Tag: corona virus crisis

Goa will have to reinvent its tourism profile and go back to the pristine 1960s, in a bid to get the industry back on its feet, Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar said on Thursday. Speaking to reporters outside Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s official residence in Panaji, Ajgaonkar said that the state would only focus on “wealthy tourists” and stay away from budget tourism in the future. “We have to recreate the Goa of the 1960s to kickstart our tourism again. In 1960s, Goa was beautiful and now in 2020 it is very different with more than 8 million visiting tourists,” the ... Read more

The Shanghai Disneyland has decided to open again, for the benefit of tourists. During the initial reopening phase, the park will operate with additional procedures and limited attendance. The Shanghai Disney Resort (SDR) has announced that the Shanghai Disneyland theme park will officially reopen to the public on May 11. The initial park reopening will demonstrate a deliberate approach, drawing on the experience from the successful reopening of Disneytown, Wishing Star Park and Shanghai Disneyland Hotel in early March, implemented with enhanced health and safety measures. During this initial reopening phase, the park will institute new measures and procedures, including ... Read more

The Union Ministry of Tourism is preparing a set of guidelines for travellers, monuments, guides, hotels and restaurants, tour operators and other stakeholders, in wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The official document should be ready by the middle of this month and will be supported, endorsed and vetted by the ministry, news agency IANS has reported. It will be in line with the Ministry of Health guidelines and various ideas that are coming from the industry. This was stated by Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Dr Rupinder Brar. She was speaking at a webinar organised by ... Read more

Air Arabia, the Sharjah-based low-cost airline, has opened regular passenger flight bookings on its online reservation portal with effect from June 1. The move has made the aviation sector sit up and take note, as this was not expected to happen so quickly. The airline had earlier mentioned on its website that the flights are suspended until May 30. Any passenger can now book the flight by visiting the Air Arabia website to destinations including Karachi and Peshawar in Pakistan; Mumbai, Delhi, Trivandrum in India; Dhaka in Bangladesh; Beirut, Lebanon; Cairo, Egypt; Moscow, Russia; and some other European and Eastern ... Read more

National carrier Air India has opened bookings for those passengers who meet the eligibility criteria and wish to travel from India to London, Singapore and select destinations in the United States on flights that will operate between May 8 to May 14, a statement from the airline said. “We would like to inform all those who wish to travel from India to London, Singapore and select destinations in the USA on Air India flights operating between May 8 and May 14 to click on http://www.airindia.in/r1landingpage.htm for booking. Passengers are requested to read the eligibility criteria carefully as available on the ... Read more

China’s tourism sector showed great signs of recovery over the May Day holiday with 115 million trips made, mostly by younger people emerging from weeks of coronavirus lockdown, according to government data and operators. The five-day holiday period from May 1 was an important test for the country’s tourism industry, one of the sectors hardest hit by the coronavirus. News agency Reuters said the total of 115 million trips over the holiday was down 41% from the 195 million over the same period last year. But the figure beat expectations of about 90 million trips and was a hopeful sign, ... Read more

The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to waive off electricity charges for a period of six months, in a major relief to the travel and hospitality sector in the state. The move is expected to provide a relief of around Rs 15 crore. The excise and taxation license fee would also be waived off, the government said. A decision to this effect was taken in the Cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Jairam Thakur. A presentation was made in the Cabinet regarding steps taken for economic revival and economic reforms to be initiated by the state government after lockdown. Several ... Read more

The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH) — the nodal federation of all the national associations representing the tourism, travel and hospitality sectors in India — has estimated a loss of Rs 10 lakh crores to the industry, as a result of the pandemic. The federation presented the revised guidance during a meeting with the Empowered Group-6 (EG-6), an inter-ministerial panel set up by the government and headed by Niti Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant. The earlier estimate was given to the government in March, when it had pegged the loss at Rs 5 lakh crores. The ... Read more

Norwegian Cruise Line, the world’s third-largest cruise operator, has warned there is “substantial doubt” that it will be able to continue in the industry, following the severe impact of the corona virus pandemic on travel. The company, which is listed on the New York stock market, said: “Covid-19 has had, and is expected to continue to have, a significant impact on our financial condition and operations, which adversely affects our ability to obtain acceptable financing.” In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Norwegian said the difficulties it had experienced arranging emergency funding had “raised substantial doubt ... Read more

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin when asked about resuming international air travel – “It’s too hard to tell at this point. Domestic travel will be a better option. For business people who do need to travel, there will be travel on a limited basis. We want people to travel safely and be able to visit places.”

Carnival Cruise Line is looking to resume service in North America on August 1, in a gradual “phase-in” approach. “We are taking a measured approach, focusing our return to service on a select number of home-ports where we have more significant operations that are easily accessible by car for the majority of our guests,” the Florida based international cruise liner said in a news release. Carnival said that as it resumes operations in August, it will only be sailing from three ports: Miami and Port Canaveral in Florida and Galveston, Texas. Eight Carnival ships — Dream, Freedom, Vista, Horizon, Magic, ... Read more

Ayurveda is the biggest revenue earning sector as far as Kerala Tourism is concerned.  Ayurveda tourism in Kerala comprises two categories  1.    Wellness Ayurveda2.    Therapeutic Ayurveda The first one is more connected to the tourism angle and are mostly represented by beach properties. This segment has always attracted great demand. Around 65% of the Ayurveda clients come into this category out of which most are international guests. They take a 7-28 day programme when the international season kicks in from  September to April. This year also most of the resorts were running full house from last October till the lockdown was implemented. The ... Read more

Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd (MHRIL) has said it will first reopen resorts that are at a drivable distance from the metro cities once the coronavirus lockdown is lifted. The Mahindra Group firm has currently suspended operations at its resorts in compliance with government directives. “Once travel restrictions are relaxed and state borders open up, and people feel comfortable enough to travel again, we expect our members and their families to start travelling to our resorts in their own vehicles, since we are at drivable distances from major cities,” MHRIL MD and CEO Kavinder Singh told news agency PTI. ... Read more

In the first half of April, a New York Times article wrote on a couple stranded in Maldives on a “never-ending honeymoon”. They are still stuck there along with hundreds of other tourists, as flights have been cancelled. “There is nowhere to go. The couple reign like benign yet captive sovereigns over their islet. The days are long and lazy. They sleep in, snorkel, lounge by the pool, repeat,” the NYT wrote. It may sound like fun to get stranded in a tropical paradise like Maldives, but the tourists are running short of funds. In an interview to CNN, Ali ... Read more

Goa would like to open its doors to tourism once the lock-down gets lifted on May 17, state Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said. “After May 17 we would like to welcome tourists, if the central guidelines allow it. We are waiting for the central guidelines. Goa is coronavirus-free and that’s a positive thing,” Sawant said. The Chief Minister said that there was a buzz in the tourism industry, with Goa being declared coronavirus-free. Sawant said the state government would request the Centre for a bailout package for the tourism industry, which is one of the worst-hit due to the ... Read more