Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (I/C), Civil Aviation, has said that they will be looking at resuming international flight operations on case-by-case basis once the lockdown period is over after April 15, 2020. They will be looking at which countries these flights are coming from. “The Government direction has been very clear that the lockdown is till April 15, and after that we will be considering the resumption of flights on a case-by-case basis. Even flights that will bring Indians back would not be allowed to come, until the lockdown is lifted.”

Korea Tourism Organization invites members of the trade to sign up for its exclusive webinar that it will host today at 3pm. This online seminar will highlight South Korea as a tourism destination and will cover basic information and highlight the popular places along with ideas on how to create a better South Korea tour product. The webinar will cover not just FIT and leisure travel but also touch upon MICE. Jong Sool Kwon, Director – Korea Tourism Organization, New Delhi office, says, “The Coronavirus outbreak has affected the travel business greatly. The idea behind initiating these webinars is to take the opportunity of this slow business period and enhance the product knowledge of the travel agents about South Korea. As soon as the market revives from this slowdown, the travel agents will be well prepared to propose a new destination to their clients and South Korea will be the first choice for them.” For more information and to register, contact Jaspreet Kaur on 9650196532 or jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com.  

India Tourism Development Corporation will provide up to 2000 cooked and packed meals every day during the lock down for the health workers of government hospitals (AIIMS & RML) in the state capital as well as to other needy people through local administration. Commenting on this initiative, Prahlad Singh Patel, Tourism Minister, says, “ITDC will continue to work with all the stake holders to aid the community at large. These are testing times which all of us are going through. The Government has been doing an exceptional job and we stand in solidarity with them to overcome the pandemic which is impacting millions of lives and countries across the globe.  As Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls for the nation to work hand in hand, ITDC in a humble move will provide upto 2000 meals per day to the healthcare professionals and other needy people as part of CSR activity. Everything we do today combats the massive challenge that we are facing as a nation and as a world.”

In a recent report by HVS, a few suggestions have been made to the government to battle the ongoing crisis which includes Policy support, Monetary support, Fiscal support and Direct support to revive demand. In ‘Fiscal support’, the report recommends to provide a 12-month corporate tax holiday to travel, tourism & hospitality sector. It also suggests to defer all statutory dues such as advance tax, custom duties, exercise duties, PF, bank charges etc at central and state level for 12 months.

Adventure Tour Operators Association of India (ATOAI) concluded its first online members’ meet on March 31, which was attended by close to 100 members from across the country, including Kerala, Assam, Ladakh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The meeting, moderated by Capt. Swadesh Kumar, President, ATOAI and Vinayak Koul, Hony. Secretary, ATOAI, helped members and the Association share constructive ideas to survive in present times. Members also got a chance to share their experiences. The keynote speaker for the meeting, Nakul Anand, Chairman, FAITH, briefed members on various topics related to the COVID-19 crisis and explained that the strategy going forward should broadly be divided in two phases – phase-I being survival and phase-II being revival. He also informed members about the various efforts of FAITH for the tourism industry.

In a recent update, MITT has announced new dates for its next exhibition. It will now take place from 16-18 March 2021 at Crocus Expo Moscow. It was earlier scheduled for 17-19 March 2020. The organisers said, “We have no doubt that the measures taken by the Government of the Russian Federation, Rospotrebnadzor of the Russian Federation and regional authorities are effective and will enable businesses to return to work. It is also encouraging to see the positive developments from China, where the epidemic is being curbed and the country is gradually returning to normal life.”

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has announced the launch of the PATA Crisis Resource Center and Tourism Recovery Monitor, a unified platform that provides reliable and up-to-date policy statements, authoritative information, and tourism indicators from around the globe. The aim is to provide a global centralised repository of reliable information for users based on their needs. The PATA Crisis Resource Center is a result of a pilot Expert Task Force (ETF) led by PATA Immediate Past Chair Sarah Mathews to accumulate knowledge, generate support, and help members and industry stakeholders across the globe access solutions by governments, while also assisting governments in understanding the challenges through the travel impact survey. PATA Vice Chair Soon Hwa Wong also led an ETF to establish the PATA Tourism Recovery Monitor, an integrated resource for strategic tourism planners and decision makers to keep fully abreast of the fast changing environment. Both initiatives are housed under one microsite.

Sandeep Dwivedi, COO, InterGlobe Technology Quotient (ITQ), has said that they have been helping agents with online tools that aid in swift cancellations, reissue and refunds. “ITQ is doing what we have always done i.e. be a responsible intermediary between airlines and travel agents, communicating all developments, especially those related to GDS (Global Distribution System) and flight bookings; even more in these tough times. Further, teams at ITQ are providing 24*7 support to travel agents for reissue and cancellation of flight bookings, and even helping install system online for agents to work smoothly from home. In addition, following these sudden developments, we are providing handy Travelport Smartpoint hacks such as refunds using linear entry to make transacting easier and swifter for our agents. We are on the edge, serving agents by resolving queries and recording apprehensions and issues for future in order to accommodate the same in our system, if adversity worsens or for when it smoothens out. On priority, we are taking all necessary actions to prepare ourselves and our system for managing any probable or unexpected requirements smoothly,” he said.  

Subhash Goyal, Secretary General, FAITH, has revealed that in the wake of the impact of COVID-19 outbreak on travel and tourism industry, they will be approaching Ministry of Tourism (MOT) and urge them to use their unutilised funds for immediate relief of the industry. “2020 should be declared a tourism draught year because we are sure that in the entire year, tourism is not going to be revived. All the airlines would remain grounded, and we know that all visas have been cancelled. Hence, our revenues have totally dried up. We had a meeting through video conferencing of the FAITH board members, which consists of all the presidents of all the associations, and it has unanimously decided to approach our parent ministry—MOT—to utilise its unutilised funds of the MOT for immediate relief for the tour operators, travel agents and particularly the small and medium operators. We do not have money to pay the salaries and the various statutory obligation. Hence, it is very important that at least Rs. 1,500 crores from the old budget of the tourism ministry and the new budget should be given as immediate relief. The TCS, which has been extended at the moratorium of loans and interest, should be extended for at least one year and TCS should be completely scrapped because it will kill the outbound tourism of the country.”

As part of India’s fight against COVID-19, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has launched ‘Lifeline Udan’ flights for movement of medical and essential supplies across the country and beyond. Under this initiative, 62 Lifeline Udan flights have been operated during the five day period from 26th to 30th March 2020, transporting over 15.4 tons of essential medical supplies. 45 out of the 62 flights have been operated by Air India and Alliance Air. The carriers involved in Lifeline Udan operations include Air India, Alliance Air, Indian Air Force (IAF) and Pawan Hans. Support is being provided by Airports Authority of India (AAI), AAICLAS (cargo and logistics subsidiary of AAI), AI Airports Services (AIASL), PPP airports and private ground handling entities. Private carriers like IndiGo, Spicejet and Blue Dart are operating medical cargo flights on a commercial basis.