Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Arvind Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, said that he has written to Commerce Secretary as well as Revenue Secretary to release 2019-20 SEIS payments on priority. “I also spoke to Principal Advisor in the Ministry of Finance for the same,” he added. Inbound tour operators in the country have been pleading the government to clear their SEIS dues for a long time.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State, Tourism & Culture, launched Confederation of Hospitality, Technology & Tourism Industry (CHATT), and called it a revolutionary movement in tourism sector. The event was also graced by Arvind Singh, Secretary, MOT; Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, MOT; and Rakesh Verma, Joint Secretary, MOT. Speaking at the event, Patel also shared that they have sent 9 memorandums to UNESCO.

VFS in India has started accepting visa applications for Croatia for categories including tourist, student, work permit and immediate family member. Applicants should have Negetive RT-PCR test report not older than 48 hours at the movement of entry in Croatia and they should be in self-isolation for 14 days. The cost of RT-PCR test should be brone by the travellers.

Owing to Covid 19 restrictions on international commercial flights, the government has extended visa validity of foreigners stuck in India since March last year to August 31, 2021. Earlier, these foreigners had to get their visa extended every month. These foreign nationals will not be required to submit any application to the FRRO/FRO concerned for extension of their visas.

Malaysia Airlines has announced that it will operate limited service with 85% reduction across its network during the Movement Control Order (MCO) from 1 to 14 June 2021. However, it will continue to facilitate essential domestic and international travels as well as cargo movement. Also, the carrier extended its rebooking travel flexibility, offering customers longer ticket validity until 31 December 2022 with a one-time fare difference and service fee waiver. Eligible customers can now rebook their travels on or before 30 June 2022 for travel to be completed by 31 December 2022. Malaysia Airlines previously offered customers the flexibility to rebook their travels on or before 30 June 2021 for travel to be completed by 31 December 2021. Customers may refer to the airline’ travel advisory available on its official website for more information. Captain Izham Ismail, Group Chief Executive Officer, Malaysia Aviation Group, said: “The recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Malaysia has moved us to prioritise further the safety and health of our passengers and employees. With customers being the centre of gravity, we hope the extended travel rebooking flexibility regardless of the class fare will provide the certainty and peace of mind that their tickets remain eligible for future travel with us. As national carrier, we continue to play our role in ensuring accessibility for Malaysia together with Firefly and MASwings, via limited commercial and charter services even since MCO 1.0. From April 2020, we have successfully deployed over 350 rescue and repatriation flights utilising Malaysia Airlines’ A380, A350, A330 and B737 aircraft whilst MABkargo operated more than 1,600 passenger-to-cargo (P2C) flights since March 2020, carrying over 30,000 tonnes of relief items on its global freighter network …

Representative heads of six travel trade associations from Gujarat met the State Tourism Minister Jawahar Chavda on June 8 to urge for support to the trade for survival and revival in these challenging times. The six associations include the state chapters of TAAI, TAFI, IATO, ADTOI and Global Travel Agent Association (GTAA) as well as state-specific trade association of Tour Operators & Travel Agents Association of Gujarat (TAG). The minister heard the delegation out and has promised to look into the issue.  

Members at a recent educational seminar conducted by Indiatourism Mumbai that was attended by more than 50 participants, requested to re-open e-visas for foreign tourists. NS Rathor, Chairman (Western Region), IATO, says, “Since international travellers start planning six months in advance, this would be the tight time to open up e-visas which would allow them to plan for the upcoming tourist season. It is important that our next steps are planned so that inbound tourism can open up smoothly and safely.”

To showcase the seriousness of the situation, the team at FHRAI visited New Delhi yesterday to meet Tourism Minister Prahlad Patel and Tourism Secretary Arvind Singh in person. Pradeep Shetty, Sr. Vice President, HRAWI, said, “We need urgent intervention and the MoT to back us. We have also been directly co-ordinating with the Finance Ministry and we have a meeting lined up with the MSME Ministry as well. We expect another 10-15% of hotels will not be able to open up after the second lockdown.”  

The Government of Gujarat has taken a decision to waive off property tax of hotels, resorts, restaurants and water parks for the period of 1 April, 2021 to 31 March, 2022. In addition to this the government has also decided to give waiver of fix charge in electricity bills to hotels, restaurants, resorts and water parks. The government has decided to levy electricity bill only on actual use of electricity. The decision was taken in a core committee meeting chaired by CM Vijay Rupani.

In its latest CAPA Advisory India Airline Outlook FY2022, the CAPA – Centre for Aviation has said that the industry is standing on the edge of a cliff. This is true even for airlines with access to large pools of capital. It said, ‘If we are to achieve the Honourable PM’s vision of affordable connectivity as a critical enabler of economic transformation, the viability of the airline sector must receive the highest level of attention and support from the Ministry of Civil Aviation’.