Ahmedabad-based Pathfinders Holidays celebrates its 23rd anniversary this month. Led by Maitreyee and Mahendra Vakharia together with their son Karan Vakharia, the company focuses on bespoke travel itineraries to worldwide destinations and within India. Their client base is spread out not only in India but also in UK, USA and Canada and they manage their holiday arrangements from the Ahmedabad office

CommonPass, or a COVID-passport, is a technology framework that can be used by apps to verify an individual’s health status. It is being trialled by two airlines across a few sectors in the world. The system hopes to become a fail-safe way to verify a traveller’s health status and tally it against local entry laws. If it works, it could inspire governments to drop bans and quarantines.  

In a bid to revive the hard-hit tourism industry, Nepal announced that foreign tourists having COVID-19 negative report will not be required to quarantine themselves for seven days from October 17. Foreign trekkers may enter without quarantine if they produce a PCR negative report from October 17. Its tourism ministry is working to carry out instant antigen test for COVID-19 for foreign tourists upon their arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport.

Highlighting the reason why domestic tourism has not taken off in India, PP Khanna, President, Association of Domestic Tour Operators Association of India (ADTOI), said, “The GST on tour operators should be 1.8% with full set offs and not 5% which is making domestic tour operators uncompetitive. To survive, the domestic tour operators need to be supported have an operating cash subsidy to pay their salaries and operating costs.”

Captain Swadesh Kumar, President, Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) has said that India currently has negligible share in the US$ 750bn world adventure tourism industry which is poised to touch US$ 1.5 trillion in the post Covid world. “We want to work closely with the Central and State government to get at a respectable market share of 5-10% in the medium to long run in the international market,” he said.  

FM Nirmala Sitharaman made a slew of announcements to stimulate consumer spending and capital expenditure, including a special LTC (Leave Travel Concession) cash voucher. She said LTC funds could be used to spend on goods and items in the 12% GST category. However, FAITH and TAAI expressed disappointment stating that LTC funds of government employees will now be redirected to buy consumer goods.

British Airways has announced it is replacing its chief executive Alex Cruz as the airline navigates “the worst crisis” facing its industry. Cruz, who has been with BA since 2016, will be immediately replaced by Aer Lingus boss Sean Doyle. Cruz will stay on as non-executive chairman for a transition period before Doyle takes on the role.

The National Mission for Clean Ganga launched an eco-tourism programme that includes dolphin safari at six sites on the occasion of ‘Ganga River Dolphin Day’ celebrated on October 5. These six sites are in three states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, which are blessed with the River Ganga.