Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Vikram Madhok, Managing Director, Abercombie & Kent (India), and Hon. Secretary, PATA India Chapter, has said that if the scheduled flight operations are restarted, then the last quarter of 2022 will see inbound tourism to revive in India. “In fact, 2023 will be a hockey stick revival for Incredible India,” he added.

Nikhil Desai, Managing Director, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), has said that they are working towards repositioning Goa apart from sun, sand and sea. “While Goa is synonymous with sun, sand and sea, we are trying to attract the attention of tourists to various other offerings in Goa including wildlife, nature, MICE, etc.” he said. He also informed that they are seeing a huge rise in social events in the last one year at a number of properties across Goa. 

Malaysia will reopen its border to international visitors from April 1, allowing travellers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to enter the country without quarantine said Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob. Visitors will be required to undergo pre-departure tests (RT-PCR) and upon-arrival tests (RTK-Antigen under professional supervision) 24 hours after arrival.   

The Government of India has decided to resume scheduled commercial international passenger services to/from India from 27th March i.e. start of Summer Schedule 2022. The suspension of scheduled commercial international passenger services to/from India, thus, stands extended only upto 2359 hrs IST on 26.03.2022 and air bubble arrangements shall accordingly be extended to this extent only. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had suspended operations of scheduled international commercial passenger services to/from India with effect from 23rd March 2020.

According to the latest country classification announced by France from 3rd March 2022, India has been moved to the green list of countries. Also, the French Prime Minister announced the suspension of the vaccination pass from 14 March 2022. The French Prime Minister announced the abolition of the mask requirement as of 14th March, with the exception of transport.

During the pandemic, Australian Tourism interacted with the Indian tourism industry through a series of webinars and virtual meetings, strengthening their ties. Also, the Australia Global Summit had the highest participation from the Indian travel industry. Australian tourism reported a doubling of agents’ participation in their Aussie Specialist Agents (ASP) programme in India in 2022 in comparison to 2019.

Costa Cruises will conduct a webinar for the travel trade highlighting new opportunities for them on Tuesday, March 8 at 11:00 hrs IST. The webinar will showcase new sailing itineraries to Europe, Dubai and Singapore, offers, fleet introductions, and Covid safety protocols. They will also get a certificate and a chance to win prizes. To register, contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532. Register directly at https://event.webinarjam.com/register/379/yy8npb8x

The 06th edition of the Bengal Travel Mart, East & North East India’s largest B2B travel show, was held at Mayfair Tea Resort in Siliguri from March 5th to 7th, 22. Gautam Deb, Mayor Siliguri Municipal Corporation was the chief guest. BTM’s aim is to create Siliguri as a hub for the Eastern Himalayas’ inbound domestic market, providing opportunity for buyers and sellers to closely interact on a productive platform.

In a brainstorming session, Tourism Committee of Federation of Telangana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FTCCI) and GMR mulled over ‘Roadmap for Building a Stronger Tourism Product’ with an idea to make Hyderabad, Telangana State and nearby region as a tourism hub. At the meeting senior GMR officials headed by Pradeep Panicker, CEO, shared their views on the way forward.

Referring to the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) Scheme, Pradeep Shetty, Jt. Hon. Sec, FHRAI, says, “The single-most important factor in attracting more international tourists is for India to be in tune with global standards if we want to compete with South East Asia and Sri Lanka. This is in terms of technology, décor, property, maintenance systems, etc. Many things are not manufactured in India. Therefore, the EPCG scheme is of primary importance. But it is understood that the government is looking to scrap this scheme altogether for the hospitality industry. We understand that we are moving towards Atma Nirbhar and Make in India but we cannot do that for hospitality till a time when our manufacturing industry gives us singular products in terms of quality, pricing and technology.”