Speaking on day one of WTTC’s Global Ssummit in Cancun, Gloria Guevara, CEO & President of WTTC, said, “The global recovery of the travel and tourism sector has begun. We are leading by example demonstrating how to execute a successful hybrid event with over 600 CEOs of the private sector attending and adhering to all health and safety protocols in place.”

Amid hospitals across the country scrambling for medical oxygen due to rising number of Covid-19 cases, an Air India flight brought 318 Philips oxygen concentrators from New York JFK Airport to New Delhi on Monday.  

AVIAREPS, the India representative for Budget Rent A Car, will conduct it’s first-ever presentation for the Indian travel trade on Tuesday, 27 April at 11am IST. Khushbu Vora, its Account Manager, will highlight Budget’s offerings to the trade and stand a chance to win exciting prizes. To sign up, contact Jaspreet Kaur on 9650196532 or jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com.

Sharing a key development for the virtual show slated to be held on April 28, Anil Srinivasan, Executive Director at JTB India, says, “We are very excited to have Dubai Expo as our Platinum Partner for the event, which will give us a big boost in terms of the value we will bring to the buyers. We have confirmed 30 exciting exhibitors.”

The Tourism Office of Spain – Mumbai will conduct its next webinar ‘I Travel Because Its My Turn’ for the travel trade today at 3pm IST. This interactive session will be conducted by representatives from the AVE Cities Network and will also include a product update by BLS International. Participants stand a chance to win Amazon vouchers on attending all the webinars. To register, write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532.

In view of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, West Bengal Tourism has issued Tourism Industry Operation Guidelines. It has also formed a special C19 Tourism Taskforce under the Chairmanship of Principal Secretary, Nandini Chakravorty along with a five-member team from the tourism department and the tourism industry.

Informing that accessibility to Khajuraho has been increased, Sheo Shekhar Shukla, Principal Secretary, Culture, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, said, “Madhya Pradesh is developing Khajuraho as a family destination by adding more dimensions like eco-tourism, heritage trails, and rural homestays. Air India was going to start bi-weekly flights from Delhi to Khajuraho via Varanasi from 1 May but actual schedule may be affected.”

New research by Collinson reveals that four in five business travellers have seen their jobs affected by a lack of cross-border business travel, and a third of respondents stated that not seeing clients face-to-face has negatively affected the way they do business. It is commonly thought that business travel recovery will be slower than that of leisure travel, due to businesses continuing to function during the pandemic without travel.

Arun Kumar, Director General of Civil Aviation, has released an order that states that operation of B-737 Max aircraft will not take place from/to Indian airports and transit or enter into Indian airspace for the purpose of securing safety of aircraft operations till further notice. Special flight permits will be issued.

Spree Hotels celebrated the launch of three hotels – Zip by Spree Hotels Avishi Greens in Manali, Spree Hotel Kriday in Dehradun, and Zip by Spree Hotels The Claire in Gurugram, with the NCR  fraternity in Gurgaon. The event was Covid-compliant. It was outdoors with adequate social distancing. Spree showcased its care for Covid-compliant travel to the travel community, and it looks forward to welcoming their guest to Spree to enjoy the three new hotels.