Tag: corona virus crisis

The Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), which owns the Taj group of hotels, has announced the launch of its online food delivery platform, Qmin. Consumers can use the platform to order food from eight restaurants in Mumbai including Golden Dragon and Souk from Taj Mahal Palace, Thai Pavilion and Trattoria from President and Ming Yang from Taj Lands’ End to name a few. The launch will cover top ten markets in India including Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru among others over a period of five weeks. The Qmin mobile application will be launched on July 25. Puneet Chhatwal, managing director and ... Read more

The Oberoi Group, in association with Tourism Industry Stake Holders Association (TISHA) and Shimla Hotel Restaurant Association (SHRA), conducted an awareness programme on COVID preparedness on Thursday. Aligned with the Standard Operating Procedures issued by the Government of Himachal Pradesh, the programme was conducted with the vision to educate and build confidence amongst the hoteliers and restaurateurs in the state. The purpose of this programme was to help the hoteliers of Himachal Pradesh learn the finest practices and deliberate strategies for implementing high standards of safety measures. The training programme focussed on preparing the hotels to be COVID ready in ... Read more

The Delhi Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association on Thursday announced that Chinese nationals would no longer be provided accommodation in over 3,000 hotels and guest houses across the city. Said association president Sandeep Khandelwal, “The Chinese are not the world, we can survive without them as well. We are all law-abiding citizens and no one will take law in their hands, but this would make the Chinese worried. War and trade cannot happen at the same time.” Khandelwal added that the association would also try to get five-star hotels on board with this decision. While a majority of hotels have ... Read more

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his approval for declaring Kushinagar Airport in Uttar Pradesh as an international airport, during a cabinet meeting. Its elevation as an international airport will help the state to grow its tourism fortunes. Kushinagar Airport is located in the vicinity of several Buddhist Cultural Sites like Sravasti, Kapilvastu, and Lumbini. Kushinagar itself is a Buddhist cultural site. Declaring it an international airport will offer improved connectivity, wider choice of competitive costs to air-travellers from Kushinagar. It will result in boosting domestic/international tourism and economic development of the region. Kushinagar is located in the north-eastern part of Uttar ... Read more

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has told India’s flag carrier Air India that transportation of passengers — whether UAE nationals or not — to the emirates will not be allowed. If any one wishes to fly on a Vande Bharat Mission flight from India to Dubai, he or she will require “specific approval from the Embassy of UAE in New Delhi and UAE ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation (MOFAIC),” said an Air India spokesperson on Wednesday. “All passengers including the Indian Nationals who are holding valid Residency Permit/Work Permit of United Arab Emirates and have procured approval of the UAE’s Federal Authority ... Read more

Australia is likely to keep its borders shut to international travellers till 2021 to contain the spread of COVID-19. Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has announced that one of the reasons that helped Australia to contain the virus successfully was its decision to close down the borders. He added international border restrictions are likely to be there for some time to come. When he was specifically asked if it was more likely to happen next year, he added, “I think that is more likely the case”. It has been three months since an indefinite ban was implemented on international travel due to ... Read more

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) have decided to extend support to Ukraine’s tourism sector, in a bid to mitigate the losses suffered. “Following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the tourism and hospitality industry across the world is expecting more than a billion tourists to cancel their holiday plans, leading to an 80% compared with 2019. In response, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) have teamed up to offer emergency support and recommendations for Ukraine’s tourism industry, which has also been badly affected by the ... Read more

The UAE has completed its national sterilisation programme and lifted all movement restrictions effective Wednesday. This means residents can travel freely across the country any time of the day, Khaleej Times has reported. Earlier, they were required to stay home during the national sterilisation programme timings between 11 pm and 6 am in Dubai and 10 pm and 6 am in all other emirates. “Today we announce the completion of the National Disinfection Programme, which covered the country’s public facilities and transportation. However, the public buildings will continue to be regularly disinfected,” said Dr Saif Al Dhaheri, spokesman for National ... Read more

As coronavirus cases continue to rise in Tamil Nadu unabated, the state government has intensified the lockdown measures and has even imposed restrictions on inter-district travel.  Thirty-three deaths and 2,865 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, taking the tally in the state to 67,468 while the death toll touched 866. This is the highest single-day spike in the number of cases.  Tamil Nadu surpassed the grim milestone of 60,000 total coronavirus cases on Monday.  At a time when all states across India have been on an ‘Unlock’ mode from June 1, Tamil Nadu government was the ... Read more

“I believe I’ll never see her alive again.” Bettina Wintermark worries that her adopted country Norway’s pandemic travel ban means she won’t be able to make one last visit to her dying mother in France. The Scandinavian country, which was quick to bring the new coronavirus under control, has ignored calls to lift, or at least ease, its travel restrictions, making it probably the most closed nation in Europe, according to news agency AFP. Most non-residents are still not allowed to enter the country, and while foreign trips are not forbidden for Norwegians, the 10-day quarantine requirement upon return to ... Read more

The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) has urged Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to not further delay restarting tourism in the State.  A delegation of the TTAG met the Chief Minister on Tuesday with a letter requesting to unlock the tourism industry that has been shut due to COVID-19 induced lockdown. They claimed that closure of the tourism sector has severely impacted the stakeholders.  “Closures of all the hotels, restaurants and bars on account of COVID-19 and the closures have continued from March 2020 till now but it cannot remain closed for a much longer period as there ... Read more

The Kerala government has said it is in talks with India’s central government on mandatory pre-flight COVID-19 testing for expats. A decision in this regard is expected shortly. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said while the state is looking at enforcing the pre-flight testing from June 25 for chartered and private flights, a final decision on the same will be taken only in consultation with the central authorities. Of the 2,711 positive cases since May 4, 2,595 cases are of people who returned to Kerala from either abroad or other parts of the country. The Chief Minister had earlier written ... Read more

Italy’s massive tourism industry has taken a hit from two months of total shutdown and an ongoing ban on visitors from outside Europe. Hence, in a bid to revive the sector, which makes up 13% of the country’s GDP and 15% of jobs, some parts of the country are offering incentives to holiday in Italy this summer, reports The Local.it. Here’s a guide to what’s on offer if you’re planning to travel to Italy this summer. Sicily The island’s government wants to give discounts on plane tickets, subsidise hotel stays and cover the cost of guided tours for visitors arriving in ... Read more

People travelling from outside of the EU and the Schengen area will be able to visit Spain from June 30. Transcontinental non-essential travel to Spain from outside of Europe has been given the green light by the Spanish government, following the EU’s recommendation for member states to gradually reopen their borders from June 15 onwards. Tourists from the USA and Canada, Latin America, Africa, Oceania and Asia will in theory be able to book their holidays to Spain from that day, although the announcement published in Spain’s daily government bulletin states that restrictions on holidaymakers from outside of the EU and Schengen ... Read more

The tourism industry in Japan is showing signs of a gradual pickup after the novel coronavirus crisis dealt it a severe blow. According to a Japan Times report, many lodging facilities that resumed business after the lifting of the government’s coronavirus state of emergency in May are seeing a gradual recovery in reservations this month, mainly from local customers. Financial aid from local governments for regional tourism has also contributed to a pickup in demand. However, inbound tourists from outside Japan remain almost non-existent, and concerns over a second wave of coronavirus infections linger. “Cancellations of domestic travel reservations have ... Read more