PP Khanna, President, ADTOI, has said that since many of their members could not get vaccination, owing to shortage of vaccines, the association has tied up with hospitals to organise vaccination camps for its members on a pan-India basis. “This will be provided to members at a special rate. To elevate the financial burden on the members, we have decided to give a subsidy to all primary members by reimbursing 50% of what they spend on getting vaccinated, whether it’s the first shot or second shot or both, to the maximum limit of  Rs 600 for each shot within a period,” he adds.

Since physical inspection of office premises of applicants cannot be undertaken by the Ministry of Tourism, they have given extension to the existing validity of the tour operators, travel agents and tourist transport operators up to 31.12.2021. It will also include the extended validity already given to such tour operators. However, this will be subject to the condition that they have submitted their complete application seeking renewal of their approval/recognition with the Ministry of Tourism. In an order, the MOT has announced that all agencies, whose validity expires (including extended validity) up to July, 2021 will be given extension of validity(approval/recognition) up to 31.12.2021 subject to the condition they have submitted their complete application for renewal. For agencies seeking fresh approval/recognition, they will be considered for giving provisional approval up to 31.12.2021 subject to submission of complete application fulfilling all the documentary requirements as mentioned in the guidelines issued by the Ministry. MOT also said that the status of all such cases will be reviewed from time to time as the situation required and suitable decision taken will be communicated accordingly.

Young-Geul Choi, Director, Korea Tourism Organization, New Delhi office, has high expectations from the Korea Travel Expo, which is set to be held from 22nd to 24th June 2021. “Through this expo, Indian buyers can reconnect with Korean suppliers and start preparing their tour products and packages for sale in future. The response that we receive from this expo will set the tone for the kind of marketing activities we will do in the rest of 2021,” he says. Register at www.koreatravelexpo.com, email Jaspreet at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91 9650196532.

A high-level meeting presided by the new Kerala Tourism Minister PA Mohammed Riyas has decided to finalise projects and implement them at the earliest, for instilling confidence in travellers and woo them to a number of places across Kerala. The state is charting measures to revive its tourism sector by rolling out packages that encourage domestic travellers to visit the destinations in the state. In a month, the various approval/classification schemes under Ease of Doing Business will go online. Authorities will draft new COVID-19 protocols for tourists arriving from other states.

Tour operators from Kashmir Tourism Trade Bodies Joint Forum (KTTBJF) have demanded some measures that need to be taken by the Government for the revival of the tourism industry in J&K. They demanded that tour and travel operators have gained popularity and need to be recognised as a tourism unit and all the industrial benefits must be given to the tour operators as are given to the hoteliers. They also urged that the tourism incentive scheme should be extended for the next 15 years and travel agents and tour operators should be included, and all the pending cases should be cleared at the earliest. They also demanded a waiver on the GST and claimed that the Government should first let the tourism sector breathe first. They also pointed out that the adventure tour operators are going through many problems and for the last 3 years they have not been able to pay the bank EMIs of the loans they have taken for increasing the infrastructure for adventure tourism.

Hotel Association of India (HAI) has written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for immediate intervention to provide relief to the hospitality industry which is on the verge of collapse, in five key areas—one-time settlement of loans and extension of loan moratoriums till September 2021, waiver of all statutory liabilities at Centre, State and Municipal levels for the pandemic period, stimulus package subsidising of salaries of hotel employees, according ‘Infrastructure Status’ and to bring Tourism & Hospitality to the concurrent list of the Constitution. In its request HAI pointed out that over 40% of hotels have shut or are on the brink of closure and 70% of overall jobs are now in danger directly or indirectly.

 The World Committee on Tourism Ethics, an independent cell of the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), has said that vaccines should not form part of vaccination holiday packages and must remain a global public good. The committee believes that the COVID-19 certificates for international travel must be free and available to all without any discrimination. UNWTO adopted a few recommendations on such certificates for global travel under the Chairmanship of Pascal Lamy. They have also recommended that these certificates must be limited in time and use.

The Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) has waived off the annual membership fee for the financial year 2021 – 22. The association has reduced the fees by 50% for the financial year 2020 – 2021. Riaz Munshi, President, OTOAI said, “This is not the time to make money or fill up reserves. We understand the plight of our fellow industry colleagues and this gesture is our way of showing our solidarity to them. The outbound from India has been severely affected and it will indeed take a while before things go back to normal. The second wave has hit all businesses, especially tourism (which had started to pick a little in December / January) severely and different entry laws / requirements by different countries has made outbound travel very challenging. I would also like to urge people in the travel fraternity to get themselves vaccinated at the earliest possible so that whenever tourism opens, our customers do not hesitate reaching out to us and it will also send out a positive message to the world.”

In a written appeal, IATO has urged the Union Finance Minister to ask the GST council to consider rationalisation or lowering of GST on various tourism related services at their upcoming meeting. In a statement, IATO has said that this would help boost the sector as and when the revival happens.  Rajiv Mehra, President IATO, said “The inbound tourism has been the worst hit and if we were to get these financial relief it will help us give us some strength to bounce back. Sincerely hope that our requests will be given serious consideration by the GST council. I would also request the Ministry of Home Affairs to start planning on opening an E-Tourist Visa in phases as Vaccination in many source markets like USA, UK and other European Markets are almost complete. This can be done in stages and on reciprocal basis, so that inbound tourism business can start which will not only revive economic activities but also will bring back jobs lost during the last 14 months.”

A Madurai couple took their wedding to the next level, when they booked an entire chartered flight from Madurai to Bengaluru and tie the knot mid-air. The couple, along with their families, relatives and guests were on the SpiceJet chartered flight, reveal photos and videos of the wedding that went viral online. Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has launched an inquiry into the mid-air ceremony.