Tag: corona virus crisis

One of Kazakhstan’s top ten travel destinations, the Balkhash Lake shoreline, will have a major “infrastructure renovation” finished by 2025. The Karaganda Region Akimat (administration) plans to build more than 20 new coastal recreation areas, to complete the repair of the Karaganda-Balkhash highway and to reconstruct the Balkhash city airport, the regional akimat’s press service has reported. Balkhash Lake is one of the largest lakes in Asia and one of the most unique features of the lake is its chemical composition. The western part of the reservoir has freshwater, while the eastern part is salty. The region attracts approximately 80,000 people ... Read more

American Airlines will book flights to capacity effective July 1, the company said in a press release on Friday. The airline said it will notify customers and allow them to move to more open flights if they are available at no extra price.  “As more people continue to travel, customers may notice that flights are booked to capacity starting July 1,” the airline said, adding that customers can also move to another seat if space is available once boarding is complete. American has blocked off 50% of the main cabin middle seats and has been notifying customers if their flight ... Read more

To showcase the benefits of India’s ancient form of health science – yoga – and the potential of it as a tourism product, the Ministry of Tourism presented a webinar on ‘India as a Yoga Destination’ under the Dekho Apna Desh series. The webinar highlighted the current yoga landscape and how it can be leveraged to broad base and scale up tourism in India. The session was moderated by Rupinder Brar, additional director general of Ministry of Tourism and  presented by Achal Mehra who is the CEO of Greenway (a social impact company) and founder of an eco-friendly resort Mahua ... Read more

Rajasthan’s tourism minister Vishvendra Singh has expressed his public displeasure at the functioning of the tourism department in the state. The coronavirus outbreak has severely impacted the sector, counted as one of the major sources of Rajasthan’s revenue. In a series of tweets, the minister questioned the indifferent working of the department officials and their shortcomings while urging chief minister Ashok Gehlot to take harsh action against the errant officials. “I have maintained a silence on too many things for too long, going against my temperament and work ethics. But, my chief minister, has always advocated transparency and in that ... Read more

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has partnered with Wanderlust World for the launch of a new app designed to facilitate safe and seamless travel in the wake of COVID-19. The new ‘World Tourist Identification’ app is one of many solutions developed to meet the new demands of both tourists and destinations, UNWTO said. The app allows tourists to carry digital copies of key documents in one place. This will make identification of tourist arrivals easier, quicker and safer. The app is also designed to reduce the risk of fraud and identity theft. As many countries around the world begin to ... Read more

Commercial international flights to and from India will continue to remain suspended till July 15, according to a government release issued on Friday. A circular released by the Director General of Civil Aviation in New Delhi said that “scheduled International commercial passenger services to/from India shall remain suspended till 23:59 hours IST of 15th July, 2020.” It specified that this restriction will not apply to international cargo operations and certain flights specifically approved by the aviation regulator. The official release says some international scheduled flights on “select routes” may be allowed by the competent authorities on a case to case ... Read more

Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren on Thursday directed senior officials to initiate action to acquire ITDC’s Ranchi Ashok Bihar Hotel that had been lying idle for over three years. At a meeting held at the state secretariat at Project Bhavan, Hemant discussed the possibility of a full take-over of the property with chief secretary Sukhdev Singh, his principal secretary Rajeev Arun Ekka, finance and planning secretary Himani Pandey and tourism secretary Pooja Singhal. The hotel was established as a joint venture between Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and Bihar Tourism and started functioning in January 1987 when Ranchi was in ... Read more

“It took us 12 years to build Airbnb, and we lost almost everything in four to six weeks,” the company’s co-founder Brian Chesky has said. The company was preparing to go public this year, and now that is up in the air, he said during an interview to CNBC. Chesky noted that Airbnb faces an uncertain future due to fear of outbreaks that are already being experienced around the world. “Travel as we knew it is over,” he said. “It doesn’t mean travel is over, just the travel we knew is over, and it’s never coming back.” The CEO noted that at least in ... Read more

Dubai Tourism has teamed up with Snapchat with the aim to remind travellers of the fantastic weather in the Middle East and showcase all the top attractions virtually. Currently Dubai is preparing to welcome back tourists from July 7. Snapchat users will be able to select from four different augmented reality (AR) Snapchat Lenses, which have been developed with the intention of transporting users to Dubai (virtually) to experience the famous attractions that Dubai has to offer, including the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Frame, Al Seef and Madinat Jumeirah. “Dubai Tourism is delighted with the success of this creative partnership with ... Read more

In an effort to encourage domestic travel and offer much-needed support to Canada’s tourism sector, the Canadian government has announced that it would be committing a total of over $70 million. The funding includes $30 million towards domestic marketing through Destination Canada, and a little over $40 million towards destination marketing organizations (local tourism groups like Tourism Toronto) and select tourism-related projects in Southern Ontario, Northern Ontario and the West. There are also discussions to distribute funds to other regional development agencies for Atlantic Canada, Quebec and the North. “Our tourism sector and the 1.8 million people it employs across ... Read more

Uzbekistan is initiating a unique approach to restore its tourism industry by paying tourists $3,000 if they contract COVID-19 while visiting. President Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed an official order regarding this. “These are additional measures for the development of tourism in strict compliance with enhanced sanitary and epidemiological security.” As part of this decree, businesses across the country were awarded additional privileges for reopening guide services and translators, who are now able to reinstate their services. The funds for the purpose will come from the “Uzbekistan. Safe Travel Guaranteed” initiative. The dollar amount is meant to be equal to the estimated cost ... Read more

The Eiffel Tower reopened to visitors Thursday morning after having been shut down for more than three months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the Paris landmark’s longest closure since World War II. The reopening is a dramatic sign of people reclaiming public spaces in France following more than 100 days of restrictions. But the tower’s highest point is still not open – and for now, visitors will need to take the stairs. The stairs-only rule is one of several restrictions at the site, which draws millions of tourists during a normal year. Face masks are compulsory for all ... Read more

More than 30% of civilian pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses and are not qualified to fly, the country’s aviation minister has revealed. Addressing Pakistan’s National Assembly, Ghulam Sarwar Khan said 262 pilots in the country “did not take the exam themselves” and had paid someone else to sit it on their behalf. “They don’t have flying experience,” he said. Pakistan has 860 active pilots serving its domestic airlines — including the country’s Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flagship — as well as a number of foreign carriers. PIA has grounded all its pilots who hold fake licenses, effective immediately. “PIA ... Read more

Airlines for America (A4A), the industry trade organization for the leading US airlines, announced that its member carriers will voluntarily pledge to refund tickets for any passenger who is found to have an elevated temperature, during a screening process conducted by federal authorities prior to travel. Last month, A4A and its member carriers announced they are supporting the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to begin conducting temperature screenings of the traveling public and customer-facing employees as long as necessary during the COVID-19 public health crisis. As all screening processes for the traveling public are the responsibility of the US government, having temperature checks ... Read more

India’s leading heritage hotel chain, WelcomHeritage, has announced the appointment of Abinash Manghani as its Chief Executive Officer. Earlier, he was with the ITC Hotels where he was responsible for the leisure & luxury verticals nationally and area manager for north India. He has been in the hospitality industry for over three decades. Speaking on his appointment, Abinash Manghani, CEO, WelcomHeritage said, “I am extremely delighted to join the WelcomHeritage group.” “WelcomHeritage Hotels, Palaces and Resorts are uniquely positioned and offer a “Safe Haven” during this pandemic. We have started the ‘Safety Ensured” initiative at all our properties to ensure cleanliness and disinfection ... Read more