Randhir Singh Vaghela, IATO Chairman (Gujarat Chapter), says, “The Statue of Unity is becoming a great destination for tourism. And the latest development of seaplanes being launched on October 31 has added another feather to its cap. Believe me, there are so many activities added at the Statue of Unity that it is now a minimum two-night destination and we are hoping that it will soon become one of the global destinations that every tourist would like to visit.”

IATA has enhanced its Travel Industry Designator Service (TIDS) and will also no longer charge travel agencies to use the service. TIDS is an IATA programme which provides a unique identification code for travel agents and sales intermediaries who are not IATA-Accredited agents and are located outside of the USA.

FHRAI has welcomed FSSAI’s enforcement rules making registration mandatory for home-cooked food sellers, whether operating from home or from dark kitchens. “FSSAI has responded to our plea and is taking to task any such unregulated and illegal dark kitchens. Quite a few of these are actually funded and run by the Food Service Aggregators (FSAs) to escape responsibilities attached to operating restaurants legally,” says Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, VP, FHRAI.

Alliance Air, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India, has appointed Harpreet Singh as Chief Executive Officer. Among her many feats, Singh was appointed as the first woman commercial pilot of Indian Airlines in 1988. With the new appointment she has become the first woman to head an Indian carrier.

Visit Utah will conduct its first-ever presentation for the Indian travel trade on October 21, 2020 at 11 am. Rachel Bremer, its Tourism Global Markets Director, will highlight the state’s must-visit spots and its appeal to the Indian clientele. To sign up, contact Jaspreet Kaur on 9650196532 or jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com.

Union Minister of State for Tourism & Culture (I/C), Prahlad Singh Patel, in a virtual meeting with tourism ministers and officials of 21 states & UTs discussed facilitating ease of travel between states & UTs for promoting domestic tourism and incentives being offered by them to the tourism and hospitality sector.

A recent study by Cirium on travel in the age of COVID-19 predicts that people will book trips for a minimum of two weeks, if not a month or longer (they might have annual leave to use up), and combine it with remote working or even a sabbatical.

With the pandemic having had a substantial impact on in-person exhibitions and events, Ministry of Culture has issued guidelines for holding cultural events and activities in virtual or online mode under various scheme components of Central Sector Scheme ‘Kala Sanskriti Vikas Yojana’ (KSVY), ensuring continued financial assistance to tide over the present crisis.

UNWTO will work alongside the Expedia Group to strengthen ties between the public and private sectors, and drive tourism’s recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The partnership will see them both share data on tourism trends and developments, both at the global and the local scale. This will help in informed decision making through data-based policies aimed at tourism’s sustainable recovery and future development.

Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation, has said that the extension of travel bubble arrangement till March is only under the realm of speculation. However, he adds, “I would like to plan as we go towards the end of the year, but whether it happens till March depends on whether there is a readily available vaccine, as countries will feel more confident when frontline warriors or other people have access to the vaccine.”