Category: News

Barbados is the latest Caribbean island planning to reopen to international tourists. The doors will be open from July 12. Americans will be able to board commercial flights on JetBlue beginning July 25 and American Airlines will resume flights to Barbados from August 5. Like most other countries reopening to tourists in the wake of COVID-19, travellers must take precautions while visiting Barbados. Within 72 hours before departing, visitors from high-risk countries (which currently include the US) are “strongly encouraged” to take a COVID-19 test, according to a press release from Barbados Tourism Marketing. Travellers from countries with fewer than 100 new ... Read more

All monuments that were closed amid the Covid-19 pandemic can be opened from July 4, the India government has said. “It has been decided that all the monuments can be opened with full security,” Union Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said in a tweet on Thursday. Under ‘unlock-2’ which got underway on July 1, the government is trying to open up more activities outside containment zones. But the surge in the Covid-19 pandemic in many parts of the country has meant that people have largely kept away from destinations including monument sites. The Taj Mahal, for example, has been closed ... Read more

The Himachal Pradesh government is considering reopening the tourism industry within a week, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Thursday. He was interacting with media persons on the side-lines of a review meeting of various developmental projects being undertaken in Mandi district. Thakur said that there was a demand to open the tourism industry in the state but the government was not in a hurry as the Covid-19 cases were rapidly increasing. “However, I have asked the tourism department to formulate standard operating procedures (SOPs) for tourist activities. Maybe within a week, the tourism activities will be resumed,” he ... Read more

Kerala on Thursday demanded more flights to be operated from Saudi Arabia as part of the Vande Bharat Mission. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that of the 270 flights operated as part of the mission, only 20 were from Saudi. On Thursday, leaders of the Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre met the chief minister, demanding operation of more flights from Saudi Arabia. Of the 87,391 Keralites who registered to return to Kerala from Saudi, only 13,535 could return so far. Pinarayi pointed out that a majority of those who wish to return from ... Read more

Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, has announced that it will resume its direct Abu Dhabi and Dubai flights with scheduled operations starting from July 5.  Gulf Air has been operating direct flights between Bahrain and the UAE since 1954 and both Abu Dhabi and Dubai have always been key successful routes within the Gulf Air’s network. The airline currently flies to and from London, Paris, Frankfurt, Manila, Athens, Cairo and Pakistan. With the addition of Abu Dhabi and Dubai services, Gulf Air will operate 25% of its original network. Being one of the few airlines that continued operations ... Read more

Marriott International has opened a second hotel under the JW Marriott badge in the Orlando area. The JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort & Spa is a 516-room property close to Walt Disney World and about 30 minutes from Orlando Airport. It includes the debut of the brand’s new family suite concept, which offers views of the nightly theme park fireworks displays, shuttle service to Disney Parks, loft beds, larger living areas and spa-like bathrooms, says a report by Travel Weekly. A Kids Conservatory is designed for games and crafts, and an Activities Garden features a rock-climbing wall, a minigolf ... Read more

Japan’s latest bullet train is not just faster and smoother. It is also loaded with safety features that can withstand most emergency situations. The N700S — the ‘S’ stands for ‘Supreme’ — entered into service on July 1 and serves the Tokaido Shinkansen line, which links Tokyo Station and Shin-Osaka Station in Osaka. It can run up to 360 kilometres per hour, a new record set during a test run in 2019, making it one of the fastest trains in the world. The operating speed, however, will be capped at 285 kilometres per hour, CNN reports. It’s the first new bullet train ... Read more

Doha-based Qatar Airways has started to reinstate 18 more destinations worldwide. By mid-July, the airline’s network will expand to over 430 weekly flights servicing more than 65 destinations. On Wednesday, the national carrier of the State of Qatar relaunched 11 more destinations, its largest single day of restarts. The carrier said it continues to work closely with governments around the world to resume commercial flights in line with entry restrictions, IANS has reported. The airline is hopeful that further commercial flight restrictions will be eased throughout July, with the carrier planning to resume almost two thirds of its pre-COVID-19 network ... Read more

Hyatt Hotels Corporation has announced the opening of the Hyatt Centric Downtown Minneapolis. Once known as the Minneapolis Athletic Club, the 154-room upscale lifestyle hotel with 22 suites is centrally located in the heart of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Located in the city centre of Minneapolis with direct access to an 11-mile, temperature-controlled skyway system and just thirteen miles from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Hyatt Centric Downtown Minneapolis connects travellers to popular attractions like the US Bank Stadium, First Avenue, Target Centre and Target Field, Rus Tourism News has reported. The hotel features contemporary design, upscale guest room and hotel amenities such ... Read more

Emirates airline said it has refunded over $500 million (AED1.9bn) to nearly 650,000 passengers in the last two months, following through on its promise to accelerate Covid-19-related requests from customers. The Dubai carrier had announced in April that it would work on increasing its online capabilities to deal with nearly half a million refund requests from customers since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Emirates said in order to meet the initial target of 500,000, it expanded its processing capability from an average of 35,000 requests a month to nearly 200,000, which allowed it to process 30% more. The average refund amounted ... Read more

India is in talks with the US, Canada and some countries in Europe and West Asia on establishing  bilateral international flight bubbles, said Arvind Singh, Chairman, Airports Authority of India (AAI), on Thursday. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) had on June 23 said India is considering establishing “individual bilateral bubbles” with the US, the UK, Germany and France. Singh said, “Talks are mainly going on between India and the US, India and Canada, India and Europe and India and the Gulf countries to start flights,” he said at a webinar called “Reposing the faith in flying” organised by the ... Read more

John George, Unimoni’s national head (travel & holiday business), feels tourists should be made aware of all the measures taken by the hospitality and transportation sectors to make their travel safe and hygienic. Since people always have the basic instinct to travel, the sector will surely bounce back, he says. Excerpts from an interview: Q: It has been a tough time for the global tourism industry, ever since the advent of the pandemic. As Unimoni’s product head of holidays business, how do you assess the situation? Yes, we should admit the fact that tourism is one of the worst affected ... Read more

Rail travel in India is about to get better. Well, at least on paper. The Indian Railways has invited proposals from private companies to run 151 modern passenger trains on 109 pairs of routes across the country. The project would entail private sector investment of about ₹30,000 crore, the Indian Railways said in a statement. This is the first time private investments have been sought for running passenger trains in India. “The objective of this initiative is to introduce modern technology rolling stock with reduced maintenance, reduced transit time, boost job creation, provide enhanced safety, provide world class travel experience to ... Read more

A small Italian town in Molise found itself overwhelmed by interest after offering free accommodation in a bid to attract tourists this summer. San Giovanni in Galdo – with a population of around 550 – received more than 2,000 applications from all over the world for a week’s stay in one of its traditional central Italian hill-top houses, Local Italy reports.  The village association announced it would offer up to 40 free holidays in one of the local homes left empty by depopulation and within days saw “hundreds and hundreds” of applications pour in, organisers said. In total over 2,000 ... Read more

In wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Himachal hoteliers have urged the state government to not start tourist activities in the state till October despite the state government issuing standard operating procedures (SOPs) regarding the same. In a letter to chief minister Jai Ram Thakur and the tourism secretary, Himachal’s hoteliers have said that tourist activities should not be permitted for the next few months as Covid-19 cases are increasing at an alarming rate in India and the world at large. All Himachal Association of Hospitality and Tourism, spokesperson, Ashwani Bamba said, “The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the tourism and hospitality ... Read more