The Tourism Office of Spain – Mumbai continues with its webinar series exclusively designed for the Indian travel trade with one-hour webinars in June-July. The next one will be held today at 3pm IST and will focus on Valencia. Those who attend all three webinars and participate in the educational quiz stand a chance to win Amazon gift vouchers. To register, write to jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532.

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, said that he has written to Commerce Secretary as well as Revenue Secretary to release 2019-20 SEIS payments on priority. “I also spoke to Principal Advisor in the Ministry of Finance for the same,” he added. Inbound tour operators in the country have been pleading the government to clear their SEIS dues for a long time.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State, Tourism & Culture, launched Confederation of Hospitality, Technology & Tourism Industry (CHATT), and called it a revolutionary movement in tourism sector. The event was also graced by Arvind Singh, Secretary, MOT; Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, MOT; and Rakesh Verma, Joint Secretary, MOT. Speaking at the event, Patel also shared that they have sent 9 memorandums to UNESCO.

VFS in India has started accepting visa applications for Croatia for categories including tourist, student, work permit and immediate family member. Applicants should have Negetive RT-PCR test report not older than 48 hours at the movement of entry in Croatia and they should be in self-isolation for 14 days. The cost of RT-PCR test should be brone by the travellers.

Owing to Covid 19 restrictions on international commercial flights, the government has extended visa validity of foreigners stuck in India since March last year to August 31, 2021. Earlier, these foreigners had to get their visa extended every month. These foreign nationals will not be required to submit any application to the FRRO/FRO concerned for extension of their visas.

Over 15 top Regional Tourism Boards, Attractions and DMCs of Korea are confirmed to exhibit at the Korea Travel Expo, to be held from 22-24 June 2021. This will include representatives from Seoul & Busan tourism boards, Jeju Convention & Visitor Bureau and Lotte World with its collection of theme park, aquariums and observatory. Young-Geul Choi, Director, Korea Tourism Organization, New Delhi office, says that currently there are 16 confirmed exhibitors. “My office will also have a virtual booth so that makes it a total of 17 as of now. The exhibitors are a mix of Regional Tourism Organizations (RTOs), DMCs and Tourist Attraction. Regions represented by RTO’s are Seoul, Busan, Incheon, Gyeonggi, Jeju, Gyeongsangbuk-do. In DMC’s, some of them are participating for the first time in the India market and are excited to meet Indian buyers. For tourist attractions, we have the famous Lotte World, which will have a 3-people team and showcase their array of Theme-Park, Aquariums and Observatory. They are also exhibiting in India for the first time. In fact, 1/3rd of the delegation is coming to explore the India market for the very first time or after many years,” he adds. Register at www.koreatravelexpo.com, email Jaspreet at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91 9650196532.

Former Civil Aviation Minister and Rajya Sabha MP, Suresh Prabhu has requested the Civil Aviation Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri to issue passports to fully vaccinated persons as has been done in other countries. In a letter shared on Twitter, Prabhu said that it is necessary to allow fully vaccinated persons to travel freely so as to restore normalcy.

During an online presentation organised by Indiatourism Mumbai on Recognition of Tourism Service providers by Ministry of Tourism, D Venkatesan, Regional Director (West & Central Region) Indiatourism Mumbai highlighted the importance of being a recognised tourism service provider and also enlightened the participants about various benefits that a travel agent is entitled to, on being recognised by MOT.

Focused on driving more sustainable travel in South Asia, TOFT India has launched the internationally recognised Travelife programme to help drive up tour operation standards in India’s tourism sector. “All TOFT current DMC members will gain free access to a range of online tools that they can use,” said Ritu Makhija, Manager Sustainability at TOFT India.

Leslie Thng, CEO, Vistara has said that his airline  is focussing on a leaner cost-structure as well as exploring newer avenues to supplement earnings. He also said that Vistara aims to have 70 planes by 2023. He further said that full service carriers look to be relevant more in the current scenario due to less density of seats in the cabins. Vistara currently has a fleet of 46 aircraft.