Category: News

Germany has decided to ask all travellers to go through compulsory coronavirus testing before entering the country. “We are checking whether it is legally possible to make someone do a test, because it would be an encroachment on freedom,” Health Minister Jens Spahn told a local radio channel. Compared to the rest of the European countries, Germany has been successful in containing the  coronavirus pandemic. Germany had observed a strict lockdown for almost two months, before reopening its economy. Spahn and his counterparts from the 16 federal states of Germany have also announced that these compulsory coronavirus tests will be free ... Read more

Prahlad Singh Patel, India’s Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, will inaugurate the two-day ‘FICCI Tourism Conclave’ on July 29. The conclave is being organised with a vision to bring together global thought leaders and key policy makers from the travel & tourism industry under one virtual platform to ideate, interact and share knowledge. The virtual conclave will create an opportunity for the participants to plan, promote, market, strategise and implement the best practices to revive the business in the sector, post COVID-19, the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) stated. The FICCI Tourism Committee said it ... Read more

The Norwegian government will make an exception for Tom Cruise and his crew to shoot parts of his latest “Mission: Impossible” movie in Norway this autumn without imposing quarantine requirements, says a Reuters report. Production of the seventh and eighth instalments of Paramount Pictures’ lucrative action movie franchise was halted in February due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The seventh movie is currently scheduled for release in November 2021 and the eighth in November 2022. Cruise will reprise his role as secret agent Ethan Hunt in both movies with Christopher McQuarrie returning as director. “It (the filming) will be carried out ... Read more

In an effort to save jobs of around 50 lakh people and encourage domestic travel, the Shopping Centres Association of India (SCAI) has written to Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray to reopen malls which have remained shut since March due to the pandemic. Covid-19 has affected 3.47 lakh people and claimed 12,854 lives in the state till now – the highest in the country. “About 5 million jobs (50 lakh) are at stake if malls are not opened at the earliest,” the letter warned adding that retrenchment could be seen as early as August. So far, big malls in Mumbai ... Read more

Bulgaria’s new Tourism Minister, Mariana Nikolova, has said the country’s resorts, tourist attractions, rich history and natural beauty need advertising as safe and secure destinations for vacationing. Today, people working in tourism need the support of the state as is done in all European countries, she said, according to a report by Novinite. “I take on the Ministry of Tourism with the clear awareness that the most affected industry in the world from the pandemic is tourism. There is no forecast to give us a horizon when people’s travel will return to the pace and volume to which we were accustomed to earlier,” she said. ... Read more

SpiceJet has been designated as “India’s scheduled carrier” to operate flight services to the UK from India, the Gurugram-based no-frills airline said in a regulatory filing on Friday. The announcement came just one day after it was picked to fly on India-US routes by the governments of the two countries under the bilateral air services pact, news agency PTI has reported. “We would like to inform you that in terms of the Air Services Agreement between the Government of India and the United Kingdom, SpiceJet has been designated as Indian scheduled carrier to operate on agreed services between India and the ... Read more

With the panic surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic starting to subside in Europe, Switzerland has opened its doors for global tourism, but not for India. From July 20, in tune with European Union guidelines, Switzerland lifted restrictions for travellers from 21 countries apart from European nations. But India — currently ranking third on the world Corona dashboard – has been excluded, news agency IANS says. Travellers from certain regions will be quarantined for 10 days after entering Switzerland, one of the few nations in the world which has managed to control the impact of the pandemic, says the report. “We have ... Read more

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

As coronavirus fears continue to ravage Italy’s tourism industry – despite the country’s extraordinary cultural heritage – the government is subsidising some of its citizens to go on holiday in their home country, according to a report by France 24. Italy was one of the first countries to reopen its borders to European Union (EU) tourists in June. Nevertheless, tourism is still suffering, with a revenue shortfall this summer predicted at top 3 billion euros.  In this context, the government is trying to prop up its tourism industry – which represents 13% of the national GDP – by sending money to households earning less than 40,000 euros a year as ... Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unforeseen challenges to global tourism. With geography gaining significance and the importance of shorter distances becoming more pronounced, regional tourism is likely to grow. Governments must thus pivot to focus considerably more attention on regional tourism through investments in infrastructure and services, particularly digitisation to reduce human transactions, a new report by Brookings India has said. India, in particular, will have to leverage the wide range of cultural similarities with its neighbours such as the regional Buddhist trail and pilgrimage, etc, the research report noted. Such a push would also contribute locally through employment and ... Read more

As Caribbean beaches and resorts begin welcoming back international tourists, there’s one group that’s increasingly being left out: Americans. Tropical vacation spots across the region are giving US citizens the cold shoulder amid fears they might spread the coronavirus, cutting Americans off from one of the few regions that was still accessible to them, Bloomberg reports. This week, the Bahamas will begin barring commercial flights and passenger ships from the US, even as it invites Canadian and European tourists to visit. The Dutch countries of St. Maarten and Curacao have also reopened to almost everyone but US travellers. With nearly ... Read more

Indonesian tourism minister Wishnutama Kusubandio has proposed a full exemption from corporate income tax for all firms in the tourist and creative economy sectors, as well as the provision of additional working capital loans, to aid the hard-hit industry during the global health crisis. Wishnutama said he was currently in talks with Finance Minister Mulyani Indrawati regarding the proposal. The tourist sector is currently eligible for a 30% discount on corporate income tax to cushion the COVID-19 pandemic impact, according to a Jakarta Post report. “We have proposed an additional tax cut of PPh Article 25 [corporate income tax] from ... 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

Qatar Airways will operate three weekly flights to Cebu in Philippines, starting July 24. The airline will also resume its China flights, with a weekly Guangzhou service. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker said: “We are delighted to be launching a new direct service to Cebu, offering our passengers another gateway into the Philippines. Being the airline that has never stopped flying since COVID-19 hit, it has been Qatar Airways’ mission to take people home safely during the pandemic, and we have helped more than two million people get home to their loved ones since February,” he said. ... Read more