Gales, rain and snowstorms are set to batter the UK during an ‘exceptionally cold January’. Temperatures are set to plummet with an arctic deluge possible over high ground in northern England and Scotland. Low pressure pushing in from the west will bring the worst of the weather including thundery outbreaks. Strong gales at times, especially around coastal areas with colder conditions rainfall, will turn to snow. With colder conditions forecast through the month, there will be a risk of significant snowfall which could bring notable accumulations at times.

The leader of Australia’s eastern New South Wales (NSW) state has declared a week-long state of emergency in response to the escalating bushfire threat. High temperatures and strong winds are forecast for the weekend, leading to “widespread extreme fire danger”. The state of emergency in NSW will kick in at 08:00 on Friday (21:00 GMT on Thursday) and last for seven days. It will allow local authorities to carry out forced evacuations, road closures “and anything else we need to do as a state to keep our residents and to keep the property safe. Thousands of people are fleeing a vast “tourist leave zone” in NSW, with supplies running low in some cut-off towns. It’s been called “the largest relocation out of the region ever”. Meanwhile, troops are preparing to evacuate some of the 4,000 people trapped by fires in neighbouring Victoria state. Since September, bushfires have killed 18 people and destroyed more than 1,200 homes across NSW and Victoria.

From January 2020, the name Holland officially ceases to exist as a designation of the Netherlands. The change is a part of tourism rebranding where the Dutch government now wants to focus on presenting the country as a whole and promote its wider offerings. Part of the new strategy, marketing will increase a focus on sustainable tourism by looking at longer-stay visitors to cities beyond the already popular. The term Holland only refers to two of The Netherland’s 12 regions, North Holland and South Holland. The areas are home to two of the country’s biggest cities- – Amsterdam and The Hague. The reform to change the country’s name will cost the kingdom a budget of € 200,000. Authorities in the country believe that the tourist flow will be redistributed, as today most tourists visit the historically old Netherlands. The country’s official tourism website holland.com, which for a long tie has used holland as its main name, will be switching to the use of The Netherlands. The Netherlands’ Board of Tourism and Conventions also is scrapping its symbol featuring a tulip, the national flower, and the word “Holland” and replacing it with a new logo that has an orange tulip and the initials “NL.” Meanwhile, companies, embassies, ministries and universities will only be allowed to officially use the name the Netherlands from this month.

Some of the iconic rides at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, US will remain closed during January- July 2020 for refurbishment works. Attractions in the Magic Kingdom will close on January 5 to open again in July 2020. Likewise, Splash mountain closes on January 6 and reopens on February 28. The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Swiss Family Treehouse closes on May 4, 2020, and April 27 and reopens on May 21 and May 4 respectively. In the same way, EPCOT Attractions and Animal Kingdom attractions will also remain closed for refurbishment. There are currently no refurbishments scheduled for any attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios from January 2020 – July 2020.

Air passenger numbers across India are expected to reach 4.72 billion in 2020, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA). The forecast shows an increase of 4% from 4.54 billion in 2019. A statement, released by IATA, said, “Passenger demand (RPKs) is expected to grow 4.1% in 2020, in line with 4.2% growth in 2019. In fact, this masks a GDP-growth-driven pick-up since the underlying growth rate fell to less than 4.0% in 2019. However, whereas passenger capacity (ASKs) rose 3.5% in 2019, it is forecast to grow 4.7% in 2020 – as aircraft deliveries rise significantly, causing load factors to slide to 82% from 82.4% in 2019. This will maintain pressure on yields, which are expected to slide 1.5% after falling 3.0% in 2019. Passenger revenues, excluding ancillaries, are expected to reach $581 billion (up 2.5% from $567 billion in 2019).

The existing supply in Delhi is expected to experience an increase of approximately 768 keys over the next 1-2 years, reveals JLL’s report titled Delhi NTR-Charting Delhi’s Tourism Potential. Delhi currently has a total room inventory of 16,912 rooms, spread across more than 80 branded hotels. Although the growth of new supply is moderate with Delhi’s position as a mature and established hospitality market, there are ten hotels in various stages of development, which are expected to add more than 1,800 keys over the next 3-4 years. The bulk of the upcoming supply coming from the Upscale segment and luxury segment.

During January- November 2019, a total of 25,51,211 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 20,61,511 during January- November 2018, registering a growth of 23.8%, revealed recently released statistics by Ministry of Tourism (MOT). During the month of November, 2019 total of 3,75,484 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 2,61,959 during the month of November, 2018 registering a growth of 43.3%.

Indian Railways has increased rail fares. The last fare revision over Indian Railways was done in 2014-15. For the passengers travelling in ordinary non-AC classes, there shall be an increase of 1 paisa/PKM (Passenger Kilometer), and of 2 paise/PKM for non AC mail or express trains. For AC classes, the increase is 4 paise/PKM. The increase in fare will be on tickets bought on or after 1st January 2020 and no excess fare (difference of fare) will be charged from passengers who have booked tickets before 1st January 2020. In an official statement, the Ministry of Railways said “In order to expand passenger amenities and facilities at railway stations and trains, it has become imperative to increase the fare marginally without overburdening any class of passengers. Further, the burden of 7th Pay Commission on Indian Railway has necessitated rationalisation of fares.  Fare revision will help in channelising the fast modernisation of Indian Railway. Keeping the affordability concerns of daily commuters, there shall be no fare hike for passengers over suburban sections and season ticket holders. This class constitutes 66% of total passenger segment over Indian Railways. Existing fares of train services like Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Vande Bharat, Tejas, Humsafar, Mahamana, Gatiman, Antyodaya, Garib Rath, Jan Shatabdi, Rajya Rani, Yuva Expresses, Suvidha and special trains on special charges, AC MEMU (non-suburban), AC DEMU (non-suburban) etc shall similarly be revised to the extent of the above-proposed increase in class-wise fares.”

Ethiopian Airlines is looking to expand in the south Indian market with the launch of its Chennai flights to its capital. Sharing more details is Tadesse Tilahun, Regional Director, India Sub Continent, Ethiopian Airlines, who bid goodbye to the India market after completing a stint of 7.5 years. He says, “We have seen that the south India market has huge potential and is a growing market. To tap this, we have just finalised launch of Chennai operations. We will be starting this from April 3, 2020 with three frequencies per week. We recently launched Bengaluru operations connecting Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa with a direct flight with four frequencies on 787 aircraft. This takes a total of seven flights, daily operations out of the south region to our capital.” Ethiopian Airlines also welcomed its new Regional Director, Tigist Eshetu.

VFS Global has launched mobile biometrics service for customers applying for Italian tourist visa across India, enabling them to submit applications, documents, and enrol biometrics from any location of their choice. This ‘doorstep’ service can be delivered to individuals and groups living in all cities in India. A team of VFS Global staff will visit the customer at the location to collect their visa application and enrol biometric data. They will also be available to assist with any visa application queries. Submissions from large tour groups, business delegates and school trips wishing to travel to Italy, will especially benefit from this  new service, as applicants will not be required to visit a Visa Application Centre to submit their applications. The documents, once processed with the visa decision will be returned by courier to the customer’s desired location. The mobile biometrics service is optional and applicants will have to pay an additional fee. According to the Embassy of Italy in India, 555,000 travellers from India visited Italy in 2019, which indicated a 15 per cent increase over the previous year.