Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance minister, Government of India, has announced financial support to more than 11,000 registered tourist guides/travel and tourism stakeholders through the loan guarantee scheme for COVID-affected sectors. The scheme will cover 10,700 regional level tourist guides recognised by ministry of tourism and those recognised by state governments. It will also cover travel and tourism stakeholders (TTS) recognised by Ministry of tourism. Loans will be provided with 100 per cent guarantee up to Rs 10 lakh for TTS and Rs 1 lakh for tourist guides licensed at regional or state level. She also said that the first five lakh tourist visas that will be issued – once issuance is restarted – for free. These announcements are part of eight measures declared by the centre as relief for the COVID-hit national economy.

In a survey by Thomas Cook India and SOTC Travel, 77% respondents continued to express strong preference for interaction with an expert for guidance/ reassurance – 27% opting to purchase holidays through retail outlets; 17% for home service; 33% preferred a contactless experience of a virtual store/video chat. On the other hand, 23% respondents opted for bookings via website/app. Over 4000 customers were surveyed across India’s Tier 1 – 3 cities to identify emerging consumer behaviours and trends that will drive travel preferences in the COVID era.

Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao, Tourism Minister, Andhra Pradesh, has announced to reopen all the prime tourist attractions as the numbers of positive cases have dropped in the country. He also said that they will plan a roadshow across the country to popularise state’s tourist attractions. Also, the tourism department’s Blue Bay hotel at Rushikonda in Visakhapatnam will be developed with INR 164 crore, he shared. Some of the attractions that have opened, include Sri Venkateswara Temple, Tirupati; Rushikonda Beach, Visakhapatnam; Ramakrishna Beach, Visakhapatnam; Undavalli Caves, Amaravati; and Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam.

Travelport has announced a strategic long-term collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to use advanced cloud technology to accelerate the digital transformation of retailing in the travel industry. This deal, which brings together globally renowned expertise in travel technology, cloud technology, and hyper-personalised retailing, will focus on optimising Travelport’s recently launched next-generation platform, Travelport+. It will also drive innovation in travel merchandising with the launch of a new accelerator program that will incorporate talent from tech start-up community. “The travel industry has struggled to keep up with the pace of change in digital retail. This landmark collaboration is specifically designed to address just that. AWS’s retail heritage makes them uniquely qualified to optimize digital retail platforms, simplify complex environments, and enable game-changing innovation in the travel retailing space. With AWS as our preferred cloud partner, we are going to create a simpler, smarter, and better future for travel retailing,” said Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer at Travelport.

Singapore is all set to have three new tourist attractions in a few months, revealed GB Srithar, Regional Director-India, Middle East & South Africa. “Three new attractions are going to come up in Singapore, which travellers coming from India can experience soon. First is Museum of Ice Cream, for which Singapore will be the first-ever international location after US. It will open later this year. The second is Asia’s tallest Slingshot, which will be a new thrill-ride concept, and will be opening later this year in Clarke Quay area. Finally, the Sky Helix Sentosa, which will be Singapore’s first open air panoramic attraction, offering visitors scenic views of Sentosa and our southern island waterfront area. This is due to open in 2022,” he revealed.

Rupinder Brar, ADG, Tourism, has said that after the reopening of monuments, they will be promoting domestic tourism. “Just like last year, considering that domestic tourism will open first, the Dekho Apna Desh webinars, which have been temporarily put on hold, will also be restarted. As we get better inputs from local administrations as well as the central health ministry, we will be taking up more campaigns in the domestic markets.”

As part of Tourism New Zealand’s virtual road trip series, the region to be covered this month is Southland. The webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, June 29, 2021 at 11am. Southland is a region of contrasts – from mountain peaks, the deepest of lakes, meandering rivers, fertile farmlands, lush primordial forests, and captivating coastlines, to the wild Southern Ocean and its islands. It is a land of world-renowned Bluff oysters and the launching place for a visit to Stewart Island. To experience this road trip, contact Jaspreet Kaur at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532 or directly register here https://event.webinarjam.com/register/253/gw35lbnv

India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), through its education wing AIH&TM organized a session on ‘Yoga For Health & Wellness’ for its employees. The session conducted on the occasion of International Yoga Day was led by Shri Yoga Acharaya, who taught ‘Vedic Aashtanga Yog’ and shed light on simple yet powerful tools to manifest health & vitality in life. Further, the session also discussed the protocols of Yoga & Pranayam by the Ministry Of Aayush, Government of India.

In order to ensure safety for its employees, Tripjack recently conducted a vaccination drive for its Mumbai office. Sharing this development is Hussain Patel, Director, Tripjack, says, “We at Tripjack took this important step towards the health and safety of our employees and managed to vaccinate more than 250 staff members. With the completion of our vaccination drive, we urge each and everyone to take this necessary step towards ending this pandemic. As travel begins, vaccination will become an important criterion.”

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture, revealed that the International Yoga Day was organised at 75 cultural heritage locations across the country to commemorate 75 years of Independence. Considering the current pandemic situation, the number of participants for Yoga was restricted to 20 at each site.