Category: Trade News

In a boost to exports of organic products, a consignment of 10.20 MT of value-added products of organically certified gluten-free jackfruit powder & retort-packed jackfruit cubes were exported to Germany from Bengaluru yesterday via sea route. The has been processed in the APE jackfruit DA assisted packhouse owned by Phalada Agro Research Foundations (PARF), Bengaluru. APEDA registered PARFrepresents a group of 1500 farmers with a wide coverage of around 12,000 acres of farms. These farmers grow Medicinal and aromatic herbs, coconut, jackfruit, mango puree products, spices, and Coffee. PARF facilitates the certification process as per National Programme for Organic Production ... Read more

A new in-depth data dashboard highlighting the recovery of travel demand across flights and hotels, as well as revealing the shifting intentions of travellers through online travel searches, has been launched by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). The one-stop data shop or Interactive COVID-19 Travel Demand Recovery Dashboard was developed by WTTC, which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, with support from McKinsey & Company. This unique tool provides users with easy access to qualitative and quantitative travel data at the global and regional level as well as for 33 major countries around the world, by ... Read more

The calamity that we are facing, is looming large in front of us. There is a virus tsunami that we have to contend with and then there is the economic tsunami related to capital. We have to talk of survival first, before the talk of revival. The tourism sector has been the first hit, the hardest hit and it will take the longest for revival. Therefore, we need survival measures. Special support should be given to the hospitality sector that needs high capital investment, thereby creating large employment. As far as capital is concerned, the RBI governor has announced some ... Read more

The Association of Tourism Trade Organisations India (ATTOI) is inviting all the stakeholders of the entire tourism industry in Kerala to a scheduled virtual meeting on Monday. The virtual conference on April 6, to be hosted on Zoom, will start at 11.30 am IST. Kerala Tourism secretary Rani George IAS will also join the meeting. Industry stakeholders has been having meetings online, due to the rapid spread of the pandemic that has hit the tourism sector hard. For joining the online session you have to download the Zoom software from your Google Playstore. You can use your laptop/desktop/smartphone for this ... Read more

Dubai has promised financial assistance for state-owned carrier Emirates as various international airlines look for government bailouts amid the corona virus pandemic. The government will inject new equity into the carrier, one of the world’s leading long-haul airlines, during this “critical period”, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, the crown prince, said in a statement, according a Financial Times report. Dubai is the latest government to intervene in the sector reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. The global airline industry will burn through $61bn of their cash reserves during the second quarter of this year, according to the latest forecast from ... Read more

The Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA) is calling on governments in over 45 countries across the region to support 320,000 local and front-line employees working in the duty free and travel retail industry. APTRA has said the various national governments in the Asia Pacific region should look to include the duty free and travel retail industry in the same financial support packages as airlines, airports and maritime industries. This $36bn industry is at risk of being overlooked by politicians as they devise financial rescue measures to cope with the COVID-19 crisis, APTRA said. Airport Retail and commercial services, including ... Read more

The corona virus pandemic will change the tourism sector forever. It will change the way the sector will do its business, maintain its hygiene and treats its guests. In an interview, Hycinth Hotels Manager S K Sinha says considerable damage has been done to the morale of the employees and that’s probably more difficult to measure than the actual loss in monetary terms. Excerpts: Q: The hospitality industry is going through probably its worst ever phase in history. Did you think that the crisis would end up having such a devastating effect on the industry? A: Definitely no. This pandemic ... Read more

There is some good news for Russian citizens. In April, visa application centres of Greece, the UK, Italy and the Netherlands will resume accepting applications. Due to the closure of the Schengen zone, almost all European countries in the second half of March had suspended the application for Schengen visas to Russian citizens. UNITED KINGDOMThe British Visa Application Center in Moscow will be closed from March 28 to April 5. The center will resume its work on April 6, 2020 in accordance with the usual schedule. GREECEAll Greek visa centers had temporarily suspended their activities since March 28, 2020. The ... Read more

Hilton’s new Singapore property is all set to become the hospitality major’s Asia-Pacific flagship. The new hotel is expected to be ready by early 2022, and will have over 1,000 rooms, five restaurants and bars and suites. Located in the middle of the Orchard Road shopping strip, the Hilton Singapore Orchard is in fact a $90 million make-over of the Mandarin Orchard Singapore. An extensive refurbishment will precede the rebranding, which will be underpinned by new meeting facilities to meet growing demand for regional and global conferences, including three ballrooms. Work is scheduled to begin by mid-year, as the current ... Read more

Taking into account the unparalleled introduction of travel restrictions across the world, the United Nations specialized agency for tourism, UNWTO, expects that international tourist arrivals will be down by 20-30% in 2020 when compared with last year. However, UNWTO stresses that these numbers are based on the latest developments as the global community faces up to an unprecedented social and economic challenge and should be interpreted with caution in view of the extreme uncertain nature of the current crisis. An expected fall of between 20-30% could translate into a decline in international tourism receipts (exports) of between US$300-450 billion, almost ... 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

Marriott International has announced an agreement to debut The Ritz-Carlton brand in the Maldives, with a 100-villa resort amid white sandy beaches. The property, to be called The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands, is slated to open late 2020. The company signed the agreement with CPRC (Maldives) Private Limited, a member of Singapore-based Pontiac Land Group (“Pontiac Land”), which is developing the resort. “We are pleased to collaborate with Pontiac Land in bringing the Ritz-Carlton brand to one of the world’s most famous travel destinations,” said Paul Foskey, Chief Development Officer, Asia Pacific, Marriott International. “The development of The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, ... 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