Air China has been rated 4.1 out of 5 on the Safe Travel Score for the Asia Pacific region by Safe Travel Barometer. Air China, among Asia Pacific’s largest airlines, emerged as the leading airline in the region with a Safe Travel Score of 4.1 out of 5, having carried out various traveller health and safety initiatives. Air China was among the first carriers globally to resume domestic services after the COVID-19 outbreak grounded its fleet earlier in 2020. While the airline had basics covered such as mandatory face masks and sanitizers for passengers, it also initiated fogging of aircraft before or after every flight.

With easing of restrictions, Thomas Cook India and its group company, SOTC Travel, have announced the first physical holiday roadshows since lockdown – Thomas Cook India’s Freedom Month Celebrations and SOTC’s Freedom Month Carnival. The series of roadshows, in association with Accor and Marriott hotels, will be held on Sunday, November 8, 2020 from 11am to 5pm across key source markets of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Pune, Kochi, Jaipur and Baroda. With a range of domestic and international destinations on offer, customers can avail of special deals/discounts and attractively priced flight-inclusive holidays starting at Rs. 10 790.00* – with a free holiday to Dubai* to be won. To ensure customer health and safety together with a personalised experience, an online pre-registration enables customers to book their preferred time slot. Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head – Holidays, MICE, Visa, Thomas Cook (India). said, “To assist our customers plan their perfect holiday and guide them through the new/updated travel protocols, we have simplified the booking process by bringing our Freedom Month Celebrations right to our customers’ doorstep! Held at Accor and Marriott hotels across India, we intended to provide Indians with a safe and smooth holiday booking experience and the assistance of our holiday experts, while availing of great offers.” He added, “Our Assured Program in partnership with Apollo Clinics ensures meticulous health & safety protocols. To further assist our customers, we have tied up with ICMR accredited labs to offer end-to-end COVID-negative certification services with contactless facilitation – across India. Our Safe Holiday Helpline is yet another meaningful consumer initiative – a free service to support customers in safe holiday planning.”

Eyeing the pent-up demand for travel, Thomas Cook (India) and its group company, SOTC Travel have introduced Crazy Deals in partnership with IndiGo with a range of options and value add-ons. On offer are domestic destinations such as Goa, Udaipur, Jaipur, Kerala, Himachal, North East, Ranthambore, Mussoorie, Rishikesh, Chittorgarh, Andaman, among others, and international short haul destinations such as Dubai and Maldives.   Rajeev Kale, President & Country Head – Holidays, MICE, Visa, Thomas Cook (India) said, “These great-value air-inclusive holidays are easy to book. With our pricing and inclusions, we aim to catalyse demand across India. Our Assured Program in partnership with Apollo Clinics ensures meticulous health and safety protocols across every touch-point and to further assist our customers, we have tied up with ICMR accredited labs to offer seamless, contactless end-to-end COVID-negative certification services – across India. Our Safe Holiday Helpline is yet another meaningful consumer initiative – a free service to support customers in safe holiday planning.”   Daniel D’souza, President & Country Head, Leisure, SOTC Travel said, “While Indian travellers are price conscious, they also seek value in their holiday package. SOTC has launched Crazy Deals in partnership with IndiGo. Travellers with pocket friendly budgets can now avail the best deals that offer air-inclusive value packages to domestic and international destinations. As customers recognise the value and peace of mind of booking with reputed brands, we have introduced a range of assured, insured holidays in line with our Safe Travel programme.”   Sanjay Kumar, Chief Strategy & Revenue Officer, IndiGo said, “We are pleased to partner with Thomas Cook India and SOTC to introduce air inclusive holiday deals. We also introduced products like 6E double seat, …

The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Authority (BTEA) has assigned Intrepid Marketing & Communications to undertake all its trade, marketing, and communication initiatives across the country to establish Bahrain as Indian travellers’ go-to short-haul destination. Addressing the appointment, Dr. Ali Hasan Follad, Acting Director of Marketing and Tourism Promotions, BTEA, said, “We are thrilled to commence our partnership with Intrepid and are confident that they will be instrumental in navigating Bahrain through the current challenges affecting international travel. We’ve worked with Intrepid’s management and they’ve been instrumental in positioning Bahrain as a notable short-haul destination for the Indian families, couples and adventurers. We are certain that this partnership will enhance our existing relations with the travel fraternity in India. Also, Intrepid will be building new bonds with the online travel communities.” Sunil Mathapati, Director, Intrepid Marketing and Communications, said, “The team is elated to work with BTEA and explore the ‘new normal’ of international travel. As travel restrictions are changed and lessened, we are working on expanding Bahrain’s presence, stirring conversations around experiential travel and ‘dream itineraries’ around Bahrain. The Indian travel market remains promising as always; we want to engage with the consumers directly and position Bahrain as one of the most hype-worthy travel destinations.” As on October 2020, Bahrain’s COVID-19 cases are under control, said Dr. Ali Follad. “The National Medical Task Force, a part of ‘Team Bahrain’ led by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy  Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, is doing a tremendous job in fighting Covid-19,” he added. Assuring the safety of Bahraini citizens and residents alongside international travellers, he said Bahrain is prepared and ready to …

