The Indian Air Force (IAF) has proposed the closure of the Jammu airport for civilian traffic for 15 days from March 6 to March 20 for runway resurfacing work. On the daily basis, Jammu airport has about 20 operational flights with over 3000 travellers.  All the airlines operating their flights in the sector have stopped booking for the period.  

Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH), the policy federation of all the national associations representing the complete tourism, travel and hospitality industry of India (ADTOI, ATOAI, FHRAI, HAI, IATO, ICPB, IHHA, ITTA, TAAI, TAFI) & cause partner AIRDA in association with Ministry of Tourism and KPMG as its Knowledge Partner, kick-started it’s annual India Tourism Mart (ITM) with a physical inauguration today. India Tourism Mart – ITM, which is a buyer-seller meet is taking place in a virtual format from 18th – 20th Feb 2021. In his inaugural address, Subhash Goyal, Chairman – ITM 2021 and Hony. Secretary, FAITH emphasised how the year gone by was the darkest in the history of mankind and tourism was the worst hit where the travel fraternity was literally left hanging from a thread. He urged the industry to come together and consolidate their efforts for the revival of tourism in India. “For us to revive the tourism industry and save millions of jobs, we look forward three key actions from our policymakers – re-starting of e-tourist visas; reinstatement of scheduled international flights, at least to those countries with which India has air-bubble arrangements, with the necessary precautions on safety to allow willing travellers the opportunity to travel again and modification of policies to help subsidise or reduce the financial burden on the sector.” Reiterating Goyal’s viewpoint, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Government of India said, “We have already started issuing medical visas and we are planning to soon restart E-Tourist Visas and schedule International flights in a phased manner. On a reciprocal basis, first with those countries with whom we have an air bubble agreement. …

As part of Tourism New Zealand’s virtual road trip series, the region to be covered this month is Auckland. The webinar is scheduled for today, February 18, 2021, at 11 am and will be similar to what it did with Christchurch, West Coast, Nelson Tasman, Queenstown and Wellington wherein pre-recorded video content from the New Zealand product operators will be shared. Auckland is New Zealand’s most populous city and is a multi-cultural hub of food, music, arts and culture. To experience this road trip, contact Jaspreet Kaur at jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532

The Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Department has restarted the online mode of registration of tourism units. Secretary, Tourism of the state, Sarmad Hafiz formally kick-started the online service by handing over the registration to two unitholders. He said the portal is very dynamic and user-friendly which will streamline the registration process by a great measure.  

Amritara Hotels & Resorts is hosting an informal gathering of top inbound tour operators in New Delhi on 19th February. “We have been known as an experiential brand. The idea is to thank our partner associates for standing by us and assure them of our support when business restarts”, said Ruchi Uberoi, Director, Amritara Hotels & Resorts.

New luxury cruise brand, Cordelia Cruises is all set to start its maiden sailing from 7th May, 2021 from Mumbai to various destinations including Goa, Kochi and Chennai with its first ship that has a capacity of 2,000 individuals. The ship was earlier owned by Royal Caribbean. Waterways Leisure Tourism had bought over the cruise brand Jalesh Cruises.

Etihad Airways and Gulf Air have signed a Strategic Commercial Cooperation Agreement (SCCA) including expansion of existing codeshare agreement to deepen their partnership between Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, strengthen both airlines’ network beyond the respective hubs. Also Schedule optimisation and connectivity improvements on Abu Dhabi – Bahrain route.

TAFI’s Western India Chapter organised a meet-up at Sula Wines, Nashik with about 45 members attended the event, led by Chapter Chairman Jitul Mehta, where they tasted wine and learnt about wine making and bottling from Sula experts. The team also discussed its agenda on the future of travel and the update on current scenario in terms of business.

Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel in a written reply to a query in Lok Sabha said that no plan for setting up a vaccine certification programme for foreign tourists has been announced yet by the Government or the Ministry of Tourism. In response to another query, the minister asserted that no MOT project or scheme has been deferred or stalled due to COVID-19.

Karnataka’s luxury train Golden Chariot, which remained off the rails for over three years, is all set to run again on track since a complete overhaul, from 14th March. This will also be its inaugural run after the operations were taken over by IRCTC from the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC). The second run would be on March 21.