Category: News

Studio One Hotel has launched a staycation deal which only costs Dhs10 per hour. The sole condition is that one needs to stay for at least 24 hours but check-in is allowed at any time of the day. The room price also includes a Dhs150 voucher to spend in any of the hotel’s restaurants, for each night you stay, according to a report in What’s On. The dining voucher is valid at Larte, The Maine Street Eatery, The Irish Village, Mr Miyagi’s and El Chapo’s Tacos. You’ll get three Dhs50 vouchers to spend, so you can split between multiple venues ... Read more

From June 15, people from low-risk areas in the Nordic countries will be permitted to enter Norway with no quarantine requirement. Citizens of Denmark, Finland and Iceland can enter Norway from that date without quarantine. Most citizens of Sweden remain excluded. Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg warned that everyone should expect travel restrictions to last for some time: “Let me emphasize, this is not just about where to spend the summer vacation. We must plan for travel restrictions to last for some time. There can be new outbreaks of infection in different places before there is a vaccine.” The Norwegian government does ... Read more

Qatar Airways will soon announce special offers including arranging stay at hotels for quarantine purposes. “Qatar Airways will soon announce special offers that will include price of tickets and stay at 5, 4 or 3 star hotels for the purposes of quarantine,” Salam Al Shawa, Senior Vice President Marketing & Corporate Communications for Qatar Airways said in tweet. The returning passenger can fly Qatar Airways or any other airline, but will have to make the hotel booking directly with Discover Qatar for a stay at an approved quarantine hotel. They can’t book a hotel directly. The assistant foreign minister and ... Read more

The Queensland government could get the jump on NSW and Victoria by locking in flights from New Zealand, before the Australia-NZ travel bubble takes shape in September. As Prime Minister Scott Morrison continued to push states to open up their borders by July, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk all but confirmed her government will revert to its original July 10 date to reopen the borders, Financial Review has reported. Negotiations between Air New Zealand and the Queensland government this week has raised the prospect of the Sunshine State locking in a cross-border deal on flights to New Zealand ahead of their southern ... Read more

Sri Lanka has cleared a proposal to offer concessionary loans to the hospitality and travel sector to pay salaries during the Coronavirus epidemic. Hotels and travel agencies, registered with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), would be allowed to get a 5-year loan at a 4% interest rate, to pay a Rs 20,000 salary to each worker for up to 6 months. The loan could be repaid in 5 years with a 2-year grace period, Economy Next has reported. Tourism related firms registered with the SLTDA including restaurants, spas, wellness centres would be given a credit facility to pay ... Read more

Air India on Friday stated that 10 additional flights will be operated to and from the USA under the third phase of the Vande Bharat Mission. These flights will be operated between June 20 and July 3 to bring back Indians stranded in America. Bookings for the same will open on June 13 from 6 pm onwards on the Air India website.  The 10 additional flights comprise four, to and from, New York and one each, to and from, San Francisco and Chicago.  Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava has said  that the Vande Bharat Mission has repatriated a ... Read more

Hycinth Hotels has taken a series of steps to ensure safety and security of its guests, in wake of the coronavirus transmission. Hygiene is the name of the game now, the hotel’s manager Santosh Kumar Sinha has said. “A super-hygiene culture needs to be set in place.” “We have got the ball rolling with apt measures for swiftly addressing hygiene related concerns owing to the pandemic that the world is currently fighting,” he said. “Safe, secure and quality service like never before is our primary aim now and for the days to come.” The hotel has outlined the followed guidelines: ... Read more

TUI UK has cancelled all beach holidays up to and including July 10 due to ongoing travel restrictions.  The company had previously planned to restart trips on July 1. Holidays with TUI Ireland are on hold till July 20. All customers whose bookings are affected by the change will receive a refund credit – they can also request a cash refund via the company’s online form. Customers who had booked a package holiday over this period will be given an incentive of up to 20% off if they rebook with TUI. Those due to travel with the company before the end of August can modify their booking ... Read more

On Friday afternoon, Kerala Tourism tweeted what seemed like an innocuous comment. The tweet read, “The loyal fans of the Malabar cuisine simply cannot keep their #handsoffporotta, lockdown or not. Share your favourite porotta recipes with us.” But soon, it became apparent that it had reference to a news report that frozen porotta attracts 18% Goods & Services Tax (GST) as opposed to the earlier 5%. To make matters worse, ready-to-eat rotis and chapathis did not see a rise in GST.  Malayalis erupted on Twitter, and #handsoffporotta became a viral hashtag. Kerala Tourism saw the rising wave and chipped in with ... Read more

The Bullet Club and adventure travel go hand-in-hand. The Royal Enfield range of motorbikes have long served the inquisitive Indian traveller well, providing muscular support whether it’s a Himalayan expedition or North-Eastern sojourn. And after a lull thanks to the lockdown restrictions, Royal Enfield is back again. It has resumed operations at more than 90% of its retail network across India. As of today, more than 850 stores and 425 studio stores across India are operational for sales and service. While most of these stores are completely operational, the stores in certain cities are functioning partially or on alternate days as advised by local authority ... Read more

This guide by the British government will help you understand how to travel safely during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. It provides guidance for walking, cycling, using private vehicles (for example cars and vans), and travelling by taxis and public transport (for example trains, buses, coaches and ferries). You should avoid using public transport where possible. Instead try to walk, cycle, or drive. If you do travel, thinking carefully about the times, routes and ways you travel will mean we will all have more space to stay safe. Is your journey necessary? To help keep yourself and your fellow passengers safe, ... Read more

Etihad Airways has launched new travel vouchers which are redeemable against future flights, and is currently offering a 50% cash bonus on purchases. The Etihad Travel Purchases can be purchased in increments of US$250 up to a maximum of US$65,000, and once bought are added to a Travel Bank for use by the customer. Note that you must be an Etihad guest member to purchase the vouchers. The current bonus is available for purchases made by June 24, and will see an extra 50% credit added to the Travel Bank – so a customer buying US$1,000 in vouchers will receive a total ... Read more

Dubai-headquartered travel-tech startup Hotel Data Cloud (HDC) has been officially selected for the ‘Healing Solutions for Tourism’ award by The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). HDC was selected for this recognition from among more than 1,000 other entrants from over 100 countries. The startup serves as a centralised global database for hotels to disseminate information including data and images to hundreds of stakeholders. Recently, it introduced a new initiative whereby hotels can communicate their health and safety measures by creating a profile on HDC and filling in the Covid-19 preparedness section. This will then be automatically shared and freely accessible by ... Read more

Jalesh Cruises, India’s first premium cruise liner has introduced ‘Future Pass’, designed to provide flexibility for its travellers. Travellers can book their cruise holiday now and be able to finalise their travel dates until August 31, 2021. In addition, if purchased before June 30, 2020, an exclusive discount of 25% can be availed on the Future Pass.  Amid the current sentiment towards travelling, this offer will help travellers restore their confidence to book at a later date as per their convenience. A study reveals that while many consumers have cancelled their trips, they have not lost their desire to travel. ... Read more

hartered flights from UAE to Kerala have become cheaper, with voluntary organisations like Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) securing nod to operate 70 of them. With this, around 1.25 lakh people from Gulf countries are likely to reach the state shortly. A total of 407 chartered flights are waiting for permission to fly to Kerala carrying NRIs stranded in these countries. The ticket rates in KMCC-chartered flights from UAE to Kozhikode have come down from AED 1250 (around Rs 25,000) earlier this month, to AED 990 (around Rs 20,000) for the flight operated on June 11, according to a report ... Read more