Kazin Travel Consultants has forayed into education by launching ‘Kazin Edu’ in association with ISM EduTech that owns and operates universities in Almaty, Tbilisi, Dushanbe and Bridgetown, Barbados. “Kazin will appoint channel partners to enrol students, and hopes to empower agents with the new vertical,” says Rohit Shorey, Founder Director, Kazin Travel Consultants.

An Amadeus consumer research conducted with 6000 travellers across India, Singapore, France, Germany, UK & US found that technology plays a crucial role in supporting recovery as 4 in 5 (84%) travellers said the technology would increase their confidence to travel in the next 12 months.

In its pre-budget recommendations, FAITH demanded that industry status is required for hotels and tourism across all states and export status critical to double India’s share of inbound tourism.

Travel has considerably evolved this year with numerous trends emerging. Secluded getaways are the order of the day right now, as travellers wish to leave the hustle-bustle of the city life behind in search of remote retreats. Even though quarantine couples have been busy with their Zoom weddings and intimate family wedding affairs, their much-awaited honeymoons got pushed back. However, honeymoon is a special time to celebrate love. With restricted international travel, we at Yatra.com have witnessed uptick in demand for domestic honeymoon destinations as destinations in India do make for an unforgettable honeymooning experience.   Luxury & Eco Resorts: Luxury & eco-resorts which provide a secluded and isolated experience with stringent safety and sanitization processes have seen a pickup in demand with couples opting for various packages and activities The Minimoon or Micro honeymoon: Consumers are looking for a mini-break-honeymoon-hybrid this year. Many couples want to take a short break instead of rushing off for a two-week honeymoon. It could even be a couple of nights staying at a fancy hotel and spa. This allows for the option to re-coop, save and plan for a dream honeymoon later Eco-Conscious Honeymoons: Like sustainable tourism, there is a growing popularity of eco-moons as more and more couples are prioritizing sustainability. Newlyweds are opting for ways to be less wasteful and more environmentally conscious when it comes to their honeymoon Some of the destinations (packages) from metro cities which are witnessing surge in queries are mentioned below: S.No Destination Package Package Price (INR) 1 Kerala Honeymoon Special Munnar & Alleppey 12,999 2 Himachal Pradesh Honeymoon Special Shimla & Kasauli Ex Chandigarh 12,999 3 South India Splendid Mysore & Ooty Honeymoon Special 15,999 4 Andaman Amazing Andaman Honeymoon Special 32,999 …

Madan Prasad Bezbaruah, Secretary-General, Hotel Association of India (HAI), has said in a statement that Government should immediately open online applications for hotels to claim the benefits under SEIS for FY 2019-20. “We appeal to the Government of India to make the online application process available to hotels. These benefits are offered to hoteliers as a fixed percentage of their annual net foreign exchange earnings. The incentive enables hotels to subside input costs of imports and facilitates Indian hospitality to match global standards of hotels that a foreign tourist is accustomed to.  Given the hardship that hotels are going through since March, this delay may prove to be a crippling injury to an industry that is struggling with a force majeure scenario. The request to allow the hotels to avail the SEIS benefits that have already accrued to them for the year 2019-20 is fair and legitimate and should be acceded to. It is not a concession,” he said. HAI has urged the government to look into the matter urgently and has submitted a representation to Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) to this effect. They claim that the process will go a long way in providing some relief to the hospitality sector which has been heavily burdened with high fixed costs of salaries, utilities, and licenses, etc.

The 2-day virtual roadshow organised by The Tourism Office of Spain in India will have regional tourism boards, hotels and DMCs from Spain who will focus on restarting tourism into Spain from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. Elisa Robles-Fraga, its Director, says, “We are organising our annual show virtually for the very first time.”  

The Goa government is drawing up a new standard operating procedure (SOP) for hotels amid the ongoing tourist season. “We are in the process of issuing guidelines for hotels, which will make it mandatory for them to reserve one room as an isolation room on their property,” said CM Pramod Sawat. Any guest who tests positive for COVID-19, but is asymptomatic, can be put up in the isolation room on hotel premises.  

Keeping the new demands of travellers in mind, Tourism Ireland India’s recent webinar focussed on hotels, attractions and COVID safety measures. Huzan Fraser Motivala, its India Representative, says, “Self-drive tours will be popular and one of the best ways to experience Ireland is through self-drive.Indian visitors will definitely increase in 2021-2022.”

The Madhya Pradesh government has reconstituted its tourism cabinet, which will be headed by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan while the principal secretary of the tourism department will be the secretary in-charge of the cabinet committee. The panel will focus on promoting tourism in the state by developing infrastructure to generate employment in the sector.

Sharing an update on the association’s convention that it had planned to conduct virtually, Pradip Lulla, Acting President & VP, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI), says, “We were planning to conduct our virtual convention in November 2020. However, we realise that people do not enjoy attending virtual events, especially when there is high possibility of technical glitches during the event. We will revisit our convention next year.”