FHRAI has asked the government to provide soft loans with low interest rate to hotel and restaurant players to help cover working capital requirements and help them sustain themselves. This, the Federation says, can support the industry until it reaches the pre-pandemic business levels.

Rupsi airport in Assam has been redeveloped at an estimated cost of Rs69 crore, and is ready to commence flight operations under UDAN, said AAI, providing direct connectivity to cities like Guwahati in Assam and Kolkata in West Bengal. Its runway is suitable for landing ATR72 type aircraft. The terminal building has 10 check-in counters.

Kerala Tourism has launched a project to create Miyawaki-model micro forests at 22 tourism spots in 12 districts across the state. Inaugurating the project by planting a sapling at Shanghumukham Beach, State Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said that more than 30,000 saplings would be planted in about two acres of land identified for the scheme. Creation of micro forests that compare well with natural forests would make the tourist destinations in the state, especially those in urban areas, environment friendly, the Minister noted.

Hyatt Regency Delhi is currently not available for reservation on Hyatt.com, according to an official statement by the hotel. However, a Tweet by Hyatt Concierge (global) in response to the status of booking of the Delhi property on the parent website of the brand stated, ‘Hyatt Regency Delhi is no longer affiliated with Hyatt’. In fact, the search for Delhi properties on the Hyatt website only shows Andaz Delhi and the Piccadilly Hotel (to be converted to Hyatt) in Janakpuri as part of the portfolio.

AD Tourism Leh, Jigmet Namgail convened a meeting with the members of All Ladakh Tour Operator Association (ALTOA), Ladakh Mountain Guides Association (LMG) and India Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) regarding the promotion of Adventure and Winter Tourism in Leh district.

IATO in association with TravTalk is organising a webinar with Art of Living, titled ‘Redesign Your Itineraries – Wellness Tourism’ today at 11:30 am. During the session, Rajeev Nambiar, Director, National Teachers Desk, The Art of Living, will share his thoughts on the subject with the audience, and inspire them to do better planning. To know more and register, contact Jaspreet Kaur at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call 9650196532.

Mou Mukherjee, one of the PSAs for Thomas Cook India located in Dhanbad, shares her experience of being part of the Thomas Cook India family. She says, “After the setback caused due to the pandemic, I’m very happy to say that we have been able to bounce back to business. The ‘Assured’ programme has been a great initiative by Thomas Cook India to help agents like is win back the confidence of our customers, who are also happy with the on-ground services that was provided to them. Times are tricky but with the opportunities that Thomas Cook India has provided us through several of their online roadshows for the Thomas Cook Assured initiative, I am positive that we will be able to generate business and provide our customers complete satisfaction while promoting safe travel.”

Sharing the results of their latest survey, Vinod Kannan, CCO, Vistara, revealed that 2 out of 3 (almost 67%) of customers have said that flying is the safest way to travel from one city to another. Only 13% have disagree. The survey titled, ‘Flyer behaviour and trends in the times of COVID-19’ also revealed that customers’ confidence to fly is increasing, with lesser fear of exposure during the journey or fellow Pax not following protocols.

With an established background in B2B travel, TBO Group has diversified into cargo business with its first office in New Delhi operational since October 17. Ankush Nijhawan, Co-Founder, TBO Group, said they want to change the way cargo business is done in India, with different ideas, better technology and make the industry more organised. The Group plans to expand to western India in the next 6 months followed by footprints in South India as well. The company will act as a facilitator for agents to get the best prices for shipping cargo via airlines for now, and later plans to get into ocean cargo as well.

The MP&CG Chapter of TAAI recently organised a physical event for its members at Crescent Spa & Resort, Indore. Hemendra Singh Jadon, Chapter Chairman (MP & Chhattisgarh), TAAI, shares, “We organised our annual members meet on October 31 at the resort keeping all health protocols in mind, and 45 members attended it. The aim is to not just conduct our annual meet but also to build confidence among our clients that we are ready to travel. We conducted presentations on MSME benefits and on Star Air airline for members.”