Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

Sharing some details on member engagement, Pradip Lulla, Acting President and VP, TAFI, says, “Since a regular convention is not possible this year, we will conduct a virtual one in October or November 2020. We are in talks with technology partners and sponsors for this.” Hearing on TAFI’s sole petition filed in the SC against MoCA and DGCA is now on July 20.

Starting August, Alitalia will increase the number of flights, and will operate a total of over 1,600 flights per week, 24% more than in July and more than double compared to those operated in June. Alitalia aircraft will fly on 75 routes (24 more than July) and 52 airports (16 more than in the previous month), of which 20 in Italy and 32 abroad. Seats offered in August will return to exceed one million per month, with a growth by 29% compared to July. Despite the significant growth of operations compared to the previous two months, Alitalia will increase its activity in August at around 45% of what was planned before the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Alitalia flight schedule will see in August, on the long-haul sector, the beginning of the Rome-Tokyo Haneda route (from 17 August), the resume of the Milan Malpensa-New York service (from 15 August) and the increase of flights between Rome and New York. On the medium-haul international network, Alitalia will increase the number of destinations served in Spain, France and North Africa and will resume services to and from the Middle East, as well as increasing the number of flights to airports already served abroad; in addition, the Airline will launch many seasonal services to the Balearic Islands and to the Greek Islands (both from Rome and Milan). For the domestic sector, Alitalia will increase air services between Northern and Southern Italy. Furthermore, beginning on 24 July Alitalia will resume operations to and from Milan Linate airport where the Airline will operate, in a first stage, only the PSO routes to and from Sardinia. Starting from 1 August, the Airline will operate to …

In view of the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, the domestic airlines are operating at a lower capacity – total 21,696 departures in June 2020, as against 86,456 departures in June 2019, resulting in a 74.9% YoY reduction in capacity deployment, reveals ICRA. For June 2020, the domestic passenger traffic was 19.5 lakh, as against 119.9 lakh in June 2019, a YoY de-growth of 83.7%. For May 2020 (25th to 31st), the domestic passenger traffic was 2.6 lakh, as against 115.6 lakh in May 2019, resulting in a YoY de-growth of 97.7%.

PATA India Chapter is all set to conduct its next informative webinar ‘Tourism the economic PowerHouse in an evolving landscape’ will have international speakers –Dr. Mario Hardy, CEO, PATA and Olivier Ponti, VP Insights, ForwardKeys. The webinar is aimed at offering a global perspective on the evolution of tourism policy being adopted by various countries, as well as, an analytical view on the reorganisation of global tourism with focus on India & South Asia, Emerging Trends, future opportunities, the new normal business practices and source markets efforts to inspire travellers’ confidence. The webinar promises to be engaging, educational and practical from the perspective of travel professionals and tourism industry stakeholders.

Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Government of India, said that his department is willing to look at single-window clearances for the hotel industry. He was addressing the hotelier and restaurant community across India via a live webinar conducted by the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI). “Yes, we will look at single-window clearances for licenses and simple online approvals. This can also take care of bureaucracy and corruption,” he said. The minister also responded well to the request for curbing illegal, unlicensed accommodation units in the country, especially those that are listed on OTAs. He said, “We will get this legally examined. There must be an element of registration or licensing that should be brought in for record-keeping purposes. Otherwise there is a risk of health and security. We must examine the legal implications.” The FHRAI team will now draw up specific and substantial ideas and revert to the minister.

International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released a letter to national associations that states that agencies will receive only 8% of the total refunds from Jet Airways. The letter states, “Unfortunately, the balance of the Security Deposit held by IATA (after settling 100% of all refunds up to the date of suspension) was not sufficient to cover all the remaining refunds that have been approved by Jet Airways in the post-suspension refund process. Therefore, IATA will have to pro-rate the total refund against the net remaining balance withheld, which means that your agency will receive approximately 8% of the total refunds approved by the airline.” This will be automatically included in their billing. Refunds that have been rejected by the airline will not be processed.

Meenakshi Sharma, Director General, Ministry of Tourism, has said that they have joined hands with the Quality Council of India (QCI), which is coming out with a certification based on a simple assessment and a small questionnaire to support and handhold all service providers in the tourism industry, from the smallest to the biggest. “We can say that if you have this certification, there is a high level of assurance, and it can create confidence. We are hoping that all the state governments and industry will support this initiative because that will create more confidence in the travellers and there will be one single voice saying that India is ready to receive customers,” she informed.

Sanjay Kumar, Chief Strategy & Revenue Officer, IndiGo, has said that all the states shall offer similar rules and regulations for travellers coming in or going out to improve demand. Speaking at the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry webinar, he said, “The level of confidence is coming back to the public with increased operations. We are seeing slower growth because of the inconsistency of the state governments at various levels, including different rules and regulations in different markets, which is keeping customers away. If all state governments offer similar rules and regulations for travellers coming in or going out, I think we will see an improved situation going forward. It will take another 2-3 weeks before we start to see all the state governments getting aligned to a common working protocol, which will push the demand.”

Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (I/C), Prahlad Singh Patel, in a recent virtual conversation said that there will be no need to wait longer for permission to shoot films in any of the monuments of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Patel said that filmmakers will get permission of shooting within 3 weeks after applying online on the ASI website. He further said that this announcement will not only promote the shooting of films in India, but will also increase the popularity of Indian monuments.

The Gujarat government has decided to map Statue of Unity Tent City 1 as a wedding venue. Bookings for weddings are now open available Rs 2.5 lakh per package of 50 people. According to reports, the wedding venue has two Presidential Cottages and 60 tents. The single-night offer includes all vegetarian meals, from lunch to breakfast the next morning, welcome drinks, mocktails and starters at the wedding ceremony. There will also be 17 rooms with triple occupancy, and a Royal Cottage for the newlyweds. Apart from providing a seating arrangement for 50 people, a wedding cake and jaimala will be among other things that will be included in the wedding package. Authorities have stated that the picturesque location, with an open-to-sky setting and the Narmada Dam in its backdrop, makes for an amazing location for a destination wedding.