

In a joint letter to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH), CII Tourism National Committee and ASSOCHAM Tourism sub-committee has urged the government to help the sector to come out of the present crisis created by the corona virus pandemic. “We are identifying points of urgent concern for this industry and request you for your kind support. Indian tourism industry is looking at pan India bankruptcies, closure of businesses and mass unemployment as a result of this pandemic. It is estimated that around 70% out of a total estimated workforce of 5.5 ... Read more

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has decided to instruct the airport authorities to stagger the arrival of fights from COVID-19 affected areas so that the flow of passengers is maintained for the screening of passengers. From the dedicated aerobridges the passengers will arrive, escorted by airline staff to the health centres for initial thermal screening, where symptomatic passengers would be isolated and moved to designated hospital. After screening, the remaining asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to move to the designated immigration counters with passports and a copy of the self-reporting form. Airline staff in the aircraft and at ground will ... Read more

The corona virus outbreak has hit the tourism sector hard, in an unprecedented manner. In an interview, S Swaminathan , Managing Director of Dravidian Trails Holidays Pvt Ltd., Cochin, Kerala tells us why we can’t have a fixed time-frame for revival of the sector. He feels all stakeholders should spread the positive news about all the precautionary measures taken by the authorities. The authorities should now give the sector the required benefits that will help the tourism entrepreneurs rebuild the business. Excerpts: Q: Corona virus has impacted Kerala’s tourism fortunes to a very large extent. Can we attach a value ... Read more

No scheduled international commercial passenger aircraft should be allowed to land in India from March 22, for a period of one week, a statement from the Press Information Bureau said. All state governments should issue appropriate directions so that all citizens above 65 (other than for medical assistance) remain at home. Exemptions will be made for public representatives, government servants and medical professionals. Similarly all children below 10 should be advised to stay at home and not venture out. Railways and civil aviation will suspend all concessional travel except students and patients. States are being requested to enforce work from ... Read more

The World Travel & Tourism Council India Initiative (WTTCII) has urged the Union government take a series of steps to help the tourism sector tide over the massive crisis brought about by the spread of the corona virus. The COVID-19, which is now a global pandemic, has already hit the hospitality and airline industry hard, with thousands of tourists cancelling their bookings. To start with, the council has requested the government to provide a GST (Good & Services Tax) holiday for all travel and tourism services for a period of two years. A moratorium on all interest and principal amounts ... Read more

The Delhi government has ordered three premium hotels in Aerocity area, near the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport to block 182 rooms for paid quarantine facilities for people flying in from abroad who are to be quarantined. These ‘Home Quarantine’ rooms would be for people who have been quarantined but are not satisfied with the quarantine facilities of hospitals and wish to be shifted to hotel rooms, according to The Indian Express. These people would have to pay the rent of these rooms. According to the orders of the Delhi government, the IBIS Hotel will have to set aside 92 ... Read more

IndiGo has announced that it will be cancelling its flights on Delhi-Istanbul and Chennai-Kuala Lumpur routes till March 31. “These are purely temporary and precautionary measures. We understand that these measures will cause inconvenience to our customers and we will be refunding the full amount to the impacted passengers,” the airline stated in a press release. The airline has already cancelled flights between Bangalore-Kuala Lumpur until March 31 and Delhi-Kuala Lumpur until April 30.