Category: News

The JW Marriott Hotel in downtown Indianapolis is taking reservations with plans to reopen to guests this Thursday, July 9. Indiana’s largest hotel temporarily closed down operations more than 100 days ago due to the business decline caused by COVID-19. At that time, roughly 600 people worked at the JW Marriott in various capacities. Over the last few months, however, that staff has been reduced to only a handful of people, according to a report by Fox59. A rehiring process is underway to support the reopening. The hotel and hospitality industry has been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In Indianapolis, hotels ... Read more

Norway will permit the residents of Schengen Zone and European Economic Area (EEA) countries to travel to the archipelago of Svalbard from July 15, according to the Norwegian’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security. Commercial flights, as well as expedition cruises (ships with capacity for 500 or fewer passengers), will be included in the reopening of Svalbard for travellers, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.  “It is important that tourism in Svalbard can also take part in the reopening we are now implementing in communities, but because of Svalbard’s emergency and emergency preparedness this opening must happen gradually and more controlled than on the ... Read more

The Chicago-headquartered Hyatt Hotels Corporation has said it will continue to grow the Thompson Hotels brand throughout the southern United States with deals for two new properties—Thompson Savannah and Thompson Buckhead—expected to open in Georgia in 2021. Marking the brand’s entry into the state, these projects will join four other Thompson hotels already under development including Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin, Texas. These six new properties are expected to join Thompson’s nine hotels across the United States and Mexico, many of which have resumed operations and are welcoming back guests. Thompson Hotels is a subsidiary brand of Hyatt. “We ... Read more

Bali, the Indonesian tourism hotspot, will reopen its borders to international tourists from September 11. Terming it “New Era of Life Order Protocol”, Bali will roll out a three-phased plan to restore the island’s economy, which begins this week. From July 9, the local administration will allow some businesses to operate. These include health services, fishing, restaurants, modern markets and finance. Tourism activities begin in phase 2 from July 31, when Indonesians will be allowed to visit. The final and third phase, when the island opens to international visitors, will start from 11 September. However, it is yet to release details on ... Read more

Michael Dominic, the Chief Executive Officer of CGH Earth, one of Kerala’s best-known hospitality brands, believes efficiency and productivity will define the way forward for the Indian hospitality sector. He refers to the coronavirus crisis as a catastrophe that will force changes in the way we perceive the tourism sector and even entrepreneurship as a whole. In an interview with TourismNewsLive’s Editor-in-chief DJ Hector he talks about how there will be a paradigm shift in the business with “lean organisation” becoming the watchword. Excerpts: Q: Best wishes on reopening all your properties across Kerala. Probably, CGH Earth was the first major hospitality ... Read more

Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Tourism has announced that the government has taken a slew of measures to provide relief to stakeholders in the tourism industry. The Ministry, together with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), is taking steps to sustain the lives of employees directly involved in the tourism industry and other establishments registered with the SLTDA. Following relief measures have been approved with implementation mechanisms, the Ministry of Tourism said in a media release. Provide a loan at 4% to accommodation providers and destination management companies (DMCs) registered under SLTDA to pay salaries through Bank of Ceylon (BOC) ... Read more

India’s Ministry of Tourism, under the Dekho Apna Desh series, organised its 40th webinar titled “Women of India – Shifting Gears” outlining the thrills of women biking. The webinar session was held by two women bike enthusiasts of India – Jai Bharathi who is an avid motorcyclist, travel enthusiast and co-founder of MoWo (Moving Women), a social initiative encouraging women to travel on motorcycles; and Candida Louis, a biker, blogger, storyteller and motorcycle tour guide. Moderated by Rupinder Brar, additional director general, ADG, Ministry of Tourism, the hour-long session touched upon various aspects surrounding safety of women bikers of India, the ... Read more

