Sunil C Gupta, EC Member and Chairman- Northern Region, IATO, has said that they have appealed to the Minister of Tourism, Prime Minister and ASI to open Taj Mahal, since over two lakh residents of Agra associated with the tourism sector have been living without any activity in Agra for the last 3 months. “When malls, shops, markets and places of religious worship can be opened, surely the Taj can be opened, as it would be a great precursor to start domestic tourism within the region. The opening of the Taj Mahal would send the right signals for international and domestic tourism. The Government do this with teh right SOPs and facilitating online ticketing for the same.”

The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) met with major travel trade associations including, FAITH, IATO, ICPB, & ADTOI, where they gave suggestions on the way forward for the promotion of tourism, revealed Subhash Goyal, Secretary General, FAITH. The associations discussed plans for international promotions and marketing, wherein they suggested to target countries with fewer number of COVID cases and also focus on traditional markets like US and UK through various mediums.

Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, has said that they are having constant conversations with Pradeep Kharola, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), discussing the issues of the industry and TAAI members. She also revealed that there is a need to make the travel agent business healthier and regular interaction with airlines to start restructuring the processes. “The Secretary (MoCA) has said he would get a meeting done very soon with international airlines and TAAI. That’s what we are waiting for,” she revealed.

Virgin Atlantic has announced its plan to restart passenger flying to 17 additional destinations from August 2020. According to a statement released by the airline, flights from Delhi and Mumbai to London Heathrow start on the 2nd Sept 2020 and will provide connections to a range of US destinations. After the airline’s announcement that services from London Heathrow to Hong Kong, New York JFK, and Los Angeles are expected to resume from 20th and 21st July 2020, Virgin Atlantic has unveiled more detailed plans that will see passenger flying restart to many destinations across the airline’s network. Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer, Virgin Atlantic commented: “As countries around the world begin to relax travel restrictions, we look forward to welcoming our customers back onboard and flying them safely to many destinations across our network. From 20th July we will resume services to New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong then from 1st August onwards, we will resume passenger flying to 17 additional destinations around the world including Delhi, Mumbai and Tel Aviv.” “However, we are monitoring external conditions extremely closely, in particular the travel restrictions many countries have in place including the 14 day quarantine policy for travellers entering the UK. We know that as the Covid-19 crisis subsides, air travel will be a vital enabler of the UK’s economic recovery. Therefore, we are calling for UK Government to continually review its quarantine measures and instead look at a multi-layered approach of carefully targeted public health and screening measures, including air bridges, which will support a successful and safe restart of international air travel for passengers and businesses.” Virgin Atlantic planned return to flying from London Heathrow Terminal 2* (subject …

In a Sri Lanka Tourism Virtual Summit, supported by Spiceland Holidays, Kimarli Fernando, Chairperson, Sri Lanka Tourism, said that her government has nominated a COVID-10 Task Force of which she is a part. “We are completely open to domestic tourists and the auditing process to receive international tourists is currently on. Indian travellers to Sri Lanka now need to apply for visas online and visa-on-arrival has been cancelled for now.”

Malaysia Airlines has introduced an enhanced Economy Class flexible fare options across its entire network for all passengers to enjoy, offering unparalleled safety, security, flexibility and a completely hassle-free, premium experience based on the needs of each customer. Earlier limited to domestic, ASEAN and South Asian destinations, passengers will now have access to three unique fare options (Lite, Basic, Flex), to all destinations except Malaysia to Japan and Japan to Malaysia, Jeddah and Madinah, beginning 22 June 2020. Malaysia Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer Captain Izham Ismail said, “With the world slowly recovering from the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as our passengers begin to travel again, Malaysia Airlines seeks to take them to the skies without the burden of worry, with a truly hassle-free experience. Putting their needs as priority, we took the time to listen and gain invaluable insight to our passengers through extensive feedback, and from there we redesigned, redefined and are proud to introduce our enhanced fare family, providing our dear customers with a comprehensive product that caters to their every need, no matter the nature of travels. As the first airline in the Asia Pacific region to fully introduce flexible fare options across our network, these fares will allow greater personalization for our passengers, balancing a simple and intuitive booking experience, alongside unforgettable Malaysian Hospitality onboard and on the ground, creating a stress-free and seamless travel experience. This reaffirms our commitment to putting our passengers first, especially in these uncertain times where passengers may be apprehensive to travel. With this we hope to instill a sense of confidence and trust in them to Fly Malaysia once again.” Regardless of your travel needs, all passengers …

Scott Solombrino, CEO, Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), has been sent on administrative leave by the board of directors of the association. According to an official statement, the association has taken this action to allow further investigation into the accusation alleging racism, misconduct, sexism and misuse of funds on Solombrino.

CLIA to host webinar for Asian travel trade on 24th June on newly launched free of cost online training course ‘Cruise Champion’

A recent survey by Travel Consul, the leading international travel marketing alliance, reveals that to ensure their survival amid the COVID-19 pandemic, most travel trade stakeholders in India (43%) have had to adjust their business model to changing times by focusing more on training programmes (40%) and investing in technology for enhancing both product and customer service (35%). Stakeholders have resorted to improving their current products, designing new products, examining new destinations as well as audiences, and strengthened customer service while even improving the supply base.

An international convention centre ‘Rudraksh’ is being built with Indo-Japan collaboration in Varanasi, which is part of 100 major projects within the financial out flow of around Rs.8000 crores being undertaken in the city. Other projects include hospital buildings, national waterways, ring roads, by-pass, etc. The same was revealed in a statement by Prime Minister’s Office, where the PM reviewed development in Varanasi, which is his parliamentary constituency.