Rising to the demands and preferences of tourists in the post-pandemic world, Kerala announced a comprehensive, stakeholder-friendly Caravan Tourism Policy, promising the visitors safe, customized and closest-to-nature travel experience. The two major components of this activity are Tourism Caravans and Caravan Parks. While the first involves specially- built vehicles for travel, leisure and stay, the Caravan Parks are designated places to park the vehicles and enable the visitors to spend a night or a day or station for an extended period to explore the destination.

A three-team delegation from the Department of Tourism, Jammu & Kashmir Govt was in Mumbai recently to meet with key tour operators as well as members from the film fraternity. Dr G N Itoo, Director Tourism, said, “We are here to build confidence among the trade and promote little-known destinations in the UT that are as beautiful. As things reopen, we will look at conducting roadshows as well. “

In a recent webinar, Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, expressed her concern on the lack of trained medical staff in tourism industry. “There is no dearth of medical personnel in India, then why are we not able to address the medical issues. That is something we need to work on immediately. More targeted and focused training by the ministry is required of the tour guides associated with the recognized tour companies” said Brar

A trusted DMC for Maldives & Indonesia, U & I Holidays has launched its web booking portal. Phase 1 unveils the Maldives module & Phase 2 will ensure Bali module upon the opening up of Indonesian borders. Split stays for combining Beach & Water Villas, 2 different resort/hotels options, complete integration of the seasonal & regular offers and many more such salient features are a part of this portal. Most importantly the system has been conceptualised, keeping in mind the traditional offline working style of any travel professional.

Mumbai airport registers nearly four-fold growth in passenger traffic in August.The onset of the festive season coupled with some countries easing visa and travel curbs helped Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) to post a nearly four-fold growth in passenger traffic in August. CSMIA handled 16-lakh passengers in August this year, the private airport operator said on Tuesday.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, has said that they will be launching the Airsewa 3.0 portal under which they are deciding on the process of grievance escalation in airline companies as well, so that higher officers can close those grievances. Also, in terms of refunds, he said, “Getting refunds for passengers is not just the responsibility of the travel agents, but even the airlines will be responsible for closing the refunds.”

G Kamala Vardhan Rao, Director General, Ministry of Tourism and CMD, ITDC, has said that they are concentrating on promoting, incentivising and prompting travel, which is needed to give a boost to the hotel sector, tour operators, guides, taxi drivers, and all the stakeholders who have lost jobs. “Our fundamental concern is to see that once the engine of tourism is on, all stakeholders in the tourism sector will be employed. Hence, our main concern is to gain this employment back, to gain the confidence levels of the hotels sector back to normalcy and gain the confidence of hoteliers and all the stakeholders in the tourism sector,” he said.

Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) Abu Dhabi’s webinar titled, ‘Reunite #InAbu Dhabi’ is scheduled on 14th September at 3pm IST. The focus of the webinar will be on the leisure offerings in Abu Dhabi. Participants will learn about luxury experiences, iconic sights and exotic locations in the Emirate. To register write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91 9650196532.

The Government has announced to clear all pending dues of exporters worth Rs. 56,000, which includes SEIS. An official release states, “Service sector exporters, including those in the travel, tourism and hospitality segments will be able to claim SEIS benefits for FY 2019-2020, for which Rs 2,061 crore has been provisioned. The SEIS for FY 2019-20 with certain revisions in service categories and rates is being notified. This support would have a multiplier effect and spur employment generation.” Piyush Goyal, Union Minister, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, announced that the Government has decided to budget Rs 56,027 crore in this Financial Year (FY22) itself in order to disburse all pending export incentives due to exports. The final date of filing application of due scrips for SEIS is 31st December. There will also be a dedicated portal for filing scrips dues and it will be made live soon.

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) Madhya Pradesh Chapter conducted a physical meeting for its members in Pune recently over two days. It was led by Chapter Chairman TK Jose along with the National Committee team led by President Ajay Prakash. The team met in Pune in order to promote the destination along with nearby places like Lonavala and Mahabaleshwar after IndiGo started a direct Indore-Pune-Indore flight.