Türkiye has announced it rolls out a tourism employee vaccination registration program for tourism employees in coordination with The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Health and Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA). The Program has launched within the scope of ‘Safe Tourism Certification Program’ to welcome international travelers for the upcoming tourism season and to ensure the health and safety of tourism employees and its residents remains its utmost priority. Since the launch of ‘Safe Tourism Certification Program’ in June 2020, Türkiye has been following stringent health and safety guidelines and taking all steps necessary to ensure it continues to be safe. Following the opening of the tourism season, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism started to work on inclusion of the tourism sector employees into the vaccination program in order to ensure that the tourism services in the country remain open throughout the year. The vaccination program will be meticulously carried out in coordination with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor. Within the scope of the program, first of all the employees of accommodation facilities, restaurants, tour guides, travel agencies who is registered under the ‘Safe Tourism Certification Program’ will be vaccinated. In collaboration with The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and The Ministry of Health recently launched a platform where tourism facilities can register their employees for vaccination. The platform covers all key players of the tourism industry within the Safe Tourism Certification Program including the accommodation facilities, dining facilities, tour and transfer vehicles and tour guides. Official representatives of touristic facilities will be able to register their current employees. As part of continuing effort to fight against COVID-19 and further enhance …

Qatar Airways is proud to become the first airline in the Middle East to begin trials of the innovative new IATA Travel Pass ‘Digital Passport’ mobile app, in partnership with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Qatar Ministry of Public Health, Primary Health Care Corporation and Hamad Medical Corporation, starting 11 March 2021. Passengers on the award-winning airline’s Doha to Istanbul route will become the first group to experience the ‘Digital Passport’ app which aims to play an important role in the airline’s vision to have a more contactless, secure and seamless travel experience for its passengers. IATA Travel Pass ensures passengers receive up-to-date information on COVID-19 health regulations at their destination country, as well as complying with strict global data privacy regulations to enable the sharing of COVID-19 test results with airlines to verify they are eligible to undertake their journey. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency, Akbar Al Baker, said: “As the world’s leading airline for safety, innovation and customer experience, we are the industry’s firmest advocate for introducing digital solutions to help passengers safely and seamlessly navigate complex and ever-changing entry restrictions across the globe. “We have confidence in the credibility of the IATA Travel Pass as the industry’s most reliable and innovative solution given its strong data privacy compliance, long-standing entry rules engine and ability to provide an end-to-end solution. We are proud to be at the forefront of trialling this platform, being one of the first globally and the first airline in the Middle East to trial the technology. “With the strictest data privacy regulations, IATA Travel Pass is a huge step towards proving that ICAO’s global standards for digital passports do work. It …

The IATO members today have voted a new team to power for term 2021-23 during the election process conducted physically in New Delhi. Rajiv Mehra, Uday Tours & Travels has been elected as the new President while EM Najeeb, Air Travel Enterprises was voted again as the Senior Vice President of the association. Ravi Gosain, Erco Travels, is the new Vice President. Rajnish Kaistha,  Paradise Holidays India has been elected as the Honorary Secretary while Sunil Mishra, Cosmos Tours & Travels is the new Treasurer. Sanjay Razdan, Razdan Holidays will be the new Joint Secretary of the association. The voting was also conducted for the positions of  Executive Members in both active and allied category. A total of 322 votes were casted out of 352. The new EC Members are: Active: Deepak Bhatnagar, Aamantran Travel Company Manoj K Matta, Oriental Vacations & Journeys Harish Mathur, Concord Travels & Tours Tony Marwah, Indian Travels Promotion Company Vishal Yadav, Incredible Destination Management Service Allied:  P Vijayasarathy, Benchmark Hotels Zia Siddiqui, Alliancec Hotels & Resorts Ashok Dhoot, Harsh Travels The returning officer for the election was Homa Mistry of Trail Blazer Tours India.

FHRAI has written to the Finance Minister requesting to enhance the threshold limit for zero GST for hotel room tariffs from the present Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per room per day. As per the association, the move will boost stays in the lower budget segment, which in turn will encourage more domestic travellers to venture out.

The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts has unveiled The Leela Palace Jaipur which is its 1st hotel in the Capital city and 3rd overall in Rajasthan. The hotel has been branded after extensive refurbishment and enhancements both in the product as well as service offerings.

With the India v/s England third Test Match series starting from February 24, the last date to enter the VisitBritain Cricket Carnival tournament is today. Vishal Bhatia, Country Manager – India, VisitBritain, therefore urges the travel trade to sign up today and stand to win prizes every week. “Form your ‘Dream Teams’ on the ‘Dream11’ app and participate in the tournament now!”

Travel Spirit International (TSI) has launched a new travel portal, www.TravelSpell.com which is solely focussed on promoting domestic tourism, by providing the local Indian tourist with a wide array of carefully crafted experiential journeys across the Indian subcontinent. The platform is powered by TSI and has already partnered with esteemed brands like Taj Hotels, Oberoi Group, ITC, and Rare India.

Sharing his goals, if elected as the President of IATO, Lally Mathews, representing Team for Change said IATO should have representation from different regions & states in the decision making the process of the EC. “If elected, the priority would be to amend the constitution for inclusive participation of regional chapters. We need to empower regions and make them part of the decision-making process,” he said.

The TOFTigers Travel Knowledge Series has completed 4 of its 10 enthralling sessions on travel skills, new wildlife destinations and sustainable operations. Leading experts including wildlife biologist, Wildlife Conservation Trust, wildlife Safari promoters, wildlife travel company and hoteliers shared their expertise on tourism, sustainability, marketing and lodging best practice to help others. Watch their talks on https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ1vx0BUd27PWLj5plXwaSw

TAAI has announced that it will conduct its Tourism Conclave this year at the Statue Of Unity in Kevadia, Gujarat from March 9 to March 12, 2021. It is being organised in association with Gujarat Tourism. TAAI will announce more details about the event such as focus, speakers and theme soon. The venue had recently hosted the ADTOI annual convention.