Category: News

The Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan will provide free rooms to doctors, nurses and other medical personnel. The luxury hotel, where rooms typically top $1,000 a night, has closed itself to other guests and is not taking new bookings through April 15, according to its website. “Many of those working in New York City have to travel long distances to and from their homes after putting in 18-hour days,” said Ty Warner, the founder and chairman of Ty Warner Hotels and Resorts, which owns the property. “They need a place close to work where they can rest and regenerate.” Governor ... Read more

With the corona virus onslaught getting severe by the day, the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) with the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO), has called on innovators and entrepreneurs to put forward new solutions to help the tourism sector recover from COVID-19. The “Healing Solutions” challenge has been launched to further advance the united response of the wider United Nations system to COVID-19. This global call for entrepreneurs and innovators wants them to submit ideas that can help the tourism sector mitigate the impact of the pandemic and kickstart recovery efforts. In particular, the challenge is aimed at finding ... Read more

Lindblad Expeditions Holdings, a global provider of expedition cruises and adventure travel experiences, has announced that it has appointed Thomas S. (Tad) Smith Jr. and Sarah Farrell to serve as independent directors of the Company. Tad Smith has a long history of successful leadership positions, including his most recent position as President and CEO of Sotheby’s (NYSE), where he developed and implemented a successful growth strategy resulting in its sale for $3.7 billion in October 2019. Prior to his tenure at Sotheby’s, Tad served as President and CEO of Madison Square Garden (MSG), the iconic entertainment conglomerate, following a stint ... Read more

Delhi is all set to get a tourism boost. The Delhi government wants to build the city as a tourist destination and launch new festivals to add to the wave of interest shown by tourists. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has proposed to launch a ‘Branding Delhi’ scheme for transforming the national capital into India’s tourism capital and bring more visitors to the city. Presenting Delhi budget for 2020-21, Sisodia, also the finance minister, has granted Rs 100 crore to achieve this goal. In his budget speech, Sisodia said though the possibilities and resources are available within Delhi to become ... Read more

All public travel in the UAE, including the Dubai Metro, will be suspended from 8 pm on March 26 until 6 am on March 29. The stoppage is part of a National Sterilisation Programme, which will include all utilities, public transportation and metro services, according to a statement. During this period, traffic will be restricted countrywide and public transportation and metro services will be suspended. The Ministries of Health and the Interior called upon the public to stay at home throughout the sterilisation period, and not to go out except to buy food and medicines or to work in vital ... Read more

Air Canada has said that it has begun using its cargo division aircraft to operate cargo-only flights to Europe, with other flights planned for Latin America and South America. The aircraft on these flights carry no passengers but move time-sensitive shipments, including medical supplies to combat COVID-19, and goods to support the global economy. “Air Canada Cargo has long served as a vital link in global supply chains and with the disruption arising from the COVID-19 pandemic our capabilities are more important than ever. Although we have announced very significant temporary capacity reductions and our passenger flights are largely dedicated ... Read more

Alaska Airlines has announced plans to reduce its flight schedule for April and May by approximately 70% following historic and unprecedented falloff in demand related to the COVID-19 outbreak across the U.S. and beyond. Flight schedules for June and beyond will be based on demand, but it is our expectation that reductions will be substantial for at least the next several months. As a result of the outbreak, government leaders across the country have appropriately encouraged social distancing and discouraged or restricted travel. As a result, Alaska – like other airlines – is seeing demand reductions of more than 80%. ... Read more

The German Consulate has informed the Kerala government that it is planning to evacuate German tourists on March 28. The plan is to bring all of them to Thiruvananthapuram on March 27, and they have drawn up a list of 151 tourists for this purpose. Kerala Tourism secretary Rani George said, “I would request the help desks in association with the volunteer groups to contact them and find out where they have been in past 14 days in Kerala, whether they have any symptoms or tested negative.” ” If not please coordinate to provide assistance to do the tests. This ... Read more

Hyatt Hotels has announced furloughs and pay cuts as the hotel industry reels from the corona virus pandemic. Hyatt on Wednesday said the pay cuts would affect all of its employees from April 1 through May 31. The company did not provide details on the amount of the pay cuts. The company will also impose temporary furloughs or significantly cut the schedules of two-thirds of its U.S. corporate employees. The chain had about 55,000 employees at the end of 2019, according to its annual report. Given the financial impact on our business, we have had to make difficult decisions that ... Read more

Indian-American hoteliers have come to the rescue of Indian students in the US. Many Indian students are left stranded following lockdown measures in the country, following the coronavirus pandemic. The hoteliers are providing a great help to these students by offering them free accommodation and meals. Many of the students have been asked to vacate their hostels and with India banning international flights for a week from March 22, more than 6,000 rooms in nearly 700 hotels were offered to them by Wednesday following a call from the Indian Embassy. The Indian Embassy have been running a round-the-clock helpline since ... Read more

Furloughed Hilton employees in the US will be given direct access to an online resource centre and expedited hiring processes at other companies. The global hotel chain has been forced to suspend services across US due to the corona virus pandemic. The company has approximately 60,000 direct employees in its corporate offices and hotels in US and 200,000 more through franchise hotels. While in furlough, employees continue to receive health benefits from Hilton and also get to apply for unemployment benefits. With the joint initiative to find temporary workers for its furloughed employees, the company hopes that its workers will ... Read more

The Rajasthan government has decided to reimburse the state tax, due and deposited, by hotels and tour operators registered under the Rajasthan Goods and Services Act. The order for reimbursement of state tax (SGST) will come into effect from April 1 and will be in force till June 30. The order will be applicable for taxable entities registered under the category of hotels, resorts and tour operators. However, it will not cover standalone restaurants and clubs. The corona virus outbreak has broken the backbone of the travel and tourism industry and all stakeholders have been requesting the central and state ... Read more

The Indian hospitality sector will suffer losses of over Rs 600 crore this year, a research report prepared by a hospitality consultancy firm has said. The branded hotel chain together with the standalone hotel segment is facing losses of over Rs 150 crore. The alternative accommodation segment, dominated by bed and baths (B&B), guest houses and small lodges, is likely to make losses of over ₹420-470 crore, the report by Hotelivate said. Layoffs of ‘casual staff’ or ‘contracted staff’ is likely, the research noted. This will amount to a weak Q4 FY20 and a weaker Q1 FY21. According to the ... Read more

Ultimate Outdoor Entertainment (UOE) is helping cooped up communities and families find ways to entertain themselves outside while maintaining safe social distances during this difficult time. They are providing Drive-In Movies that come directly to customers’ locations. “We were looking forward to releasing a full summer program of drive-in movies this year, but now UOE is more focused on the current issues at hand – helping communities find safe entertainment alternatives while helping our employees get work. We aim to continue supporting our office staff and dozens of audio-visual technicians across the country by providing a useful community activity during ... Read more

Airplane manufacturer Boeing has said it would halt production at its Washington state factory for two weeks due to the accelerating spread of the corona virus in the region. Boeing plans to reduce production this week and will suspend all operations on March 25 for 14 days. During this period, the company will be conducting deep cleaning activities at impacted sites. Employees will continue to work from home if they can, and those who can’t will receive paid leave for 10 days. “Critical distribution operations in support of airline, government, and maintenance, repair and overhaul customers will continue,” Boeing said ... Read more