In order to further strengthen domestic connectivity, IndiGo plans to initiate flights from seven new stations subject to regulatory approvals and slot allocation. Ronojoy Dutta, CEO, IndiGo, says, “We plan to open Leh and Darbhanga in February, followed by Kurnool and Agra in March, Bareilly and Durgapur in April, and Rajkot in May 2021.”

Kenya is now open to Indian tourists. Passengers are required to undertake a COVID-19 test at least 72 hours prior to their departure and produce the physical copies of the same on arrival. The Yellow fever vaccine continues to be a mandate. Visa applications are to be done online at a charge of $50. At present, there are scheduled direct flights from Mumbai to Nairobi by Kenya Airways three times a week.

Madhya Pradesh Tourism recently conducted a two-day agent familiarisation trip to Jal Mahotsav, India’s biggest water carnival in the state. Around 14 travel agents from the state travelled to Hanuwantiya Island in Madhya Pradesh for this event, which will conclude on January 15. The month-long water fest was inaugurated by Forest Minister Vijay Shah.

STB India’s Virtual Tradeshow 2021 will begin tomorrow from 10 am to 4pm. The subsequent editions will take place on the 15th, 19th and 21st of January for North, West and East India, respectively. You can register for free on www.stbindiatradeshow2021.com, write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91-9650196532.

Election of office bearers for the Northern India chapter of TAFI will be held tomorrow at The Park hotel in New Delhi. Contenders for the post of Chairman are Khushvinder Sarna of The Federal Travels & Tours and Vijay Kumar Gupta of Golden Phoenix Travel. Arush Mittal of Blue Skies Travels and Tours stands unopposed for post of Treasurer.

IRDAI has proposed a standard travel insurance policy with common coverage and policy wordings. Its draft guidelines issued on December 28 stated, ‘The standard product shall have the basic mandatory covers as specified in draft guidelines which shall be uniform across the market. The product may be both an individual product and a group product.’

India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Nepal will soon hold a discussion to determine a possible course of action for the revival of tourism in the region. India has proposed to resume tourism and aviation activities with appropriate restrictions through the travel bubble concept. India and Sri Lanka decided this during External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s Colombo visit.

Learn about the new labour laws, HR policies, and the new draft of the appointment letter at IATO’s webinar, in association with TravTalk, on Wednesday, January 13, 11:30 am onwards.

After postponement of the KTM Virtual Travel Mart last year, Kerala Travel Mart (KTM) Society is all set to host the first edition of KTM Virtual Mart 2021 from March 1-5, 2021. The mart aims to rebuild the tourism sector by initiating the marketing strategies of Kerala’s tourism products, to showcase them to the world, and to get in touch with travel trade members from all over the world.

Prasanna Ranatunga, Minister of Tourism, Sri Lanka, has said that he expects the country’s international airports to officially reopen by January 21. “We are currently preparing for this after identifying some basic issues,” he added. The airports will open after 10 long months with health protocols in place.