Far East Village Hotel Yokohama officially opens its doors today. The hotel is managed by Far East Hospitality (Headquarters: Singapore, Chief Executive Officer: Arthur Kiong), one of the leading operators of hotels and serviced residences in Singapore. This is Far East Hospitality’s second property in Japan. Far East Village Hotel Yokohama encourages its guests to “Live Like a Local” Each Village Hotel provides guests with a Village Passport which details unique experiences that guests can enjoy within the vicinity of the hotel. This includes information on nearby restaurants, cafés, and attractions that locals often visit. Commenting on the reason for expansion into Yokohama, Arthur Kiong, Chief Executive Officer of Far East Hospitality Management said, “At Far East Hospitality, we are constantly looking at ways to expand our footprint in the region. As intra-Asia travel is likely to increase in the future, a country such as Japan will be even more in demand. We are excited that we have the opportunity to open our second hotel in Japan within a year and we now have a presence in 2 of the most popular cities in Japan. Both of our hotels are synergistic in that they cater to domestic travellers looking to experience a flavour of Singapore even when travelling for a functional reason between Tokyo and Yokohama. This hospitality concept is relevant especially through this season where international travel is still largely on hold. Hence, domestic tourism will be the main staple for some time to come and FEH wants to be in the markets such as Japan where the domestic tourism growth is robust.” A marriage of Singaporean and Japanese cultures Singapore and Yokohama are port towns. Hence, the hotel …

The Korea Travel Expo, scheduled from 22-24 June 2021, will offer Indian agents a chance to meet around 9 DMCs. Some of the DMCs are participating for the first time in the India market and are excited to meet Indian buyers,” said Young-Geul Choi, Director, Korea Tourism Organization. Register at www.koreatravelexpo.com, email Jaspreet at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or call +91 9650196532.

According to Rajiv Subramanian, Vice President, Cleartrip, “There are very initial signs of recovery with reduced caseloads and relaxation of restrictions by several states. Traffic and booking volumes have almost doubled from a couple of weeks back. Share of round trips and advance bookings has also seen an uptick. This recovery should continue with more cities seeing reduced caseloads and accelerated vaccination.”

The Uttarakhand government has approved a compensation of Rs 29 crore for the state’s tourism industry reeling under the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the compensation package, Rs 10,000 would be provided to registered travel and adventure tour operators, tour and rafting guides. The government will also waive off the interest on loans for homestays.

The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has issued detailed guidelines to unlock the state, which also paves way for the entry of tourists into the region. There will be no restrictions of entry of tourist in J&K whether by road, rail or air apart from undergoing a COVID-19 antigen test. Restaurants in hotels can remain functional for in-house guests.

All popular holiday destinations in Kerala may soon be declared as complete “vaccinated zones” as the state government is mulling to provide COVID-19 jab to everyone in the tourism sector. “We are mulling to make famous tourist destinations in the state 100% vaccinated zones by July 15 with the support of the health department,” said Kerala Tourism Minister, PA Mohammed Riyas.

Union Tourism and Culture Minister, Prahlad Singh Patel on Thursday conducted a meeting on ‘National Strategy and Roadmap for Sustainable Tourism with focus on Adventure and Eco Tourism’ with the officials of Ministry of Tourism in New Delhi. He also reviewed other topics such as social media, global media and tourism highway during the meeting attended by Secretary, Arvind Singh, Joint Secretary, Rakesh Verma, Additional Director General, Rupinder Brar and others.

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.