Category: News

Home rental firm Airbnb has entered into a partnership with Brazil’s state of Sao Paulo, to encourage tourism once the coronavirus crisis has passed. Virus hotspot Sao Paulo is the first destination in Latin America chosen by Airbnb as part of a global push to revive its business as authorities ease coronavirus-related restrictions on tourism. “Sao Paulo is at the core of our Brazil strategy,” Airbnb’s director of governmental and institutional relations for Latin America, Flvia Matos, told Reuters in an interview. Airbnb will have an exclusive page on Sao Paulo state’s destinations in its platform and will also share ... Read more

A passenger on board Air India’s AI 906 from Lagos to Mumbai died on Sunday, despite airline officials trying hard to revive him. The 42-year-old passenger Manesh Patel, informed the crew that he was showing Malaria like symptoms. The passenger was declared dead by an onboard doctor. Later, the doctors of airport operator, Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) attended him after the flight landed at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. After completing all the standard operating procedures, the body was sent to Vile Parle based Cooper hospital. An airline official said that the passenger was unwell and was seen ... Read more

The Delhi government has allowed resto-bars, hotels and clubs to sell their stock of beer expiring this month to liquor shops, in a bid to minimise their financial losses. There are around 950 hotels, clubs and resto-bars in Delhi which have an excise license, however, they have not been allowed to open since March 25, when the first nationwide lockdown was announced. They will continue to remain closed in the city till June 30. According to the Excise Act, the resto-bars, hotels, and clubs can only sell liquor to their customers. “In wake of the extraordinary situation emerging out of ... Read more

The Indian government has decided to allow certain categories of foreigners, including Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders, to enter India amid restrictions on the entry of people from abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among those allowed entry into India are married couples one of whom is an OCI cardholder and another Indian national, and students who are OCI cardholders and whose one parent is Indian or an OCI cardholder. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has allowed certain categories of foreigners, including OCI cardholders and minors who hold OCI cards and whose parents are Indian nationals, a senior ... Read more

Spain will reopen its borders with Schengen zone countries on June 21, except for its border with Portugal. Earlier, the plan was to open its borders on July 1. The decision was announced on Sunday by Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez, at the weekly video conference with regional presidents, that have been regularly held since the coronavirus outbreak. The Spain-Portugal border will only be opened on July 1. The EU Commission has recommended a lifting of internal border controls in the Schengen area from June 15. As cases and deaths have decreased, Spain has been slowly removing the strict measures ... Read more

Balmer Lawrie,a miniratna public sector unit (PSU) under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG) and a market leader in corporate travel management, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC). In a press release, the company said that Balmer Lawrie Travel & Vacations (T&V) through this agreement will now offer accommodation facilities to all its institutional and retail customers at KTDC star hotels including heritage properties at attractive and discounted tariffs in Kerala. Balmer Lawrie T&V which provides end-to-end travel, ticketing and tourism services also provides hotel accommodation facilities to its customers. The company ... Read more

England is creating the world’s longest coastal path – a hiking route, that will run along the entire length of the English coastline. At 2,800 miles long, the England Coast Path will be the longest coastal walking route on the planet when it’s finished. It is likely to be completed in the next two years. The route will link up some already existing stretches of seaside paths (like the South West Coast Path, which runs from Minehead in Devon through Cornwall to Poole in Dorset), improve others and in some places create brand new routes for hikers. The plan is to attract tourists to the country’s pretty coastline, something ... Read more

Starting June 15, Spain will fly German tourists to the Balearic Islands as part of a pilot program to revive tourism. About 6,000 Germans are likely to join in. Ibiza, Majorca, Menorca and Formentera form the beautiful Balearic Islands. Germany has been chosen the first partner for the pilot program by Spain due to its similar condition regarding the Coronavirus crisis. A few tour operators have been given the permit to fly these German tourists, who won’t be under an obligation to follow the two-week quarantine rule levied on all foreign visitors in Spain. Among them, 4000 tourists will visit ... Read more

China has decided to introduce the Seventh Freedom of the Air on a trial basis in the Hainan Free Trade Port, in the southernmost tropical island province. This move allows foreign carriers to operate flights between two other countries, without the need to touch down in the airline’s home country, CGTN has reported. For example, under the Seventh Freedom, the US could operate flights directly from Haikou, the capital city of Hainan Province, to Tokyo, Japan, and Air France could transport passengers from Sanya, Hainan to Los Angeles, US. The freedoms of the air are a set of commercial aviation ... Read more

The safety of tourists is a top priority for Greece as it reopens its airports to foreign visitors, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said. He was on a visit to the popular holiday island of Santorini. International flights to and from the country’s main airports will resume on June 15, after a nearly three-month lockdown. Accounting for about 20% of Greece’s economic output, tourism is vital for the Mediterranean nation, which emerged from a decade-long debt crisis in 2018. “It is a great pleasure to be here in Santorini… to send a message: Greece is ready to welcome tourists this ... Read more

Cricket is a huge tourism attraction in India, with thousands of fans travelling to the country to get a glimpse of the stars. The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the biggest annual tournament in the country that draws enormous crowds both from within and overseas. But with the tournament unlikely to be held in India this year due to the Covid-19 situation, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is exploring options to hold it abroad. IPL 2020 was suspended until further notice after it missed its April-May window due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. However, the BCCI is ... Read more

The Kerala government has made it mandatory for those boarding chartered flights to produce a certificate stating they have tested negative for Covid-19. Over one lakh expatriates are expected to reach Kerala from West Asian countries on chartered flights in coming weeks. The state has so far given sanction for 750 chartered flights. The direction by principal secretary E Ellangovan stated that this condition applies to all flights for which consent letters have been issued earlier. For cases in which a Covid-19 patient requires urgent medical care, air ambulance provision may be availed, it stated. Norka Roots, the non-resident Keralite welfare ... Read more

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government has decided to allot land, measuring 54.40 hectares in Sindhudurg to Indian Hotels Company Limited, which runs the Taj Hotels, to construct a  five-star tourism centre. The project has been stuck for over 25 years. The land has been given at a 90-year lease for the construction of cottages in Vengurla, part of Sindhudurg, for tourism development.  The proposal of the allotment of land for the construction of the hotel to the leading players in the hotel industry was taken after the state government announced Sindhudurg as a tourism district more than two decades ago. ... Read more

Is India a golfing country? Can golf tourism be developed here, as an additional revenue stream? Do we have enough golf facilities in the country? These questions were deliberated at length under the Dekho Apna Desh webinar series, organised by the Ministry of Tourism. The session was moderated by Rupinder Brar, ADG, Ministry of Tourism and presented by Rajan Seghal, Co-founder Passionals; Amish Desai, Director, Beleast Travels P Ltd and Arun Iyer, Managing Director, My Golf Tour. All three panellists have decades of experience and hold badges of specialisation in various areas of travel and tourism industry, besides being avid ... Read more

SeaWorld Entertainment, one of the world’s leading theme park and entertainment companies, has announced a phased reopening of SeaWorld San Antonio on Friday, June 19.The reopening of the park will include enhanced health and safety protocols for cleaning and sanitizing, physical distancing, face covering requirements, and temperature screening. A new online reservation system will also help manage capacity so that guests can enjoy a safe and fun experience while maintaining physical distancing. The phased reopening plan was approved by the State of Texas.”We thank Governor Abbott, Representative Cortez, and San Antonio Mayor Nirenberg for their support of tourism in Texas ... Read more