Pramod Sawant, CM, Goa, has said that they have no plans to open the tourism sector in the state, and the state curfew has been extended for another week. He said, “We are seeing an average of one or two COVID deaths daily and the case positivity rate has been down around 2%.” While curfew restrictions are in force since May, the state has seen increased tourist arrivals. Sawant has requested people to take precautions.

Swiss Government, and the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) has announced that children travelling with fully vaccinated adults will not be required to quarantine from 4th August 2021. Only children between 16 and 18 will need an RT-PCR report before boarding the plane and upon arrival. Switzerland started welcoming fully vaccinated tourists across its border starting 23rd June 2021.

Goa has emerged as the RevPAR leader in absolute terms in Q2 2021 with a growth of 360.1% as compared to the very low base of Q2 2020, revealed JLL’s Hotel Momentum India (HMI) Q2 2021. Additionally, Mumbai witnessed the highest growth in occupancy level registering 17.7% increase in Q2 2021 over the same period last year. Chennai witnessed 99.6% growth in RevPAR followed by Hyderabad with 89.6% increase compared to the same period of the previous year.

Hyatt  has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Apple Leisure Group (ALG), a leading luxury resort-management services, travel and hospitality group, from affiliates of each of KKR and KSL Capital Partners, LLC for $2.7 billion in cash. The transaction is anticipated to close in the fourth quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.  Mark Hoplamazian, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hyatt, said, “The addition of ALG’s properties will immediately double Hyatt’s global resorts footprint.”

Jyotiraditya Scindia has written to Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Railways, to start a Delhi-Agra-Gwalior train service under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative to start 75 Vande Mataram trains within a year to commemorate 75th year of Indian Independence. Scindia shared this in a tweet and shared the letter he has written to Vaishnaw.

SpiceJet has introduced a new service for its passengers—mid-air cab bookings, which allows passengers to book cabs for airport transfer during their flight, using the airline’s in-flight entertainment platform SpiceScreen. “With our latest offering, passengers will no longer have to carry their luggage to the cab departure area besides enjoying zero waiting time as cabs will now be available for them right outside the arrival gate,” said Ajay Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, SpiceJet. In the first phase, the new service will be available to passengers arriving at the Delhi airport. The airline will further extend the service to all major airports, including Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Pune in a phased-manner.

At the TAFI event held in New Delhi recently, Ajay Prakash, President, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), said the association aims at rebuilding and reviving TAFI by being more responsible and more responsive towards its members. With 9 more members joining the association in the last 3 months, the association focuses at providing value to its members. Prakash said, “To make TAFI strong again the contribution of each member is necessary, not only elected managing committee but also the members. When the members feel the sense of pride in belonging to TAFI, when the members feel they can reach out to anyone in the association whether the president, secretary or managing committee member, that is when the association starts to rebuild”.

Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation, has announced that four new Indigo Flights will start operating in Madhya Pradesh from September 1, 2021 with everyday frequency. In his tweets, he said, “Four new flights of Indigo are going to start from Madhya Pradesh from 1st September: Delhi-Gwalior-Delhi; Gwalior-Indore-Gwalior; Indore-Gwalior-Indore; Gwalior-Delhi-Gwalior. Under the guidance of our visionary Prime Minister the Ministry of Civil Aviation is committed to facilitate the movement of citizens across the country and give wings to their development.”

Ministry of Tourism is organising a 12-episode web-series on Dekho Apna Desh in collaboration with the Association of Universities (AIU) to celebrate ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’. “I am sure that the nation-wide, 12 episode-based series that we are launching today will give them this opportunity and take the participants on a virtual journey of India. Since the format of the activity requires active participation, the follow up interactive sessions will inspire even greater interest and excitement about India@75,” said Reddy.

UAE authorities recognised and approved vaccinations done in India. Anil Punjabi, Chairman (East), Travel Agents’ Federation of India (TAFI) has revealed, “UAE’s National Emergency & Crisis Management Authority has informed that passengers who have taken both doses of either Covishield or Covaxin in India to fly back if they have residency permits. The only requirement is that they should have completed the vaccination at least 14 days prior to travel.” Adding that the move will help hundreds of people who were stranded in India since March.