Devendra Kumar Singh, Additional Secretary & Development Commissioner, Ministry of MSME, chaired a webinar by Ministry of Tourism, where he updated tourism stakeholders regarding the various policies that they can use to develop their businesses, and educated them about registration process under udyam, how to use public procurement policy for their benefit, come up with projects under the scheme of cluster development, and apply for loans under the priority sector to as an MSME.

Indian Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, and IATO are organising an online interactive meeting on 21st August 2020 at 1130 hours to 1330 hours, where 10 tour operators each from India and Azerbaijan will be participating. From India, only MOT recognised tour operators will be able to participate. Interested members can send their entry to IATO latest by 4 pm, 18th August. If more than 10 names are received, participation will be decided by draw of lot.

SpiceJet has started scheduled flights to Dubai from 5 Indian cities—– Delhi, Jaipur, Kozhikode, Madurai and Mumbai— starting August 17 till 31st August. The airline made the announcement through a Tweet, which said, “We are back, Dubai! SpiceJet is operating scheduled flights between Dubai and 5 Indian cities – Delhi, Jaipur, Kozhikode, Madurai and Mumbai, from 17th to 31st August 2020.” According to guidelines issued by SpiceJet, all types of visas will be acceptable for these flights. Flight schedule from India to Dubai City (origin)                                                         Dates Delhi to Dubai                   August 17,19,23,25,26,31,31 Jaipur to Dubai                 August 20,23,27,30 Kozhikode to Dubai         August 18,19,20,23,25,26,27,30,31 Madurai to Dubai             August 17, 19 Mumbai to Dubai             August 18,20,25,27 Flight schedule from Dubai to India City (Destination)             Dates Dubai to Delhi                    August 17,19,23,25,26,31,31 Dubai to Jaipur                  August 20,23,27,30 Dubai to Kozhikode         August 18,19,20,23,25,26,27,30,31 Dubai to Madurai             August 17, 19 Dubai to Mumbai             August 18,20,25,27

KD Singh, Founder & President, TravelBullz, announces a new feather to its cap with the launch of a new destination – Maldives – on the occasion of its tenth anniversary. “It is a momentous day for TravelBullz as we complete ten years of redefining B2B travel business. We started from India and expanded to Thailand, Hong Kong, Macao, Dubai, Bali and Singapore. Today, I’m happy to announce Maldives as another destination that we will offer,” he reveals.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his speech on Independence Day, has said that as part of development work in Ladakh, work is going on towards starting new courses for hotel and management in the Union Territory. “Nestled in the heights of the Himalayas, Ladakh is progressing towards new heights. Work is going on for a central university, setting up new research centres, new courses for hotel and management. Plan is also under way for the creation of 7,500 MW Solar Park. Ladakh has several specialties. Not only do we have to preserve them, we must nurture them as well. As Sikkim has made its mark as an Organic State in the northeast, Ladakh, Leh and Kargil can also create their own niche as a Carbon Neutral unit. Indian government has joined hands with the locals of the region to create a new model of development as per their own requirements.

AirAsia India has become the most punctual airline for the month of July 2020 with an OTP of 98.1%, according to statistics released by DGCA for domestic airlines. Air Asia is followed by IndiGo (97.6%), Vistara (95.9%), SpiceJet (93.2%), Go Air (91.3%) and Air India (89.3%)

Korea Tourism Organization will conduct a webinar today at 3pm for the Indian travel trade that will focus on Korea as a perfect destination for luxury experiences. The tourism board invites members of the trade to sign up for this by contacting Jaspreet Kaur on 9650196532 or jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com.

Recent statistics from ForwardKeys have claimed that Delhi-Mumbai and Mumbai-Delhi have been the top 2 most searched domestic routes in India in July 2020. However, In July 2019, Delhi-Goa and Goa-Delhi were the top 2 most searched routes.

Swadesh Kumar, President, ATOAI, revealed that in their recommendation to the minister, they have said that the COVID-19 guidelines which have been formulated by ATOAI for the adventure tourism activities should be accepted by the MOT, so that it can be circulated to the entire country and the state governments.

Pradip Lulla, Vice- President, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), has said that they have postponed their elections, which were due this year. “We had an MC meeting recently, where we took a decision on our elections. Because of the pandemic, we have decided to postpone our elections. We will continue having our AGMs though.”