Ministry of Tourism (MOT) is targeting last-mile connectivity through Viability Gap Funding to MoCA under RCS UDAN scheme, revealed Arvind Singh, Secretary, Tourism. “We are also discussing with the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways for improving road connectivity to important destinations,” he added while speaking at the World Tourism Day celebration.

In an attempt to revive tourism and reboot the travel business in the eastern part of India, the Skål International Kolkata elected its new management team for the next season 2021 – 2023. Skål International clubs worldwide consist of travel and tourism industry company owners and decision makers, thought leaders and industry influencers at the highest level. At present India has 14 Skål International clubs which work very closely under a national leadership team with all the global tourism entities in support of their members’ good business. At its Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Kolkata on September 23, the new Skål International Kolkata committee re-elected Sk Sanjeev Mehra as the President, Sk Amin Asghar as the First Vice President, Sk Punam Arora as the Second Vice President, Sk June Mukherjee as the Secretary, Sk Jay Saraogi in Membership Development, Sk Pramod Lunawat and Sk Avanti Chattoraj as Auditors, Sk Sreemoyee Mitra in PR & Communications, Sk Avijit Sarkar in CSR and Sk Ritu Jolly in charge of Young Skål. With an ambitious objective ahead to bid for the Skål World Congress in 2024, the new team will now work towards bringing the world travel community in the city of joy. Sk Manav Soni, the past President of the club is now the Skal IPP and represents Skal at the international level. The Skål International India President Sk Carl Vaz was present in the occasion held at the Taj Bengal Hotel and expressed his confidence that the young and dynamic Skål International Kolkata team will not only take the club to a newer height but will also make a significant contribution to the overall sustainable tourism industry revival. Skål International …

After a successful meeting with the tourism and culture ministers of Northeastern states in Guwahati, Ministry of Tourism, is now planning a similar conference with the tourism ministers of Southern states, revealed G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and DoNER in his address at the World Tourism Day celebration in New Delhi. The meeting, as per Rupinder Brar, ADG, MOT, will be held in Karnataka, most probably between Bengaluru and Hampi.

UK has given a nod for Covishield being accepted as approved vaccine for inbound travellers to the country. Under a new set of guidelines, UK Govt has accepted a full course of the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in some countries. “Formulations of the 4 listed vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, qualify as approved vaccines,” it said. The guideline says, “From 4am Monday 4 October, you will qualify as fully vaccinated if you are vaccinated either under an approved vaccination programme in the UK, Europe, USA or UK vaccine programme overseas or with a full course of the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan or the United Arab Emirates (UAE). You must have had a complete course of an approved vaccine at least 14 days before you arrive in England.”

Maldivian is set to start direct flights from New Delhi to Maafaru and Male’ on 21st October 2021 and will be operating A321 & A320 on this route offering both business and economy class configuration. The national carrier of Republic of Maldives, owned and operated by Island Aviation Services Limited (IAS), currently operates to Trivandrum, Cochin and to Dhaka, Bangladesh. Bird Travels, the airline management arm of Bird Group is the General Sales Agent (GSA) for Maldivian and will be managing their sales and marketing activities in New Delhi. Flights on the new route, New Delhi to Maafaru, will operate on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Maafaru International Airport located in Noonu atoll was opened in 2019 and is also managed by Island Aviation Services Limited (IAS). With three direct weekly flights to Maafaru, another international hub of the largest source market, will connect North Maldives from India. Cocooned by some of the most sought-after luxury resorts in the destination, along with a large number of guest houses, the region is home to over 10,000 tourist beds spread across four atolls making this new route a highly lucrative leisure market. Speaking on the new route, Vijay Bhatia, President, Bird Group said “We are delighted to launch this new service connecting New Delhi with Maafaru and Male’ effective 21st Oct 2021. This direct flight will offer the fastest connection for Indian travelers looking to holiday in North Maldives luxury resorts”. Bird Travels will help Maldivian to further strengthen the airline’s sales team and provide support to the Indian travel trade.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Minister for Civil Aviation, has said that the central government will focus on building air connectivity with countries that are part of Commonwealth of Independent States, while the world slowly comes out of coronavirus pandemic. He also added that the 2 Cs that are quintessential to economic growth is connectivity and commerce between India and the CIS region.

Uttarakhand Government have opened Mussoorie throughout the week for tourists. However, they will allow only 15000 tourists during weekend, owing to COVID-19 situation. Dilip Jawalkar, Secretary, Uttarakhand Tourism, said, “The system and rules allowing 15 thousand tourists to come on weekends are applicable from Saturday morning till 8 am on Monday. On other days tourists can easily enter Mussoorie. This is only being done to provide a safe and clean environment to the tourists.” It is mandatory for tourists to bring a negative report of one of the tests, which includes RTPCR / Rapid Antigen Test (Rat) / True Net Test / Antibody Test or certificate of dual vaccine up to 72 hours before arrival. Along with this, registration and hotel booking will have to be brought along with the registration in the Smart City Portal. Jaspal Singh Chauhan, District Tourism Officer, said that information claiming Mussoorie only being open during weekends are wrong. Tourists can easily contact helpline numbers and get accurate information regarding any changes in the guidelines.

Kishan Reddy, while addressing the recent conference of tourism and culture ministers of North Eastern states. has said that under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme, MOT has sanctioned 16 projects in the North Eastern region. He also informed that under the PRASHAD schemes, the MOT has sanctioned number of projects in the region. Approximately Rs 200 crore has been sanctioned for these projects, he added.

In a reciprocal reaction, the Indian government has withdrawn the e-visa facility for the citizens of Canada and the United Kingdom. According to a senior Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official, post-Covid, UK and Canada have posed a lot of restrictions over the entry of Indian nationals in their country and many times, travellers have to face inconvenience despite several requests were made to the concerned embassies to take up and matter and resolve it. “The e-visa facility to UK and Canada citizens have been withdrawn from the first week of August this year. Now, they have to apply for a regular sticker visa at the Indian embassy. Tourist visa is already suspended and people visiting India under other categories of visa now have to apply for regular sticker visas,” said the official. Earlier, the e-visa facility was denied to Chinese nationals following the Galwan Valley incident in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in violent clashes with China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) personnel in June last year.

Jammu and Kashmir get first-ever cruise facility with musical fountain in Dal Lake, attracting tourists in large numbers, reveals Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Ind. Charge) Science&Tech and (Ind. Charge) Earth Sciences. He called it a historic breakthrough in tourism sector on his recent visit to the Union Territory.