The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), India Offices, and TravelBullz Indian Travel League organised an Indian Travel League for Pan India Travel Agents. ITL is a weekly campaign with a total of 4 rounds. The campaign began on October 20th, and each week, a match would be followed by a wordplay format quiz. The campaign is set to have its semi-final round on November 10th with K. D. Singh, founder and president of TravelBullz, and K. Vachirachai Sirisumpan, Director, New Delhi Office, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), as the panellists for the semi-final round. The winner stands a chance to win a 4-night stay in Phuket.

The Karnataka government announced a slew of concessions and relief measures for hotels, resorts, restaurants, and amusement parks in the state on Thursday, the most notable of which was a half of property tax dues. They also announced that for the months of April, May, and June of 2021, electricity charges will be waived. The government has also agreed to provide a one-time financial payment of INR 5000 to all Tourism Department registered beneficiaries, which will be directly sent to their accounts.

From November 1, 2021, Thailand’s Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has confirmed that fully vaccinated foreign tourists, including returning Thais and foreign residents, from authorised countries/territories would be able to enter the Kingdom by air with no quarantine restrictions. Thailand will also accept fully vaccinated tourists from countries that are not on the list, with fewer restrictions. Travellers can choose from 17 ‘Blue Zone’ destinations for their first 7-night required stay before moving on to other parts of Thailand.

The admiration for rural tourism, according to Liz Ortiguera, CEO of PATA, is a silver lining to the pandemic-driven industrial impact, but it can have severe consequences if rapid rural growth is not done sustainably and responsibly. PATA strives to advance methods that promote good growth. PATA recently co-hosted the 15th UNWTO/PATA Forum on ‘Tourism and Rural Development,’ during which Ortiguera stated that rural tourism is growing in popularity across Asia-Pacific, owing to consumer demand and government efforts to ring-fence safe vacation destinations.

Etihad Airways hosted a meeting to explore how the market is opening and what prospects exist for the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022. The meeting was attended by top clients at the MD and CEO levels. Also in attendance were, Martin Drew, Senior Vice President, Global Sales, and Murli Krishnan, Vice President, Revenue, both from Abu Dhabi; Neerja Bhatia, Vice President for the Indian Subcontinent; and Salil Nath, Regional Sales Manager, North Central India, Bangladesh, and Seychelles, both from India.

Tourism ministers and leaders from South Indian states were urged to push for Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, as per Govind Mohan, Secretary, Culture. “A national implementation committee led by the Home Minister manages these programmes at the central government level, and the Prime Minister oversees them periodically.” The states must put equal focus on execution, with state-level implementation committees led by senior ministers reviewing what was done, what needs to be done, and then carrying out those programmes.

KTM declared the results of the elections held: Baby Mathew, President James Kodiyanthara , Vice President Pradeep Jose, Secretary Jibran , Treasurer Hari Kumar, Joint Secretary Managing committee members Swaminathan, Shylendran, Vinod Vattakkatt, Mallika, Jobins Joseph, Jose Scaria, Zaheer, Manoj Babu, Rakesh, Riaz UC, Janeesh, Nirmala.

South African Tourism’s maiden virtual roadshow ‘VirtuallyYoursSouthAfrica’ concluded successfully with 99 South African suppliers as part of the trade delegation who exhibited their products and services from 20th to 22nd October 2021. Of the 99 suppliers, over 41 were exhibiting in India for the first time and they showcased their product and services to 1,871 Indian buyers. The event also saw inclusion of 31 SMMEs – more than double the number that participated in the 2020 roadshow. In addition to SMMEs, representatives from accommodation establishments, destination management companies, experiences, 7 South African Provinces, VFS and airlines. Neliswa Nkani, Hub Head – MEISEA, South African Tourism, says, “India is a high potential source market for us, at South African Tourism. In fact, the market has been recognized as one of our key international focus markets, along with China and Nigeria. While India has traditionally been a multigenerational, family source market, we see huge opportunity to leverage the destination amongst millennials as well. They are looking for an adventure and with 3000+ adventure activities, South Africa is known to provide one at every turn! We hope to welcome more and more Indian travellers to have safe, sustainable and memorable holidays, as well as a taste of our warm hospitality and local culture.”

The Dutch embassy in India has tweeted that “Indians with fully WHO-approved vaccinations will no longer be required to do a PCR-test prior to their departure to the Netherlands as of October 22, 2021.” It recommends visitors to review the website’s checklist for entering or returning to the Netherlands from outside the EU/Schengen area. India was moved from very high risk area category to high risk area from 22 October 9:00 AM onwards

From December 6, Qantas expects to resume service on the Sydney-Delhi route. These initial flights, however, are only available to Australian citizens, permanent residents, and their close families and parents. With its A330 aircraft, Qantas plans to establish a new route from Sydney to Delhi on December 6, 2021, with three return flights per week, increasing to daily flights by the end of the year. Qantas and Jetstar will resume more international flights to popular destinations from Sydney, as well as operate regular flights to Delhi, which will be Qantas’ first commercial flights between Australia and India in in a decade.