Tag: covid-19 pandemic

Imagine working under swaying palm trees, with a drink in hand, looking into the sea? Classy restaurants and golf courses can be seen at a distance, for your consideration. Water sports and massages can come in handy too, when you need some break at work. Is it for real? Yes it is. Welcome to Barbados. Like most of its Caribbean neighbours, Barbados has been good at keeping covid-19 out. Usually,  tourism brings in more than half of its foreign earnings. Now, many tourists are banned and the economy is reeling, says a report by The Economist. The tourism minister, Kerrie Symmonds, ... Read more

Germany has decided to ask all travellers to go through compulsory coronavirus testing before entering the country. “We are checking whether it is legally possible to make someone do a test, because it would be an encroachment on freedom,” Health Minister Jens Spahn told a local radio channel. Compared to the rest of the European countries, Germany has been successful in containing the  coronavirus pandemic. Germany had observed a strict lockdown for almost two months, before reopening its economy. Spahn and his counterparts from the 16 federal states of Germany have also announced that these compulsory coronavirus tests will be free ... Read more

In an effort to save jobs of around 50 lakh people and encourage domestic travel, the Shopping Centres Association of India (SCAI) has written to Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray to reopen malls which have remained shut since March due to the pandemic. Covid-19 has affected 3.47 lakh people and claimed 12,854 lives in the state till now – the highest in the country. “About 5 million jobs (50 lakh) are at stake if malls are not opened at the earliest,” the letter warned adding that retrenchment could be seen as early as August. So far, big malls in Mumbai ... Read more

Bulgaria’s new Tourism Minister, Mariana Nikolova, has said the country’s resorts, tourist attractions, rich history and natural beauty need advertising as safe and secure destinations for vacationing. Today, people working in tourism need the support of the state as is done in all European countries, she said, according to a report by Novinite. “I take on the Ministry of Tourism with the clear awareness that the most affected industry in the world from the pandemic is tourism. There is no forecast to give us a horizon when people’s travel will return to the pace and volume to which we were accustomed to earlier,” she said. ... Read more

SpiceJet has been designated as “India’s scheduled carrier” to operate flight services to the UK from India, the Gurugram-based no-frills airline said in a regulatory filing on Friday. The announcement came just one day after it was picked to fly on India-US routes by the governments of the two countries under the bilateral air services pact, news agency PTI has reported. “We would like to inform you that in terms of the Air Services Agreement between the Government of India and the United Kingdom, SpiceJet has been designated as Indian scheduled carrier to operate on agreed services between India and the ... Read more

With the panic surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic starting to subside in Europe, Switzerland has opened its doors for global tourism, but not for India. From July 20, in tune with European Union guidelines, Switzerland lifted restrictions for travellers from 21 countries apart from European nations. But India — currently ranking third on the world Corona dashboard – has been excluded, news agency IANS says. Travellers from certain regions will be quarantined for 10 days after entering Switzerland, one of the few nations in the world which has managed to control the impact of the pandemic, says the report. “We have ... Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unforeseen challenges to global tourism. With geography gaining significance and the importance of shorter distances becoming more pronounced, regional tourism is likely to grow. Governments must thus pivot to focus considerably more attention on regional tourism through investments in infrastructure and services, particularly digitisation to reduce human transactions, a new report by Brookings India has said. India, in particular, will have to leverage the wide range of cultural similarities with its neighbours such as the regional Buddhist trail and pilgrimage, etc, the research report noted. Such a push would also contribute locally through employment and ... Read more

As Caribbean beaches and resorts begin welcoming back international tourists, there’s one group that’s increasingly being left out: Americans. Tropical vacation spots across the region are giving US citizens the cold shoulder amid fears they might spread the coronavirus, cutting Americans off from one of the few regions that was still accessible to them, Bloomberg reports. This week, the Bahamas will begin barring commercial flights and passenger ships from the US, even as it invites Canadian and European tourists to visit. The Dutch countries of St. Maarten and Curacao have also reopened to almost everyone but US travellers. With nearly ... Read more

A senior Republican senator has said that the backlog for an Indian to get a permanent residency in the US is more than 195 years, and urged the US Senate to address this issue with a legislative resolution. A Green Card, or a Permanent Resident Card, is a document that is issued to immigrants into the US which acts as proof that the bearer of such a card has been granted the privilege to reside permanently in the country. Senator Mike Lee said that the current Green Card policy offered nothing to the offspring of an immigrant whose deceased parent’s ... Read more

By George Scaria (Travelife Certified Sustainability Manager) Sustainability in tourism has been a major talking point at several industry platforms for the last few years. When it comes to the post Covid-19 new normal, sustainability will have a major role to play. The concept is based on the three Ps – People, Planet & Profit. But unfortunately, many misunderstand or misinterpret the above to suit their own convenience. In this article, I am trying to bring a few points which may be closer to the real definitions. In my personal experience, I have found that many of our industry stakeholders have ... Read more

By Anish Kumar – CEO, Travel Planners Countries like Chile, Germany, Italy, Britain and the US are looking at providing immunity passports to people who have recovered from the coronavirus, so that they feel encouraged to travel. Immunity passport is a form of documentation given to those who have recovered from Covid-19. Those who have recovered from the impact of the coronavirus have developed herd immunity, and hence such measures are being considered to revive the travel sector. It is estimated that around 8.33 million people have recovered from Covid-19 worldwide. They have developed antibodies against the disease and are ... Read more

The Ministry of Tourism, as part of its Dekho Apna Desh series conducted a webinar titled, “The Mystical Triangle- Maheshwar, Mandu & Omkareshwar” on July 18. Presented by Ashima Gupta, Commissioner of Income Tax, Indore and Sarita Alurkar, a Singapore based marketing professional, the webinar showcased the richness of the destinations covered under the mystical triangle and acquainted the viewers with these serene, captivating getaways in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The first stop of the mystical triangle was Maheshwar or Mahishmati, one of the most serene and captivating destinations of Madhya Pradesh with historical significance, 90 kms away from ... Read more

Eli Rozenberg, the 30-year-old scion of a New York family in the nursing home business, made his offer on Monday for control of El Al Airlines, Israel’s flag carrier. He said that he and his family were prepared to pay $75 million for an allocation of shares that would give him a 44.99% stake. According to a report by Haaretz, the stake is the maximum he can offer to achieve control of Israel’s flag carrier without having to make a general offer for all the shares, under Israeli regulations. The offer, which was presented to the Israel Companies Authority and the ... Read more

Fiji has announced a range of incentives in its annual budget of 2020-21 to promote tourism, including tax cuts, pricing reductions across the hospitality sector and a move to drop quarantine requirements for tourists from New Zealand. Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum while presenting the budget said several measures have been taken including tax reductions to stimulate the tourism sector, its biggest income earner. Hotel accommodation, food and beverages prices have been reduced, and the first 150,000 visitors to its shores will get $400 each towards packages including flights, accommodation and food and beverages, according to a report by Stuff. Sayed-Khaiyum said market surveys had ... Read more

Emirates will resume passenger services to Stockholm with weekly flights from August 1, expanding its network in Europe to 22 cities, and connecting customers from Europe to the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa. The restart of Stockholm flights means that all Emirates gateways in Scandinavia would have resumed services by August, with flights to Oslo resuming from August 4 and services to Copenhagen being in operation since June. This will take the airline’s passenger network to 63 destinations in August, offering customers around the world more convenient connections to Dubai, and via Dubai. Flights between Stockholm and Dubai will ... Read more