Serafino Cota, President, Small & Medium Hotels Associations, says, “Our members don’t want to keep their hotels open right now. While the government is trying to show that it opening the state to tourism, it is not extending any help to us. Even if we get one guest with great difficulty for a few days, the government marks the hotel as ‘operational’ and then they start charging you for full electricity, water bill, etc. So people prefer to close it altogether. We have decided to open only in September 2021.”  

The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has made written representations to the Hon. Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, the Hon. Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur and to the Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Shaktikanta Das, I.A.S. requesting for an extension of moratorium for additional three months. The hotel industry has made no progress in terms of bookings even after several states unlocked and where hotels resumed operations. The industry has registered average occupancy levels at 10 to 20 per cent. With rental and salary bills, statutory payments and other establishment costs, hotels are finding it unviable to carry on running businesses. FHRAI has informed the Ministry that an extension of moratorium at this time could help hotels restructure existing loans since the process of restructuring is time consuming. Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President of FHRAI and President of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI), says, “For more than four months, hotels and restaurants have remained shut and have earned no revenue throughout the lockdown. There is no improvement in forward bookings and wherever hotels and restaurants have opened, the footfalls are negligible. In addition to the monthly outgoings and the statutory levies, we now have to spend more on employing hygiene and safety measures to follow the SOPs and guidelines issued by the Central and State governments. On account of all this, the debt restructuring plan announced by the RBI for the stressed MSMEs is not going to help the sector. Therefore we have urged that the moratorium be extended by a further three months.”

The Globus family of brands is showing its solidarity to its partners by empowering them with vital destination knowledge. Realizing that ultimately one of the concerns faced by frontline sellers is not only lack of good destination knowledge but also it being present with them as a ready reckoner of information and tips that can be used to convince clients. The Globus family of brands has therefore re-launched its destination programmes with ‘I Know South America’ and ‘I Know Europe’ certifications based on popular demand. Globus family pioneered destination specialisation in 2008 with the launch of ‘I Know Europe’. Varesh Chopra, Regional Director, Globus family of brands, says, “A vacation should be absolutely stress-free and unique for every traveler. This is where a travel agent steps in as a partner. We chose these destinations for the re-launch of our certification programs due to little knowledge on these countries and the fact that our opinion poll pointed out these regions as a top choice amongst sellers.” The programs were overwhelmingly successful with over 500 agents from India, Srilanka, Mauritius and the Middle East taking part in each session. Program attendees were put through an extensive training schedule over three days in May, June and August.    

MakeMyTrip.com has launched a new platform that will allow travel agents access to its entire inventory. Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and Group CEO, MakeMyTrip, said, “We have built our inventory over the years especially in the hotel space. The idea behind this new product is to give access to this rich content to the travel agents. This B2B2C foray will allow agents to use our technology to service their customers. Agents will get a log-in and it will be at no fee at the moment. Any booking changes can be made on myPartner by the agents and our back-end will take care of that.”

Virgin Atlantic has introduced free COVID-19 insurance cover on all new and existing bookings. The policy, which applies to all flights booked with Virgin Atlantic, is designed to complement existing travel insurance and provide additional peace of mind for upcoming trips. In the event that they or anyone else on their booking becomes ill with COVID-19 while travelling, Virgin Atlantic COVID-19 Cover ensures related costs are covered, no matter how long the trip is or even if they’re visiting another destination on the same overseas trip. The insurance policy is fulfilled by Allianz Assistance and covers emergency medical and associated expenses while abroad totalling £500,000 per customer – the highest value of policy offered by any airline to date, with no excess payment required. The policy also covers expenses incurred up to £3,000 if a customer is denied boarding, at either departure or in destination, or has to quarantine due to positive or suspected COVID-19 during a trip. Customers booked to travel from 24 August, 2020 up to and including 31 March, 2021 will automatically receive the cover. It also applies on flights operated by partner airline or a JV carrier such as Delta Air Lines or Air France-KLM. Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic says, “Following our return to the skies to much-loved destinations like Barbados, we’re planning more services including London Heathrow to Delhi, Mumbai, Lagos and Tel Aviv.” The cover starts from the point of booking and ends when the customer returns home or to a hospital or nursing home in their home country. One-way trips are also included, with the insurance cover valid until the end of the journey, which is defined as 12 hours after the arrival of the customer’s final flight.

According to a research and analysis conducted by CAPA India recently, all funding options need to be on the table and fully explored by the Indian airlines to identify the most appropriate and viable for implementation. It includes the element of Original Equipment Manufacturing compensation. The industry’s financial challenges will become increasingly apparent from September-October. Promoters, bankers, private equity and the government are all unwilling to provide support given demand risk and uncertainty.

The Union Civil Aviation ministry has decided to increase the aviation security fee (ASF) for embarking domestic and international passengers with effect from September 1. The aviation security fee has been hiked by Rs 10 to Rs 160 from Rs 150 for domestic passengers and to $5.20 from $4.85 for international passengers. The fee has been increased in view of rise in cost of security at airports and enhanced security deployment requirements.

As part of the panel during a webinar on risk management recently, Anoop Kanuga, MC Member of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and Head of its Tourism Council, said, “Training existing talent to improve efficiencies will take precedence in the current situation. Digitization will play an important role and travel agencies will have to ensure that they are equipped with appropriate digital infrastructure to be ahead of the curve. Those who are nimble and are able to move quickly and address the changing needs of the traveller will emerge as winners in the long run.”

The Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), along with its Managing Committee, has decided to reduce its annual subscription for its agents by 25 per cent across the board in view of the current situation. Pradip Lulla, President, TAFI, says, “We realise that there isn’t much business for the trade right now. Keeping this in mind we decided to reduce our fee.” The association is looking to conduct its virtual convention in November and will shortly finalise the details.

Thailand has topped the list of the world’s safest destinations to visit during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, according to a study by Germany-based travel company Tourane. based on various criteria including the 14-day notification rate of new COVID-19 cases and deaths per the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), International Health Regulations score, population density of the country, hours of sunshine per day for outdoor activities, and flight connections with Germany.