Ramada by Wyndham hotel at The Mall, Mussoorie, with an inventory of 45-rooms, has opened its doors. Owned by RKM Enterprises, the hotel is strategically located at Picture Palace on the Mall, which ensures that you are just a walk away from the best that Mussoorie has to offer. “It gives us great pleasure to be able to bring affordable luxury lodging accommodations to the Queen of Hills- Mussoorie community and we look forward to welcoming travellers to the area’s newest hotel,” said Mr. Rakesh Mediratta, the hotel’s owner. Nikhil Sharma, Area Director Eurasia, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts said: “Ramada by Wyndham Mussoorie Mall Road is our second hotel in hill state of Uttarakhand and our first hotel in Mussoorie, a sought-after destination known for its Colonial charm, beautiful churches and scenic surroundings. We are proud to introduce another Ramada by Wyndham hotel to the Uttarakhand market and we look forward to welcoming guests looking to venture out to pristine hills of the north.”

Manish Kriplani, MD, Baywatch Travels, has launched Baywatch Stayzz, which include serviced luxury villas and houses for rent. “There was a huge void of having luxury full-service villas, where travellers can relax with having dedicated butler service, and housekeeper, chef and other resources at their disposal. We found that there was demand and availability for the same, which was a great prospect. We have 9 villas as of now and we plan to have 50 such villas in the next 2-3 months in Chennai. While some villas we are obtaining on lease, some are on revenue share, while for others we are only doing sales & marketing. While we have made PDF brochures now, we are preparing a very robust e-commerce website portal, where we are going to host all these villas and which will have all the information about them.”

Ravi Gosain, MD, Erco Travels, has said that with moratorium limit ending on 31st August, many travel companies must shut down. “Situation is very unfavourable for tourism industry. On 31st August, moratorium is ending, and most of the people, whether employees or employers took a moratorium and were expecting that something will roll out. However, things haven’t improved. From September onwards, I don’t think companies of any size are able to pay a single bill. Hence, this will be a huge setback. Hence, I am sure there will be many bankruptcies after this moratorium has ended,” he shared.

Kaushal Bhuva, Founder, World of Vacations, believes that Thailand is a wonderful self-drive destination. “Firstly, Thailand is one of the best places to enjoy vacation. It is a beautiful and hospitable destination. Thailand is really popular among first-time international travellers, and a wonderful self-drive destination for Indians,” he said.

Almost 97% of Indian golfers rated Thailand as one of the best golfing destinations, according to a survey conducted by Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) New Delhi Office & Sports & Leisure Worldwide (SLW), on ‘Golfing in Thailand’ with Golfers in India during 10-27 July 2020. It also revealed that majority of golfers, almost 88% are planning to travel abroad to play golf post COVID-19 and 92% kept safety as their prime concern for the outbound travel.

FAITH and its cause partner AIRDA, have requested the negative travel advisory from the USA to India to be addressed. FAITH Associations have requested the tourism minister to urgently take it up with Minister of External Affairs, for him to take up with his American counterpart for an immediate revision. The United States of America recently released a travel advisory, which rated level 4 for India (as on 23rd Aug 2020). On a scale of 1-4 this is the highest level of risk rating, carrying with it the advice of ‘do not travel’. As stated, reasons for the same, apart from restrictive COVID-19 protocols, the rating highlights terrorism, crimes against women and insurgency among others as concerns. The associations under FAITH have claimed that USA is the most important long-haul source market for India for most segments of travel. As India has begun the process of opening up its air corridors, such an advisory for India is detrimental to kickstarting all leisure, business & mice tourists from the USA. Additionally, travel advisory as such from the United States of America tends to send a wrong signal for the rest of the developed countries as they start opening up their international air travel. This advisory appears to have been last updated on 6th August 2020. The favourable revision of the travel advisory would be a big boost in beginning the process of creating a positive sentiment for travel, which will slowly put in motion revival for the inbound tourism industry

Claiming that the hospitality and tourism industry has taken a hard hit during the COVID-19 crisis, JK Mohanty, CMD, Swosti Group; Chairman, HRAO and Hony. Secretary, HAI, has said that state government needs to play a greater role in attracting investments from the private sector by providing attractive incentives for a period of at least 3 – 5 years to make Odisha an attractive destination competing with other neighbouring states like Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, etc. “Around five thousand additional number of hotel rooms in different star category should be set up to compete with the hotel infrastructure of the other states of India. We, therefore recommend that the Government should allow 30% capital investment subsidy up to a maximum limit of Rs.25 crores and 5% interest subsidy up to 11 years on repayment of term loans. If the subsidy is given only for 3 years, many hotels will come up as required,” he added.

CAPA India in its webinar on ‘Financing Indian Aviation in the Post COVID-19 era’ projected that Indian carriers will require additional funding of INR 200-250 Billion in FYY2021 to bridge the gap between revenue and expenditure. According to CAPA India, the aviation industry in the country needs massive recapitalisation and urgently. Delays will further diminish the already compromised chances of survival. Industry and government collaboration is essential for survival and revival. Industry cannot navigate the crisis alone.

Indian Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, and IATO are organising an online interactive meeting on 21st August 2020 at 1130 hours to 1330 hours, where 10 tour operators each from India and Azerbaijan will be participating. From India, only MOT recognised tour operators will be able to participate. Interested members can send their entry to IATO latest by 4 pm, 18th August. If more than 10 names are received, participation will be decided by draw of lot.

SpiceJet has started scheduled flights to Dubai from 5 Indian cities—– Delhi, Jaipur, Kozhikode, Madurai and Mumbai— starting August 17 till 31st August. The airline made the announcement through a Tweet, which said, “We are back, Dubai! SpiceJet is operating scheduled flights between Dubai and 5 Indian cities – Delhi, Jaipur, Kozhikode, Madurai and Mumbai, from 17th to 31st August 2020.” According to guidelines issued by SpiceJet, all types of visas will be acceptable for these flights. Flight schedule from India to Dubai City (origin)                                                         Dates Delhi to Dubai                   August 17,19,23,25,26,31,31 Jaipur to Dubai                 August 20,23,27,30 Kozhikode to Dubai         August 18,19,20,23,25,26,27,30,31 Madurai to Dubai             August 17, 19 Mumbai to Dubai             August 18,20,25,27 Flight schedule from Dubai to India City (Destination)             Dates Dubai to Delhi                    August 17,19,23,25,26,31,31 Dubai to Jaipur                  August 20,23,27,30 Dubai to Kozhikode         August 18,19,20,23,25,26,27,30,31 Dubai to Madurai             August 17, 19 Dubai to Mumbai             August 18,20,25,27