NIMA, on the occasion of its 7th Foundation Day, has reconstituted its Executive Team, and has announced Jagdeep Bhagat from Vee Bee Tours as the National Coordinator for the second time. Gajesh Girdhar from Paryatan, Muzaffarnagar, has been announced as the Chairman Emeritus, while SanJeet from Buzz Travel Marketing is the Mentor for the association. Vikas Khanduri of Holiday Merchants is the Advisor for the team.

Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board is all set to launch a special project ‘Safe Tourism Destinations for Women in MP’ with the support of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD). The project will be implemented in a phased manner at 50 destinations in the state in the next three years at a cost of Rs 27.98 crores.

During ATM Virtual, Arival research carried out with 1500 respondents on the outlook for tours, activities, attractions, and key trends shaping the sector’s revival post-COVID-19 pandemic revealed that as travel resumes, self-guided tours and experiences will become a viable alternative to large group experiences. The research identified that almost all operators (99%) implemented health and safety measures.

Bahrain’s Civil Aviation Affairs has announced the suspension of entry for travelers arriving from red list countries, namely – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. Bahraini citizens and residency visa holders are not subject to the suspension but will have to present an approved PCR test certificate conducted no more than 48 hours prior to boarding and undertake another PCR test on arrival and on the tenth day of stay.

The Maharashtra government has prepared and submitted a tentative ‘serial’ nomination in order to seek the World Heritage Site tag for 14 forts in the state. All 14 of them belong to the era of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the 17th century and these forts have been built on the theme of Maratha Military Architecture. The Ministry of Culture after a serial nomination by the Archaeological Survey of India has forwarded the list to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

One of the global leaders of Safe Tourism, Turkey is ready for 2021 summer season with heightened safety measures. Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Turkey Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA) hosted the ambassadors of foreign missions, in the Safe Tourism event held in Antalya, Turkey from May 21 to 23. Indian Ambassador to Turkey also graced the event with his presence and experienced the measures on-site. The ministry aims to ensure that all safe tourism measures are experienced directly by the representatives of foreign missions to Turkey. Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, talked about the preparations for the 2021 summer season and stated in his speech that,  “As a leading country in safe tourism, Turkey welcomed more than 16 million guests in 2020, and we are looking forward to 2021 to be a year of heightened safety in tourism season. We are ready for the Summer  2021  season with  more than 10,000 certified tourism facilities across Turkey.” While addressing the ambassadors during the event, Minster Ersoy also mentioned that, “Tourism safety has been our top priority over the last year and we had a successful season of certification program that has become one of the best practices worldwide. In our national vaccination program, more than 27 million doses of vaccine have been applied to Turkish citizens to date. The vaccination program, in which we prioritize tourism workers, will continue to accelerate in June,” added Minister Ersoy. Launched by Turkey in June 2020, Safe Tourism Certificate certifying compliance with global safety standards for tourist spots,  accommodation facilities and airports. The Certificate have been awarded to more than 9,800 businesses as it enters its second …

Prateek Hira has been appointed as the Chairman of FICCI Tourism Committee, Uttar Pradesh State Council. Prateek Hira brings 27 years of experience in the tourism industry and expertise on the subject with many tourism researches to his credit. The committee shall advise the government of Uttar Pradesh primarily on the issues plaguing the tourism industry and will work closely with the government of Uttar Pradesh to revive tourism in a time-bound manner after the present situation of pandemic eases. A detailed white paper will be presented to the government that will enlist the measures required for the earliest revival of tourism. The government of Uttar Pradesh has resolved to create employment opportunities through tourism and make tourism a key driver of growth and FICCI through its Tourism Committee under the chairmanship of Prateek Hira will be a catalyst to make this happen soonest.

Yatra Online has announced the launch of a new platform ‘Covid Connect’, which enables people to get verified information on COVID-19 resources. The team and volunteers at Yatra.com have put in efforts to ensure that the resources are verified beforehand for quick and accessible information. The platform has resources on the availability of oxygen, hospital beds, ambulances, medicines, food services, test centres, doctor consultations, and home ICU options. At present, the platform includes information from Delhi and Mumbai and its nearby areas. Additionally, interested people can also volunteer to be a part of the team and contribute to the platform for resource verification and resource curation. Commenting on the new initiative, Dhruv Shringi, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Yatra.com said, “We at Yatra, have always believed in creating memorable travel experiences for our customers, however, with COVID – 19 we are currently operating in such uncertain situations. Owing to the same, we as a company are stepping up to provide easy access to reliable information to the consumers. We are focused on using our resources and voice to assist in curating a platform with crucial and verified information regarding COVID resources.” The new platform aims to bring together people to combat the pandemic. For COVID resources, click here: https://www.yatra.com/covid-resources For volunteering, click here: https://forms.gle/D6UzwLieim4AGZxLA  

IATO Executive Committee has relooked and restructured its Regional and State Chapters to expand its wings and strengthen its membership basis. Separate chapters have been created for Uttarakhand and Ladakh with Nidhish Sharma, Managing Director, Garhwal Adventure, Dehradun and Tsering Namgyal, Managing Director, Windhorse Expeditions India, Ladakh being appointed as Chairman for Uttarakhand and Ladakh respectively.

CAPA India has said that the chances of a successful divestment of Air India may be less certain as of May 2021. It furthe said that the Government would need to at least have a plan B ready. Earlier, CAPA India in January 2021 had mentioned that the government’s commitment to privatisation of Air India and airports is laudable.