One Above has acquired a DMC in the Mediterranean destination of Greece called Orama Travel, which means ‘travel with a vision’ in Greek. Now called One Above Greece, the new office starts operations from its new location in Athens. Speaking on this occasion Rahim Aslam, Founder, One Above, says, “One Above Greece promises the visitor diverse experiences beyond the stereotypical sea and sun holiday usually associated with Greece. Yes, Greece is incredible for offering riveting summer holidays but there is more to Greece than this. Consider a holiday in Greece any other time of year and you will begin to appreciate its diversity and discover a side of it that you didn’t know existed!” He adds that the One Above team specialises in offering exceptional services to tourists travelling to Greece. “Our expertise and rich experience of 30 years, inspired by the knowledge and the taste of our customers originating from all over the world make us an essential partner for everyone wishing to organise their travel, be it for leisure or business. Over the years, we have learned to respect the traveller, consider the travelling experience with a different outlook, and continually improve all our travel destinations as per the current trends,” he adds. Rahim adds, “One Above Greece will provide the critical knowledge necessary to make all travel arrangements successful. Our reputation for high quality, creative service is based on our ability to help you manage your clients travel arrangements more effectively. It is based on our philosophy of service with an extra measure of value, service that goes above and beyond the typical requirements of a DMC. Our mission is to provide every client with the best …

Rail Europe will launch its Rail Expert Program 2020 – a month-long programme wherein the travel fraternity gets an opportunity to learn about various European Rail products and also gets a chance to win exciting prizes. The Rail Expert India Program will be live from 1 November till 30 November, 2020. It is Rail Europe’s exclusive training programme on European trains and now in its third year. It has companies like Eurostar, Deutsche Bahn, London North Eastern Railway (LNER) and TGV participating in this year’s programme. This educational programme is for the travel fraternity wherein travel agents and tour operators can participate and learn on selling the key European rail products. The program is designed to encourage travel advisors to increase and improve their knowledge on rail products with each training session. The quiz is available on Rail Europe’s global platform. Travel agents have to sign up and complete five modules of 10 questions each and they will be provided with the course material in the form of a presentation. On completion of the course and securing the minimum qualification they get the Rail Expert Certificate as well as a chance to win exciting prizes.    

Thomas Cook India will showcase business opportunities for travel agents and the benefits of its ‘Assured’ Safe Travel Program in a webinar on November 3, 2020 at 3pm. Inviting the trade to this, Romil Pant, Senior Vice President – Holidays, Thomas Cook India, says, “We look forward to each one of you joining us on the occasion as we talk about the Thomas Cook ‘Assured’ Program – a unique initiative along with Apollo Clinics to provide assurance to all your customers who travel through us. We will also be sharing information about our specialised packages across the country that your clients can travel to at the best possible prices in the most safe and secured manner. We promise you a lot of interaction and fun during the webinar as we give all participants vouchers worth Rs 2,000 for your forward travel as well as a live auction.” To participate, contact Jaspreet Kaur at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call 9650196532.

World Dream, Dream Cruises’ 150,695 gross ton megaship, arrived in Singapore on October 25 with 187 crew members aboard who have completed their 14-day quarantine on the cruise ship prior to arrival in Singapore. The crew will undergo a further series of mandatory COVID-19 testing as stipulated by the local authorities and are required to test negative before signing-up for active duty. Prior to her arrival in Singapore, World Dream has been on hiatus in Rotterdam, the Netherlands after being taken out of service in early February. The cruise ship will undergo thorough cleaning and sanitization prior to her inaugural ‘Super Seacation’ sailings on November 6, to ensure the health and safety of all passengers on board. World Dream will be the newest built cruise ship to call Singapore home and will be the first cruise ship to restart service in the Lion City.  

The Ship/Ferry Owners Association in Andaman & Nicobar Islands has requested the government to remove restrictions on flight movements in the region as no tourist movement has picked up despite South Andaman being open for tourism since Sept 27. The administration is currently allowing only 2 flights per day into the islands. In an appeal to home ministry and tourism minister, trade associations IATO and FHRAI have also asked to restart inter-island transport and ferries between islands.  

Geoffrey JW Kent, Founder and Co-Chairman, Abercrombie & Kent, said during the on-going Future Hospitality Summit, “Travellers will want to know that they will be in a safe environment. They will do shorter trips with private aircrafts or helicopters amidst nature. I think that will be the first thing that will come back. People will ask for tailor-made, highly personalised trips where they can ask questions at any time and some guarantee that they can get back easily if something goes wrong.”