The Haryana Tourism Corporation will run six liquor shops in Gurugram as a pilot project starting today. Officials said that it is the first time that a state government entity will be operating liquor vends in the district. The decision was taken by the state government after the tourism department suffered huge losses due to closure of tourism complexes and guest houses during the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19. During the lockdown period, the revenue receipt of the corporation was almost nil. The Gurugram excise department had placed an advertisement on June 23 for auction of 78 ... Read more

Airbnb is taking steps to reduce “unauthorized house parties” thrown by guests in rental homes. The San Francisco-based lodging company announced that it has sent out guidelines to US hosts to “protect the safety of our community” as coronavirus cases rage throughout the country. “Reducing the number of unauthorized house parties on Airbnb has always been a priority, and it’s more important now than ever,” Airbnb read. “With public health mandates in place throughout the country, we’re taking actions to support safe and responsible travel in the United States.” Under the policy, US guests under the age of 25 who have less than three positive ... Read more

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, flew hundreds of UFC participants including athletes and event crew to Abu Dhabi as the city prepares to host UFC Fight Island. UFC is the biggest mixed martial arts tournament in the world, with more than 300 million fans around the world. Etihad is the official airline partner of the event, which is Abu Dhabi’s inaugural major sporting event since the outbreak of COVID-19. This weekend, Etihad carried UFC stars Amanda Ribas, Jéssica Andrade and José Aldo from Sao Paulo to Abu Dhabi, with Paige VanZant, Rose Namajunas and Max Holloway jetting ... Read more

Several German officials on Monday said they hope Berlin would soon ease its coronavirus-related travel restrictions so that tourism activities with Turkey could resume. Turkey is one of the most popular travel destinations for German holidaymakers; nearly 5 million German tourists travelled to Turkey last year.  “Every country should be treated fairly and I am pretty confident that tourism activity between Turkey and Germany will resume soon,” the German government’s tourism commissioner, Thomas Bareiss, told German broadcaster NTV. “I hope that I will have the opportunity to travel to Turkey this summer,” Nils Schmid, foreign affairs spokesman for the Social ... Read more

The Hotel Association of India (HAI) on Monday appointed former Ministry of Tourism secretary, Madan Prasad Bezbaruah, as its secretary general. Bezbaruah succeeds R K Puri, a senior bureaucrat and first Director of Tourism, Railway Board, who was instrumental in the conceptualisation and launch of “Place on Wheels”. The appointment comes in the wake of the hotel industry struggling on account of the pandemic. Puneet Chhatwal, president of HAI and managing director and chief executive of the  Indian Hotels Company Limited said that it is now time to devise ways in which the hotel industry can evolve from the Covid-19 ... Read more

Two pilot wings of national carrier Air India — Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) and Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG) — have written a letter to the airline’s Chairman and MD (CMD) Rajiv Bansal, mentioning steps that should be taken to secure the survival of Air India. “Presently, the management has resorted to an across the board 10% cut on allowances. While prima facie appearing to be fair, this scheme distributes the financial burden across the various categories of employees in an extremely discriminatory manner amounting to treating unequal people equally,” said the pilots in the letter. The letter suggested that ... Read more

The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) has assured the Maharashtra government that it is safe to restart operations of hotels and restaurants. HRAWI informed Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray that it will be taking all necessary precautions while opening the sector. The association will launch a COVID-19 Food Safety Training and Certification programme by the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI)/HRAWI and a desktop audit programme which deals with all required compliances. HRAWI has called for government’s support on certain aspects to revive the industry such as bar opening, property ... Read more

Uruguay’s selection as the only Latin American nation to be named on the European Union’s safe countries list makes it look like a surprise, but the decision was made on solid health grounds. Only 936 Covid-19 cases have been reported in Uruguay, and 27 deaths. A lockdown, initiated on March 13 with the cessation of university classes and quickly expanded to cover schools, shopping centres and the Argentine border, has been a success. Uruguay has announced that it is analysing the opening of its borders to EU countries. Uruguayan Foreign Minister Ernesto Talvi said in Montevideo that the opening of ... Read more