The Uttarakhand government is planning to resume tourism and start the Char Dham Yatra in a calibrated manner after June 8 in an effort to boost the economy. Sharing the information, Madan Kaushik, Cabinet minister and governments’ spokesperson said, “The government is planning to start the Char Dham Yatra but in a limited manner, allowing only limited people amid the pandemic. We will also gradually resume the tourism activities in the same manner as both Char Dham Yatra and tourism are basically the backbone of our economy.” In its latest guidelines, the Centre allowed religious places to open after June 8 along with free inter-state travel of people in a bid to gradually open up the country after lockdown amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

EbixCash Travel & Holidays, earlier known as Mercury Travels has launched a brief survey to gain the views of its business associates, which can help the company design future travel offerings post COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement, the company said, “While the world continues to embark this journey through the Global crisis and discover new ways to combat the situation, we would like to assure you that safety and well-being of our customers remain to be our topmost priority while reinforcing the existing protocols for addressing public health issues”. The survey is open now and can be accessed at www.surveymonkey.com/r/EbixCash    

Sharing the details of a study during a webinar organised by TAAI- Northern Region, the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) has revealed that 52 per cent of the people are willing to travel amidst lockdown. The growth will be led by frequent flyers (those who take more than eight flights a year) with 68% of them keen on travelling once things are normal. DIAL’s report titled ‘Intention to travel among Indian passengers,’ also stated that in the COVID-19 control phase, travel likelihood increases significantly with 58 per cent of the people opting for it. The impact was seen across all types of flyers. The number of frequent flyers will rise to 73 per cent in the post-COVID-19 era.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has launched the world’s first-ever global safety and hygiene stamp which allow travellers to recognise governments and businesses around the world which have adopted health and hygiene global standardised protocols – so consumers can experience ‘Safe Travels’. The initiative also received the backing of UNWTO. Eligible businesses such as hotels, restaurants, airlines, cruise lines, tour operators, restaurants, outdoor shopping, transportation and airports, will be able to use the stamp once the health and hygiene protocols, outlined by WTTC, have been implemented. Destinations will also help to award the stamp of approval to local suppliers. The launch of global protocols to boost the Travel & Tourism sector have been embraced by over 200 CEO’s including some of the world’s major tourism groups. Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO, said: “We are delighted that UNWTO are supporting the private sector global protocols and our efforts as public-private collaboration is critical to ensure a faster recovery. We have learned from past crises that global standard protocols and consistency provide confidence for the traveller. Our new global safety stamp is designed to help rebuild consumer confidence worldwide,” she said. “Now travelers will be able to recognise the businesses and destinations worldwide which have adopted the new set of global protocols that will encourage the return of ‘Safe Travels’ around the world. It will, in turn, help the Travel & Tourism sector to reopen for business and move in a coordinated approach. “For the first time ever, the global private sector has rallied around Safe Travels protocols which will create consistency across the sector. Implementation by governments around the world will restore much-needed confidence in order to restart …

A combined united delegation of four travel trade associations (IATO, ADTOI, ATOAI and OTOAI) led by IATO President Pronab Sarkar met the Tourism Minister, Prahlad Singh Patel in Delhi to discuss various grievances faced by tour operators amid ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The minister heard out the delegation at length and also addressed issues individually faced by the associations. The Minister has assured all possible support and said the ministry has already reached out to the Finance Minister for industry-specific relief. Associations representatives felt content after the meeting and expressed gratitude to the Minister for giving them a patient hearing. The Minister has called out for a united stand of the industry to fight the pandemic and overcome all the challenges. Apart from the President, Rajiv Mehra, Vice President represented IATO while, heads of other associations, Captain Swadesh Kumar, PP Khanna and Riaz Munshi represented ATOAI, ADTOI and OTOAI. From the ministry, Rakesh Sharma, Joint Secretary, MOT and Meenakshi Sharma, DG, Tourism were present during the meeting.

