Community partnership is very important to develop responsible and inclusive tourism in places like Ladakh. There is an immense need to develop overall tourism along with focussing on creating a professional skilled workforce. Tourism can be a game changer that can bring socio-economic change in the nation especially in NE region.

Edesia, the global cuisine restaurant at Crowne Plaza New Delhi is hosting a one of its kind food fest ‘The Culinary Renaissance’ to celebrate the occasion of ‘World Tourism Day’. This week-long festival attempts to celebrate tourism’s ability to drive inclusive development and the role it plays in promoting respect while generating opportunities for many millions across the globe via thematic culinary nights.There will be regional cuisine based Theme Nights, different cuisine every day with special offers for the Hospitality, Travel & Tourism fraternity professionals, The festival would be celebrated from 24th September to 30th September, 2021

Switzerland Tourism will conduct a webinar on Friday, 24th September 2021, focusing on Jungfrau Railways. Jungfrau Railways provides travellers with access to popular excursions such as Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe, Grindelwald-First – Top of Adventure, Harder Kulm – Top of Interlaken and Schynige Platte – Top of Swiss Tradition. The brand new Eiger Express tricable gondola further enhances the travel experience and enables visitors to ascend up to Jungfraujoch, 47 minutes faster! The webinar provides the latest information, news and updates from Jungfrau Railways. To register, contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532.

UK and USA have given a nod for Covishield to be accepted as approved vaccine for inbound travellers. Under new guidelines, UK Govt has accepted a full course of the Oxford/AstraZeneca (all formulations including AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria) , Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna (including Moderna Takeda) or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in some countries. USA too will reopen in November to fully vaccinated air passengers (including Indians) who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus. Covishield is the only India-made vaccine that is in the list of approved vaccines, as of now.

The wait is finally over. South African Airways (SAA) is set to return to the skies on September 23. The South African national carrier will resume flights after 16 months of being grounded due to viability challenges, in spite of repeated government bailouts and implementation of business rescue plan. Resumption of flights comes three months after the government conceded part of its airline stake to Takatso Consortium, who are now the majority shareholders with a 51 percent stake.

As per a recent survey conducted by MakeMyTrip, more than 85% of Indian travellers are keen on flying to international leisure destinations. More than 65% of them are actively searching for flights and hotels in some of the most preferred international leisure destinations like Dubai (36%), Maldives (33%) and Switzerland (22%), that are high on the consideration list. Overall, amongst the surveyed, 43% travelers are keen on unwinding in the idyllic beaches of Thailand and Bali; 39% wish to go island hopping in Maldives and Mauritius; 37% hope to indulge in soul-satisfying Mediterranean experiences in Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Egypt; 33% are eager to explore the contemporary and architectural marvels in Paris and London, and 25% are dreaming of scintillating Switzerland.

Kovalam in Kerala and Eden in Puducherry to receive Blue Flag certification, which is a globally recognised eco-label accorded on the basis of 33 stringent criteria in four major heads which are environmental education and information, bathing water quality, environmental management, and conservation and safety and services in the beaches. India now has 10 International Blue Flag beaches with the addition of Kovalam & Eden beaches this year and recertification for 8 beaches which got the tag in 2020.

Speaking at a webinar on developing tourism in Mizoram, Rupinder Brar, ADG, Ministry of Tourism, said that her ministry wants to make a difference in the next two months. “It is a high priority at the ministry, for us, to take up the development and promotion of tourism in the north east region. We are also exploring with MoCA, adding more routes on the Viability Gap Funding by the MoT for priority areas. Once the plan of action is worked out, we will deep-dive and start. The NE is one of the most beautiful parts of India and so much needs to be done,” she said.

To ease the VISA process, the Govt of India has developed a user-friendly app namely SU-SWAGATAM (Visit India). This App has integrated requisite services empowering foreigners with facilities right from the visa application stage till their exit from the country. Foreign nationals intending to visit India can use the app to fill visa forms. The app is also integrated with the e-FRRO portal thereby, facilitating tourists to apply for extension of visa, residential permit, and exit permit from concerned FRRO/FRO. One can also use the app for getting useful information on various utility services like Tourist places, places of entertainment, lodging, food and shopping, etc

EbixCash Travels(Via.com) has taken the initiative to re-engage with the trade by conducting Travel Sub-agent Meets across the country, ensuring all COVID protocols. Naveen Kundu, MD, EbixCash Travel Services (parent company of Via.com) says, “The agenda of these meets is to bring agents out of their COVID shells and offices/ homes, to get back to work and their business. We have been telling the small and medium enterprises that, we as a conglomerate will help you with technology, credit lines, and efficient payment remittances. When the partners and the principles meet, they develop a camaraderie, which will eventually work in favour of customer, suppliers and business.” EbixCash Travels is all out to support, reassure and extend help to its trade partners business. The meets are being conducted to understand challenges and help overcome them.