A total of 71 deals (comprising M&A, private equity, and venture financing) were announced in the global tourism sector during April, which is a decline of 34.3% over 108 deals announced in March, according to data and analytics company GlobalData. Aurojyoti Bose, its Lead Analyst, says, “Although the rebound in deal activity in March brought in some cheer, it could not be sustained for long with April again reversing the trend.”
Read More »ASI extends closure of monuments till May 31
Union culture minister Prahlad Singh Patel shared a notification that stated that the Archaeological Survey of India has decided to keep all its monuments closed till May 31, or until further orders, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On April 15, ASI announced the closure of all the centrally-protected monuments under ASI till May 15.
Read More »IAAI recommends IATA GoLite accreditation to IATA-accredited agents
With the financial security renewal of IATA-accredited agents scheduled for 30 June 2021, the IAAI director board recommends GoLite accreditation to travel agents in India after doing an extensive study on the IATA accreditation services. Since the IFCO TOKIO General insurance company withdrew their insurance guarantees for travel agents, the IAAI director board studied various services – Standard (with and without Easy Pay) Go Lite and Global (multi-country) regarding its application, facilities and benefits. In the absence of an insurance guarantee, agents’ are forced to provide a bank guarantee or Joint Bank guarantee under travel associations, which are more expensive than the existing insurance guarantee system. Through virtual meetings, the IAAI director board has considered the various aspects that constrain agents’ survival. It feels IATA Standard Accreditation is a ‘white elephant’ in the present economic turmoil and frustration due to the pandemic situation for most of travel agencies as they are SMEs. A travel agent has to annually spend around USD 783 for IATA Standard accreditation and using BSP link facilities in addition to the financial guarantee and other expenses. Biji Eapen, President of IAAI, says, “In the present scenario, this expenditure may not be a viable business solution for most of agents in India and foreseeing that the present pandemic situation may continue much longer and delay in the redemption of international flights may take 2 years or more to reach the level of pre pandemic situation, IAAI National committee would like to suggest IATA Accredited Travel agents to convert their accreditations to GoLite accreditation. Even though it curtails credit facilities, it drastically reduces overall costs and empowers IATA Accredited Agencies to survive this unprecedented difficult situation.” Eapen adds, “Since …
Read More »Adventure tourism guidelines must be implemented uniformly across India
Sharing his views on how adventure tourism in India can be developed, Mandeep S Lamba, MRICS, President (South Asia), HVS Anarock, says, “The government’s adventure tourism guidelines should be implemented and executed uniformly across the country to ensure consistency. It is imperative to establish high standards of safety by leveraging the best practices from popular global adventure travel destinations such as New Zealand, Australia, and Brazil.”
Read More »‘MoT must provide tourist guides with monthly Covid allowance’
Calling tourist guides the backbone of tourism in India, Tapan Kumar Mishra, National Tourism Awardee for Best Tourist Guide (Odisha), says, “If taxi drivers are eligible for a monthly Covid allowance of Rs 5,000 by the Delhi government, why not tourist guides from the Ministry of Tourism? Kerala has provided one-time help of Rs 10,000 to 328 guides. Why is MoT asking them not to take up any other job without providing them any help during off-season or during a pandemic?”
Read More »2023 is when international tourism will resume in India: IHCL
Sharing his perspective on inbound tourism, Rohit Khosla, Executive Vice President – Operations, North & West India, Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), says, “The hospitality and tourism industry needs to ensure that it is future-ready to tap all the potential growth opportunities and safeguard against all kinds of crisis situations, including national disasters and pandemics. I believe that 2023 is when international tourism will resume in India.”
Read More »Tourism industry looking at another year of losses: MTOA
Prabhulal Joshi, President, Maharashtra Tour Organisers Association (MTOA), believes the industry is looking at another year of losses due to the second wave of infections. “Post October, things had picked up, bookings had started for the April-May holiday season. But everything now has again come to a standstill. The combined loss to the industry is estimated to be nearly Rs 200 crore,” he says.
Read More »TruJet gets AP government nod for viability funding
Regional carrier TruJet has secured Andhra Pradesh Government nod for viability gap funding (VGF) to continue its Chennai- Kadapa-Vijayawada and Vijayawada-Kadapa-Chennai routes for one more year starting from May 1, 2021. The State Cabinet approved a move to provide about Rs 20 crore per year as VGF by the state government.
Read More »Spain Tourism announces winners of its webinar series: Sonal Swamy
Winner of Amazon voucher on participating in all the webinars organised by the Tourism Office of Spain – Mumbai recently, Sonal Swamy, MD, Syrisa Travels, says, “The webinars were amazing, interactive, incredibly interesting, very useful and packed with great content. I enjoyed every bit of it especially the part of Seville which got back pleasant memories of my trip around the coast of Spain. I can’t wait to get back to Spain!”
Read More »High-value leisure travellers and Umrah segment from India target audience for AlUla
The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) has introduced AlUla in Saudi Arabia as a heritage and cultural destination to the Indian market. Melanie de Souza, Executive Director, Destination Marketing, said, “We see great potential in promoting tourism to AlUla from India. Besides high-value, leisure travellers, we will promote AlUla as an extension to an Umrah tour.” Sharing details of their promotional strategy, she adds, “We have started our promotional activities with trade to promote and showcase AlUla as a leisure and MICE destination through our India partner, Beautiful Planet Destination Marketing. We have been working with travel trade to create awareness and interest in AlUla and build visitation. We have been engaging with travel trade through webinars, trainings and presentations. We will closely work with key travel trade partners on joint promotional activities. In addition, we will continue to participate in trade shows to showcase the destination. Furthermore, we will continue to disseminate monthly newsletters to travel agents across India to keep them updated about AlUla. Once the borders open, we will implement roadshows and travel trade famils.”
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