Accor is all ready to set footprints in Chandigarh with its popular brand, Novotel. Being developed in the city centre close to the airport, the Novotel Chandigarh Tribune Chowk will offer 120 rooms, two food and beverage outlets, function rooms of various sizes, a swimming pool, and a gymnasium. This 21st Novotel is scheduled to open by early 2021.

The Mizoram government is working on a new tourism policy, which will aim at enhancing the livelihood of people and make way for more funding support. It is also planning to construct a 5-star hotel in Aizawl to attract more tourists. A draft of the new policy has already been shared with tour operators, ticketing agents and hoteliers. A total of 1,61,677 tourists from the country and abroad visited Mizoram during 2019.

According to CAPA India, four largest private airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are expected to see a revenue shortfall of Rs 5,700 to Rs 6,600 crores in FY2021 because of COVID-19. The final outcome will depend upon the eventual operating expenses.  

Tornos, an established name in the tourism industry since the last 26 years, has become the first travel company of Ayodhya. Having worked and researched extensively on the revival of Ayodhya as a tourist destination, it now sets a foot in Ayodhya by coming up with its office in this temple city and will provide all travel related services to incoming tourists. Specialising in immersive travel experiences, Tornos has been associated with projection of Ayodhya internationally. ‘Mokshdayni Walk’ and ‘Ram Vivah’ have been company’s most innovative tourism products based on Ayodhya which were till now being operated and managed from Lucknow but now with its own set up in Ayodhya, these would be operated locally, bringing down its cost and making these more affordable. Tornos is looking at providing employment opportunities to locals and to come up with many more immersive travel experiences to showcase this deserving destination to the world. Prateek Hira, President && CEO, Tornos has been involved in the conceptualisation and of Ayodhya’s much-celebrated Diwali event, ‘Deepotsava’ that has been Uttar Pradesh government’s calendar event and draws a lot of attention. He says, “Ideal tourism should benefit local communities the most and the best local experiences can only be delivered by locals, so we decided to set up our office in Ayodhya. I am seeing Ayodhya coming up as one of the finest tourism destinations in the coming years and my confidence is renewed when our Prime Minister himself has taken it up so seriously. Ayodhya can be seen as a sought after tourist destination and both state and the central governments are possibly seeing tourism to be Ayodhya’s main economic driver.” In the time when travel …

The Rajasthan government has approved a proposal to provide relief under Rajasthan Investment Promotion Scheme for one extra year to units in tourism & hotel sector. The cabinet also decided to extend the period for reimbursement of SGST to hotel and tour operators by three months to one year, from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.

Steve Borgia, CMD, INDeco Leisure Hotels, has said that by cutting costs and getting local guests & weddings at hotels, they have been able to make a profit in June 2020. “From 120 employees, we ran our hotels with 15 people. We ran many programmes to attract locals and did weddings with the gathering of 50 people. We managed to make a profit of 2.5 lakh,” he said.

Latest data on future bookings to India by ForwardKeys suggests that whilst there is no upward surge in tickets for November, travellers are generally holding onto their tickets. Ticketing history also tells the same story. Olivier Ponti, VP Insights says, “Bookings are flat as we can see a ‘wait and see attitude’ taking place, however, we expect the situation will evolve when people get more clarity regarding travel restrictions.”

Dr Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA, has said that, while travel bubbles and green corridors are a great idea, but there is a lot of complexity involved in setting them up. “It is not a simple task. There are bilateral agreements involved between the two countries. It’s not only the immigration department involved but also health departments and ministries of health of the respective destinations. However, the countries need to agree to have enough trust in the healthcare system of the respective destinations to allow people to travel across their borders.”

Committing to uphold the highest standards of cleanliness, The Umrao, New Delhi has launched the #AASHVAST, a holistic programme that addresses all facets of hotels operations. From revised protocols for the heart of the house activities at the receiving store, back office, laundry, to the public areas with heightened sanitisation measures for guest luggage, elevators, room service and cover everything from handwashing hygiene and cleaning product specifications to guest room cleaning procedures. Specific steps that the hotel is taking as an organisation can be found on its website, www.theumrao.com. Virendra Teotia, Director, Umrao Hotels & Resorts, New Delhi commented, “We have launched “Ashvasht” a holistic programme that addresses all facets of hotel operations & hotel’s commitment towards health, hygiene and safety, designed in collaboration with medical professionals and disinfection experts to further enhance the existing hygiene and cleaning protocols. Further to have guest safety and avoid to contact with unknown vendors we had already in place professionally organized wedding-related venue and non-venue requirements for the new-age, tech-savvy guests. The USP was simple: a one-stop-shop enabling the promise of a great event at guaranteed guest safety as our topmost priority.”

TravTalk and Etihad Airways are set to host an ‘Agent Connect’ webinar, a live journey of flying through COVID-19, today from 11 am onwards. Travel agents will get the chance to learn about Etihad Airways and UAE’s capital city – Abu Dhabi. To register, please email to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91 9650196532.