Qantas to launch a brand-new international route from Melbourne to Delhi from 22 December 2021, connecting Victoria to the Indian capital on a Qantas-operated flight for the first time in the airline’s history. From next month, Australia will open for certain categories of fully vaccinated international travellers like students, working holidaymakers and provisional family visa holders. Qantas will connect Delhi with Sydney and Melbourne from December. Australia has approved both Covishield and Covaxin as approved vaccines.

To update the Kolkata Travel trade about the gradual re-opening of Thailand for tourism from India, Tourism Authority of Thailand New Delhi supported by Royal Thai Consulate Kolkata, organized the Amazing Thailand Presentation & Networking Lunch at ITC Royal Bengal on 10th November 2021. Around 75 guests including travel agents, media and wedding planners attended the event. The session started with a welcome address Kasemsan Thongsiri, Acting Consul General – Royal Thai Consulate, Kolkata, who spoke about the consulate matters focusing on their efforts and procedures to assist travel to Thailand for Indians. He also informed the trade about updated guidelines on entering Thailand, protocol for travellers from India as well as documents and process for obtaining Thailand pass and visa. Next information on Thailand Re-opening and situation update was given by Vachirachai Sirisumpan, Director- Tourism Authority of Thailand – New Delhi. He highlighted TAT’s new marketing campaign “Visit Thailand Year 2022” that will emphasize Thailand’s strength in biological diversity and cultural richness under the Amazing New Chapter’s concept. This was followed by a product presentation promoting popular destinations in Thailand like Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, Koh Samui and Chiang Mai. The presentation also introduced new products and activities in Thailand that Indian travelers could enjoy. The afternoon ended with a Q&A session where members of the travel trade engaged with the TAT representatives and the Royal Thai Consulate to clear their doubts on flights, procedures, SOPs etc to visit Thailand from India and expressed their desire to visit Thailand soon. This event was a great initiative to reach out to the travel trade in Kolkata and update them about the tourism situation in Thailand as well as to highlight steps …

As India opened its doors to fully vaccinated international tourist from all over the world beginning Monday (November 15), Indiatourism Mumbai accorded warm welcome the first set of International tourists who landed at Mumbai International Airport by Air France flight AF218. The tourists were greeted with stoles and presented hampers with Incredible India merchandise.

The National Aquarium, Abu Dhabi’s much anticipated landmark opened on Friday, the 12th of November. Located within the Rabdan Area, the National Aquarium is one of the 11 anchors found within Al Qana, one of Abu Dhabi’s most iconic touristic and lifestyle destinations. The facility includes over 60 exhibits across 10 zones and it is expected to take an average of two hours to complete the journey. Paul Hamilton, General Manager at The National Aquarium says, “We are absolutely delighted to be opening our doors to the public this 12th November and be able to showcase our gigantic and diverse array of animals and animal-related activities to visitors from around the world. The Emirates has a unique relationship with the Arabian Gulf, and it is our mission to honour this connection by incorporating the UAE’s history into the project. The National Aquarium has been years in the making and we are especially excited to be opening in the same year as the UAE’s 50th Anniversary.”

Indiatourism Delhi accorded warm welcome to international tourists landed at T3 New Delhi on early hours – Monday (November 15) by handing over rose buds.

The Ministry of Railways has shared that in order to revert back in a phased manner to the pre-COVID levels of service, its passenger reservation system will be shut down for 6 hours during the lean business hours of the night for the next 7 days. This is to enable upgradation of system data and updating of new train numbers. Since huge amount of past (old train numbers) and current passenger booking data are to be updated in all Mail/ Express trains, this is being planned in a series of carefully calibrated steps and implemented during night hours in order to minimise impact on ticketing services,” the ministry said.

Sharing some initial plans for the association’s annual convention, Ajay Prakash, President, TAFI, reveals that this year, the team is looking at hosting it within India. He says, “We are talking to various state governments on the possibility of holding our convention within India next year. We would like to do a convention or a conclave or a congress in India which TAFI has not done. It is important that with the entire Dekho Apna Desh campaign, I think it is necessary for our members to explore newer destinations within India. We are talking to states to see where we can get some assistance. Hopefully, we should be able to plan something in India.”

Rupinder Brar (IRS), ADG, Tourism, speaking at a recent webinar on border tourism, appreciated the efforts taken by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for improving connectivity in Ladakh region. “Connectivity is the key for tourism anywhere in the world and especially in border areas. The role of Border Tourism in bringing local communities together is crucial in today’s time,” she says. She emphasised that there is a need for capacity building and skill development as it will help to scale up the quality of human resources while creating employment opportunities for the locals.

Travellers can travel without quarantine between Singapore and India. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced the VTL expansion, under which travellers from Indonesia and India will be able to enter Singapore from 29th November. “The Ministry of Health has updated its public health assessment and will upgrade India to Category II from 19 November. Our discussions with India are progressing well, and we aim to start 2 daily VTL flights each from Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai by 29 November,” says S Iswaran, Minister for Transport, Singapore.

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism, has said that they will soon launch digital and social media campaigns. “We are working on that and we have plans to have wherever possible some physical events also. We want to launch the campaigns this month itself,” he says. Singh further adds, “Apart from our India tourism offices, the government has nominated 20 nodal officers in the missions. With their help also, we intend to launch promotional campaigns.”