Category Archives: Breaking News (All Categories)

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has come up with a draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for commercial flights as preparations are underway to start domestic air travel in India. The ministry said that passengers might have to fill a detailed questionnaire, carry no cabin baggage and use Aarogya Setu app mandatorily. Passengers might also have to reach the airports at least two hours before departure, according to the ministry’s suggestions. The draft does not address the issue of keeping the middle seat vacant. The final SOPs are yet to be issued by the ministry. Till now, the suggestions have been sought on a draft discussion paper from airlines and airports. The draft SOP proposes that passengers would need a green status on Aarogya Setu app and would have to do web check-in as well as undergo temperature checks. A questionnaire to be circulated to the passenger and filled up by them in advance about their past history related to COVID-19 and quarantine, if any, in the last one month. Any passenger who has undergone quarantine in the last one month to be sent for security at the isolated security check unit only. The ministry has also suggested airlines maintain the same set of cabin and cockpit crew in the roster for as long as possible to prevent cross-contamination. Further, the ministry has suggested that passengers denied travel due to high temperature or age should be permitted to change their date of travel without penalty and airlines would have to maintain their records. Airports should have an isolation zone in the terminal building. State governments should provide requisite help with medical infrastructure if the airport does not have an APHO …

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Speaking at one of the sessions of the of the virtual conference, Hospitality Tomorrow, Puneet Chhatwal, MD and CEO IHCL said, “Among the segments that will come back first, I think opportunistic business is going to be key like repatriates, which we did not even know where it came from, we did not even realize that it could be a new market. Secondly people will take domestic trips, within driving distance to begin with, then some corporate demand will come up once the airports start functioning, as well as railways and highways. Step by step business demand will resume, maybe not at the same pace. Maybe some people will take vacations within the same city for an extended weekend. Since people are fed up of being inside their houses. ”

The British Prime Minister and President Macron have stressed the need for close bilateral, European and international cooperation in the fight against Covid-19. No quarantine measures would apply to travellers coming from France to the UK at this stage; any measures on either side would be taken in a concerted and reciprocal manner. The leaders spoke about the need to manage the risk of new transmissions arising from abroad, as the rate of coronavirus decreases domestically. In this regard, the Prime Minister and the President agreed to work together in taking forward appropriate border measures. This cooperation is particularly necessary for the management of our common border. A working group between the two governments will be set up to ensure this consultation throughout the coming weeks.

After the overwhelming response for the first and second editions of its Digital Conclave, TravTalk is all set to bring the third edition of the online conference on May 15 from 10 am to 1:30 pm, which would discuss pertinent issues in the industry at the time of COVID-19 crisis. There will be 3 sessions of 1 hour each and will see experts from different segments of travel, deliberating on the way forward. The panelists for first session, titled ‘The Reality of NO tourism!’ will be Rajiv Mehra from IATO, Bharat Atree from Caper Travel Company, and Debjit Dutta from Impression Tourism Services. Second session, titled ‘Hotels in the age of social distancing. Where are the robots?’ will have Mandeep Lamba from HVS ANAROCK, Dilip Puri from Indian School of Hospitality and Jatin Khanna from Marriot Hotels. For the third session, titled ‘Big ticket business! When do we start looking at weddings, corporate and M!CE travel?’, the panelists include Rajeev Jain from Rashi Entertainment, Rajdev Bhattacharya from Wipro Limited, and Rajeev Kale from Thomas Cook India.

Opening the second session titled ‘Where is the money? Selling domestic luxury’ in the second series of the Digital Conclave spearheaded by TravTalk, was Arjun Sharma, Chairman, Select Group, who believes that there is a great scope and need to develop tourist circuits on specific themes to attract the tourists having special interest in visiting such places. “Why is it that the circuits or packages available for the inbound tourists are not available for the Indian domestic traveller? There is a need to bring our circuits back to the forefront. Domestic tourism should not be positioned just as a weekend package. We should make it a five or six-day package, whether it is religious, wildlife, or experiential in nature. We need to mix and match, add standalone hotels in the itinerary. Trust me, we don’t have to fear the online giants. We have to work with them,” he says. In fact, the Government of India, Ministry of Tourism had launched the Swadesh Darshan Scheme for integrated development of theme based tourist circuits in the country in 2014-15.

Subhash Goyal, Secretary General, FAITH, has said that there hasn’t been much happening from the Government’s side to help the industry to revive it from the impact of COVID-19 crisis, unlike other countries. “We have asked the Governments since the beginning that either give us a bail-out package, or at least give 50% salary of employees of MOT recognised operators/agents after getting the list of their employees and respective salaries from them, which is already mentioned in the balance sheet. This needs to be done if the Government wants to save the industry,” he said.

After the overwhelming response for the first and second editions of its Digital Conclave, TravTalk is all set to bring the third edition of the online conference on May 15 from 10 am to 1:30 pm, which would discuss pertinent issues in the industry at the time of COVID-19 crisis. There will be 3 sessions of 1 hour each and will see experts from different segments of travel, deliberating on the way forward. The panelists for first session, titled ‘The Reality of NO tourism!’ will be Rajiv Mehra from IATO, Bharat Atree from Caper Travel Company, and Debjit Dutta from Impression Tourism Services. Second session, titled ‘Hotels in the age of social distancing. Where are the robots?’ will have Mandeep Lamba from HVS ANAROCK, Dilip Puri from Indian School of Hospitality and Jatin Khanna from Marriot Hotels. For the third session, titled ‘Big ticket business! When do we start looking at weddings, corporate and M!CE travel?’, the panelists include Rajeev Jain from Rashi Entertainment, Rajdev Bhattacharya from Wipro Limited, and Rajeev Kale from Thomas Cook India.

India’s hospitality industry has declined sharply in the first quarter of 2020, as the COVID-19 outbreak impacts various segments of the sector. A recent report by JLL states, “Investment action will likely get deferred as the sector rebuilds itself after containment of COVID-19, however, we estimate that more assets may fall in the ring for sale in the latter half of the year.” While 2020 started with a strong deal pipeline estimated at about US$ 1 billion worth of tradeable assets, JLL’s findings reveal that growth and development is likely to slow down in the next two years and projects under development will likely get delayed and raising development finance will also become more challenging.

According to ‘Hotel Sentiment Survey 2020 (Impact of COVID-19)’ by Horwath HTL, demand in the wedding segment is likely to recover to pre-COVID levels once the outbreak is over. The survey was conducted among the industry to understand the depth of the crisis, the mitigating measures applied to limit the fallout and the areas requiring supportive measures. The assessment reveals that while 64 per cent of the respondents had agreed to the wedding segment’s recovery to aforesaid levels, 27 per cent believe that it may be even better than pre-COVID levels. Less than 10 per cent felt that the segment was unlikely to recover to such levels.