The Minister of Culture and Sports, Miquel Iceta, has signed an agreement this morning in Tarragona with the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, to undertake ten projects for the restoration and maintenance of historical heritage for tourist use owned by the state for an amount of 35 million Euros. This investment is part of the Modernization and Competitiveness Plan for the tourism sector financed with European funds. The objective is to improve the capacity of the rich historical and cultural heritage of Spain throughout the territory to continue attracting both national and international tourists. The Ministry of Culture and Sports will be in charge of carrying out these ten projects in various cities, all of cultural and tourist interest with direct implications for the cultural, environmental and economic sustainability of the environments in which they are located. On the one hand, 15 million Euros will be allocated to the reform and enhancement of state-owned museums and transferred management of Cáceres and Tarragona, both World Heritage. Specifically, 7 million will be allocated to the Tarragona Museum and 8 million to the Cáceres Museum. On the other hand, 4,720,040.96 Euros will be allocated to the restoration and consolidation of castles and public walls declared an Asset of Cultural Interest and Tourist Interest. The castles of Sagunto (Valencia), Adsubia (Alicante) and Santed (Zaragoza) will be consolidated and restored. Several sections of the Zamora wall and the wall of the town of Burgo de Osma (Soria) will also be restored. The distribution between the different actions will be made depending on the needs of each of the projects. Finally, 15,279,959 euros will be allocated to the Landscape of Light in Madrid, …

Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s leading airline, is set to start thrice weekly operations to Chennai, India as of 2 July 2022. Chennai will join the vast Ethiopian network as a fourth destination in India after New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Ethiopian started its service to India with a debut flight to New Delhi in 1966, just 20 years after the airline was founded. Ethiopian pioneered the air transport linkage between Africa and India. Recently, Ethiopian marked its 50th year anniversary of uninterrupted service to Mumbai. The flights to Chennai will be operated using B737-8 aircraft as per the below schedule. Flight number Effective Date Frequency Departure Airport Arrival airport Aircraft type ET  0692 02-Jul-22 1.3..6. ADD MAA ET  737 – 8 ET  0693 02-Jul-22 1.3.5.. MAA ADD ET  737 – 8               Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO, Mesfin Tasew said, “I am excited that we are getting closer to our customers with our signature service and global connectivity options. We have been connecting Asia and Africa for 55 years now facilitating trade between the two continents. The addition of Chennai as a fourth passenger destination in India is a testimony of our resilience and unwavering commitment to serve our customers in India and the continent at large. We will continue to serve India with enhanced frequency and more destinations in the future.” Ethiopian has been serving India without any interruption even during the pandemic cementing the longstanding bilateral relationship between the two countries. India is one of Ethiopian Airlines key destinations in the Asian continent and Ethiopian currently flies to three passenger and five cargo destinations with its enhanced services and modern fleet. In line with …

Spree Hospitality, boutique and mid-market hospitality operator, has added one more feather to its wings with the opening of Sparsh Hotel and Resort in Uttar Pradesh, in Bareilly. This 4-star property is just 7 km away from Airport and 8.5 Km from railway station. It is also in proximity to some popular tourist attractions and other places of interest in Bareilly. Some of the tourist attractions include Bareilly Sports Stadium, Jagannath Temple, Phoenix Mall and Fun City situated nearby to the property. The property rooms are comfortable and spacious with luxury amenities to make guest feel satisfied. When looking to satiate one’s cravings, the in-house restaurant in the property offering multi – cuisine food to satisfy the tastebuds. At Spree Hospitality the safety of the guest is the top priority and so Sparsh Hotel and Resort by Spree committed to deliver clean and safe environment through health and safety protocols. The property boasts of green lawn, massive outdoor pool and banquet hall.

Sharing his disagreement with offering discounts to travellers, Naveen Kundu, Managing Director EbixCash, says, “Burning money has become a fashion and in pursuit of gaining market share everyone is discounting which is not required there is enough and more business available for everyone in this country. We have to learn to live out of fear and handle the market dynamics better. I see most travel companies offering discounts to customers. Those who have to travel will travel irrespective of discounts. If that wasn’t the case, airlines and hotels wouldn’t be full.”

