Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

The Maharashtra Cabinet approved ease of doing business policy by bringing down the number of licenses required to start a venture in the hospitality sector from 70 to 10. HRAWI said, “Due to the continued efforts and liaisoning of Hrawi this is possible and is finally a dream come true. State Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray said in a tweet, ‘This was long overdue.’ He added that his dept is setting up a single-window system for one online application for permissions to facilitate faster approvals.

Saudi Arabia will be extending its e-visa facilities for Indian tourists soon, revealed Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO, Saudi Tourism Authority (STA). Hamidaddin said that Saudi is home for nearly 5 million Indians, and the proposed e-visa facility will help in unlocking the huge potential that exists for Visit Friends & Relatives (VFR) from India to Saudi Arabia. “You can expect the good news soon,” he said. The STA CEO has said that the eVisa has proved to be quite successful for Saudi Arabia and around 5 lakh travellers have used the facility since its introduction to visit the country.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture, will be having a virtual interaction with state/UT tourism ministers on October 15 and 16. The aim behind these meetings is to discuss post-COVID protocols and put plans in motion to ensure that the tourism sector opens up with safety measures in place. The Minister will be interacting with tourism ministers of the northern and western states and Union territories on October 15 and those of the southern, eastern and north-eastern states on October 16. These meetings will be in line with the meetings held with the tourism stakeholders in the last two months.

FAITH organised the India Tourism Vision Day, which saw the Presidents of 10 member associations of FAITH discussing the way forward. In his address, Nakul Anand, Chairman, FAITH, said, “Like the way GST council is structured, Indian tourism needs to be structured through a constitutionally empowered legislative body-A national tourism council headed by our Honourable Prime Minister along with the presence of all chief ministers.” Also, he shared that a tourism Covid 19 Fund should be set up by the MOT where interest free funds are given to support the employees and the operating costs of tourism companies.

Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation, has said that domestic airlines may soon increase their capacity to 75 per cent and it may reach more than pre-COVID levels in the first quarter of 2021. “I had earlier said that pre-COVID domestic numbers will be achieved between Diwali and New Year. Now I am confident that by the first quarter next year, we will be able to surpass the pre-COVID number,” the civil aviation minister said. Currently, the capacity is around 65%.

In a tweet directed at some of the Indian airlines as well as MoCA and the DGCA, TAFI said that it is the duty of MoCA and DGCA India under the leadership of Hardeep S Puri to ensure that the Supreme Court orders for refund of tickets are followed by all airlines. This would amount to contempt of court if not followed. We request the DGCAIndia and MoCA to intervene to ensure rightful credit.

Chanchal Patel, Proprietor of Sewa Enterprises in Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh, is among the many winners of this contest. He says, “Tripjack is the first B2B travel portal that has conducted this wonderful contest. I’m really enjoying this. I have been associated with them for many years now. They have very competitive rates for flights and hotels.” Top winners every week also get Jalesh cruise package, air tickets and hotels stays. Visit tripjack.com now!

With easing of restrictions across the country, 60% respondents say they will plan a trip domestically within the next 6 months, according to a report titled ‘Consumer Sentiment Index Report’ by InterMiles. Only 20% said they were wary of travelling within India, with 14% saying they would not cross domestic borders without a vaccine, and a meagre 6% said they do not currently have travel on their mind. It is based on responses from more than 7,500 InterMilers in India between June-end and August-end.

Teleporters Travel Solution, a new offering by Gurinder Bawa and Neeraj Sarna as Managing Partners, is set to be officially launched on October 17. Rajan Sehgal is Advisor for this venture, which focuses on engaging travel professionals across the country, both for sales and operations, to be able to use the resources, inventory and booking option on Teleporters and share revenue as per the business they generate. The platform allows people who are out of business or jobs to earn money.

IATO’s has initiates an all-India campaign ‘Save Tourism’ under the umbrella of FAITH whereby it has requested members to write postcards or inland letters to the Prime Minister of India immediately with messages about saving the tourism industry and its work force.