Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Switzerland Tourism will conduct a webinar on Friday, 24th September 2021, focusing on Jungfrau Railways. Jungfrau Railways provides travellers with access to popular excursions such as Jungfraujoch – Top of Europe, Grindelwald-First – Top of Adventure, Harder Kulm – Top of Interlaken and Schynige Platte – Top of Swiss Tradition. The brand new Eiger Express tricable gondola further enhances the travel experience and enables visitors to ascend up to Jungfraujoch, 47 minutes faster! The webinar provides the latest information, news and updates from Jungfrau Railways. To register, contact jaspreet.kaur@ddppl.com or 9650196532.

UK and USA have given a nod for Covishield to be accepted as approved vaccine for inbound travellers. Under new guidelines, UK Govt has accepted a full course of the Oxford/AstraZeneca (all formulations including AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria) , Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna (including Moderna Takeda) or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in some countries. USA too will reopen in November to fully vaccinated air passengers (including Indians) who are fully vaccinated against coronavirus. Covishield is the only India-made vaccine that is in the list of approved vaccines, as of now.

The wait is finally over. South African Airways (SAA) is set to return to the skies on September 23. The South African national carrier will resume flights after 16 months of being grounded due to viability challenges, in spite of repeated government bailouts and implementation of business rescue plan. Resumption of flights comes three months after the government conceded part of its airline stake to Takatso Consortium, who are now the majority shareholders with a 51 percent stake.

As per a recent survey conducted by MakeMyTrip, more than 85% of Indian travellers are keen on flying to international leisure destinations. More than 65% of them are actively searching for flights and hotels in some of the most preferred international leisure destinations like Dubai (36%), Maldives (33%) and Switzerland (22%), that are high on the consideration list. Overall, amongst the surveyed, 43% travelers are keen on unwinding in the idyllic beaches of Thailand and Bali; 39% wish to go island hopping in Maldives and Mauritius; 37% hope to indulge in soul-satisfying Mediterranean experiences in Turkey, Greece, Italy, and Egypt; 33% are eager to explore the contemporary and architectural marvels in Paris and London, and 25% are dreaming of scintillating Switzerland.

Kovalam in Kerala and Eden in Puducherry to receive Blue Flag certification, which is a globally recognised eco-label accorded on the basis of 33 stringent criteria in four major heads which are environmental education and information, bathing water quality, environmental management, and conservation and safety and services in the beaches. India now has 10 International Blue Flag beaches with the addition of Kovalam & Eden beaches this year and recertification for 8 beaches which got the tag in 2020.

UK has given a nod for Covishield being accepted as approved vaccine for inbound travellers to the country. Under a new set of guidelines, UK Govt has accepted a full course of the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in some countries. “Formulations of the 4 listed vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, qualify as approved vaccines,” it said. The guideline says, “From 4am Monday 4 October, you will qualify as fully vaccinated if you are vaccinated either under an approved vaccination programme in the UK, Europe, USA or UK vaccine programme overseas or with a full course of the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan or the United Arab Emirates (UAE). You must have had a complete course of an approved vaccine at least 14 days before you arrive in England.”

The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) has become the first Indian hospitality association to be awarded both the ISO 9001:2015 as well as the ISO 27001:2013 certifications. Sherry Bhatia, President, HRAWI, says, “This accreditation is assurance that we have robust, clearly-defined procedures in place across all areas including handling of documents and data, strong business continuity processes, back-up plan, risk analysis and mitigation (Risk Management), communications security, office security, incident management, compliance and monitoring. To maintain the validity of the certification, HRAWI will perform regular audits to ensure compliance and identify areas of improvement.”

IndiGo recently conducted a familiarisation tour for top 10 agents of Indore to Gwalior to help the trade promote Gwalior as a new tourist destination. Also part of the group was TK Jose, TAFI Chairman (MP Chapter). They stayed at the Neemrana Heritage hotel.

Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has submitted a representation to the Home Minister, Ministry of Home Affairs –Amit Shah requesting his urgent intervention in implementing the judgement passed by the Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) for the State of Goa and Union Territories with respect to charging of electricity tariff at industrial rates for hotels in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Radisson Hotel Group is proud to achieve a milestone of 100 operating hotels in India with the opening of Radisson Bhopal. It plans to open 14 new hotels in 2021 and more than 60 hotels in the next five years. “This is indeed a nostalgic point in our journey of over two decades. Since inception in the 1990s, Radisson Hotel Group has charted out a success story and played a significant role in transforming the Indian hospitality industry. I am truly grateful to our guests, owners, employees and the extended hospitality industry for their tremendous support to help us reach this milestone,” said KB Kachru, Chairman Emeritus and Principal Advisor, Radisson Hotel Group, South Asia.