Adding another hotel to its portfolio, Ananta Hotels & Resorts has launched 52-key Jagira Ananta Elite Gir Hotel in Gujarat. Gagan Katyal, says, “We have launched Ananta Gir, our latest resort outside Rajasthan. It will have four types of residential options and will be located right at the doorstep of this sole home to the Asiatic lions in Gir.”

Union Minister for Culture & Tourism, Kishan Reddy recently launched an app called ‘Museums of India’. He said, “It is a digital archive showcasing 750 glorious heritages from 8 national museums. The app offers features like Search & Retrieval, Access to 3D interactive objects, and Category-based browsing. This app will enable all of us to see and listen to stories, paintings, photography and speeches from the museums across the country.”

The Official State Gazette (BOE) publishes an order of the Ministry of the Interior that relaxes the health requirements for entry to Spain for travellers from non-EU countries, who from today will be able to show a certificate of vaccination, recovery or a certificate of negative diagnosis in the checks of entry to the country, equating to tourists from non-EU countries the same conditions as citizens of the European Union and Schengen associated countries. “The new phase of the pandemic allows us to relax health requirements for entry into Spain by equating non-EU travellers with those of the EU and Schengen Associated Countries. This excellent news, much awaited by the tourism sector, will make it easier for tourists from outside the European environment to visit us this high season guaranteeing safe mobility. Spain is becoming one of the most desired destinations in the world, as shown by the demand indicators that are approaching pre-pandemic levels month after month and this measure will accelerate the recovery of the sector by facilitating the entry of international travellers”, said the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto. According to the order published in the BOE on 21-May-22, travellers entering Spain at air or sea borders, whatever their place of origin, must be provided with one of these three certificates: Vaccination certificate meeting the requirements established by the Ministry of Health. SARS-CoV-2 negative diagnostic test certificate. NAAT (PCR or similar) tests carried out in the 72 hours prior to departure to Spain or an antigen test carried out in the 24 hours prior to departure to Spain will be worth. Certificate of recovery issued by the competent authority or a medical service at …

As of midnight on May 20, 2022, testing is no longer required for anyone traveling to Israel.  The requirement to present a negative RT-PCR test prior to departure, complete RT-PCR test upon arrival followed by isolation has also been removed.  Travellers are still required to complete an entry statement (https://corona.health.gov.il/en/flights/) within the 48 hours from departure to Israel. In addition to the removal of testing requirements, as of today (May 23), the mask mandate for international flights to/from Israel has been lifted as well. Regarding the changes in entry protocols, Sammy Yahia, Director of Tourism to India & Philippines said, “This new development in Israel’s entry requirements is great step in being able to welcome visitors back to Israel.  This will make traveling to Israel simpler and more relaxing, and your vacation will begin the moment you step off the plane.  I for one am thrilled to have visitors enjoy my home country.” The revised regulations can be found here: https://corona.health.gov.il/en/abroad/arriving-foreign-nationals/ All this, against the background of a slow and consistent rise in incoming tourism to Israel post-pandemic.  207,400 tourist entries were recorded in April of this year, compared with 30,200 in April 2021 and 405,000 in April 2019. This points to a continuation of the recovery trend for incoming tourism to Israel, with a significant increase in relation to April 2021 and a decrease of about 49% in relation to April 2019. The pace of tourist entries to date represents the basis for a forecast assessment of 1.5 to 2 million tourist entries in 2022.

Thailand is now open and restrictions have eased for Indian visitors! To update the travel fraternity on the SOPs for travel to Thailand, Akbar Holidays along with Tourism Thailand, will conduct an exclusive webinar today at 3PM IST. The session will also focus on Thailand packages. To sign up, contact Jaspreet Kaur at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532.

Thailand is now open and restrictions have eased for Indian visitors! To update the travel fraternity on the SOPs for travel to Thailand, Akbar Holidays along with Tourism Thailand, will conduct an exclusive webinar on Monday, May 23 at 3PM IST. The session will also focus on Thailand packages. To sign up, contact Jaspreet Kaur at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532.