Sri Lanka’s Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga has informed the Energy Ministry to prioritise the tourism sector when distributing gas and fuel as the country faced a shortage in both commodities due to a foreign exchange crisis, an official said. An official from the Tourism Ministry told Xinhua news agency that Ranatunga held discussions with the Energy Minister last week so that the tourism sector could continue operations without any setbacks. During discussions, Ranatunga pointed out that it was in the national interest to provide assistance to the tourism industry as the sector was one of the largest foreign exchange earners.…
Author: Disha Ghosh
The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) supports re-launch of The German National Tourist Board (GNTB) is supporting the re-launch of the inspirational campaign German.Local.Culture. Restart in incoming tourism. Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer (CEO): “After two years of the Corona pandemic and against the backdrop of the terrible war in Ukraine, the tourism industry is facing major challenges. In this situation, it is important to send out a signal for peaceful tourism that brings people together and stands for openness to the world and tolerance. The campaign German.Local.Culture. convey exactly this peaceful coexistence of generations, traditions, and different cultural influences.…
Singapore Airlines (SIA) has resumed services of Airbus 380 Superjumbo from Mumbai. The superjumbo aircraft landed in Mumbai at 21:20 hours on Monday, March 14, 2022, after a two-year break in services, the airline said. SIA said that the A380 replaced the Airbus A350-900 on the SQ 424/423 Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) services between Mumbai and Singapore. The international carrier said that all passengers travelling to Singapore on the A380 inaugural flight SQ 423 were welcomed back on board with chocolates and personalised cards. The boarding was commenced with a special ribbon-cutting ceremony, it said. SIA’s A380 features 471 seats…
Ronojoy Dutta, CEO of IndiGo has said the need to bring Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) under GST was “now more than ever”, reports The Hindu. ATF was increased by INR 17,135.63 per kl, or 18.3%, to INR 1,10,666.29 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification by State-owned fuel retailers. The fuel’s cost has increased every fortnight since the start of 2022 and Wednesday’s was the sixth straight increase this year raising the cost by 50% over this time period. “This situation adversely impacts us, given that ATF constitutes over 45% of our operational costs. We have…
Oil marketing companies on Wednesday sharply raised prices of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to record high of over INR 1 lakh per kilolitre (kl). In a first, ATF prices were hiked by a steep 18.3% to INR 1,10,666.29 per kl in the national capital. In Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, jet fuel is priced at INR 1.14 lakh, INR 1.09 lakh, and INR 1.14 lakh per kilolitre, respectively. Prices are revised every fortnight. Jet fuel prices comprise 30-40% of the cost of running an airline in India and an increase in prices will hurt profit margins of airlines which have reported…
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday restored all valid five-year e-tourist visas of issued to nationals of 156 countries and suspended since March 2020 with immediate effect, news agency ANI reported. Nationals of these countries will also be eligible for issuance of fresh e-visas for tourists as per existing rules. The government also said it would similarly restore valid regular (paper) long-duration (10 years) tourist visas for US and Japanese nationals, as well as permit issue of fresh visas to citizens of both countries. “The government took the step keeping in view the improvement in the Covid-19 situation in…
The Republic of Mauritius has done away with the requirement for all incoming visitors to present a negative PCR test before being allowed entry, reports Travel Daily International. Previously, fully vaccinated passengers had to present a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours before departure. The Ministry of Health and Wellness has dropped this requirement as from 12 March 2022. This move will make it much easier for business and leisure travellers to visit this Indian Ocean Island and is being warmly welcomed by the travel and hospitality industry in Mauritius. Demand from tourists and business travellers has soared following…
ixigo, through its AbhiBus brand, has entered into a master service agreement with Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) to set-up, design, configure and maintain a ‘Unified Ticketing Solution’ (UTS) on the Cloud Platform of APSRTC. The comprehensive ticket booking system will aid APSRTC to bring all aspects of ticketing, reservation, tracking, and complaints about its intra-city and inter-city buses under one umbrella for greater commuter convenience. The new UTS will include unified cashless payments, advance online ticket booking, online bus passes, online courier and parcel booking, a live bus tracking and passenger information system and a central command…
Vietnam on Tuesday fully reopened its borders for international tourists, reports Xinhua. At a press briefing held Tuesday, Nguyen Trung Khanh, Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said foreign nationals can now enter Vietnam by air, land and sea through all border gates as long as they meet the COVID-19 prevention and control requirements, Vietnam News Agency reported. Prior to this policy, foreign tourists could only travel to Vietnam by air after booking a tour package with a designated travel agency under a vaccine passport programme. Despite being offered a quarantine waiver, foreign tourists were restricted to…
Ed Bastian, Chief Executive, Delta Air Lines, has said that the third-largest US carrier would add a fuel surcharge to international flights “as the market conditions permit”, reports The Financial Express. Higher fuel costs “will no question” raise ticket prices, both domestically and internationally, he said. His comments come after jet fuel prices rose sharply after Russia invaded Ukraine last month. While it has partially receded, jet fuel remains about two-thirds higher than a year ago. Glen Hauenstein, Delta President, said at an industry conference earlier on Tuesday that the airline needs “to recapture somewhere between USD 15 and USD…