The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH) has proposed a Tourism Aid & Restructuring (TARP) Package to the Tourism Minister to seek specific measures for Indian Tourism from the Prime Minister and from the Finance Minister. In a document released by FAITH, the association shares that TARP is a comprehensive six steps plan, which addresses both supply and demand measures. The association released the six-step guideline after the tourism industry did not find any mention in the stimulus package announced by the Government. The six steps, in brief, are: Tourism Fund, Option of a Drawdown against Income Tax & GST, Tourism Tax & Statutory Holiday for FY 2020-21, RBI Support, Specific stimulus to different segments of Indian tourism, Agenda for National Tourism Task Force

The Home Ministry has issued an order following complaints that some hotels, used as temporary quarantine centres for people travelling from outside the country, were refusing to return 7-day advance money after the government cut down institutional quarantine period from 14 days to 7 days. The hotels were charging all international guests for 14 days in advance. A notification issued by Ajay Bhalla, Secretary Home Ministry has instructed chief secretaries of all states to ensure that the hotels process refunds without any delay. The home ministry on May 24 had revised its guidelines to cut short mandatory institutional quarantine for passengers arriving from abroad on flights operated under the Vande Bharat mission—Repatriation flights conducted by the government of India—to seven days from earlier 14 days period. According to the revised advisory, people could choose to spend the second week of quarantine at their homes. But the ministry received complaints that several hotels had already charged 14-days rent from arriving guests and were now refusing to return a week’s advance rent.

Sunil B Satyawakta, Director, Civica Travels Pvt. Ltd, and Former Chapter Chairman (UP & Uttarakhand), TAAI, feels strongly that all IATA agents should re-negotiate the terms with IATA. He explains, “I am expecting that our ticket sales will be down at least 50 per cent in the next financial year. Keeping this in mind, we must ask IATA to bring down our bank guarantee and our targets by a minimum of 50 per cent. Normally the amount of financial security is based on an agency’s 20-day average turnover in the last 12 months. The submission deadline for Bank Guarantees is 24 June 2020 for the period 1st July 2020 to 30th June 2021. As the circumstances are unlikely to change in the coming 12 months, we must voice this concern to them before that.”

Considering the current situation, The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has decided that validity of approval or certifications of hotels and other accommodation units whose project approvals/reapprovals and classification/reclassification have expired/are likely to expire during the period (24th March-29th June) are deemed to be extended till 30th June. Similarly, MOT has decided to allow six months’ relaxation or extension to all categories of Tour Operators (Inbound, Domestic, Adventure) Travel Agents and Tourist Transport Operators for their approval with the ministry subject to the following conditions: The previous approval expired or the current approval expires during the period of 20th March 2020 (i.e. the date of issuance of an order by the Ministry for discontinuation of inspection work by India Tourism offices) till continuation of lockdown. They applied for renewal before expiry of their current/previous approval. The Ministry has a scheme of approving Travel Agents, Tour Operators, Adventure Tour Operators, Domestic Tour Operators and Tourist Transport Operators etc. the idea being to encourage quality, standard and service in these categories so as to promote Tourism in India. Similarly, MOT classifies hotels under the star rating system to conform to the expected standards for different classes of tourists. Under this system, hotels are given a rating, from One Star to Three Star, Four and Five Star with or without alcohol, Five Star Deluxe, Heritage (Basic), Heritage (Classic), Heritage (Grand), Legacy Vintage (Basic), Legacy Vintage (Classic), Legacy Vintage (Grand) and Apartment Hotels, Homestays, Guest house etc. The classification/ certification is valid for a period of five years.

Pradeep Lulla, Acting President and VP, TAFI, has said that the association has reached out to all the domestic airlines seeking clarification on air ticket refunds for bookings made for travel from 25th May 2020. This comes after the government decided to resume limited domestic flight operations around the country. Lulla said that since certain conditional clarifications are not mentioned by the airlines, they have written to airlines for matters concerning tour operators. He also said that TAFI’s petition on airline refunds in Supreme Court will come up for hearing probably in the next 10 days.