With an aim to open the villages along the Chinese border for tourists under the Vibrant Village programme, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) held a meeting with public representatives of such villages from a number of states, including Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, the Union Territory of Ladakh, and Arunachal Pradesh, reports TOI. As per the revised Border Areas Development Plan (BADP), there are around 198 villages within the 242 km border of Himachal Pradesh with China. To start with, those villages that are situated within a 10 km distance from the last border village will be taken up on…
Author: Disha Ghosh
Australia on Tuesday said it would lift its entry ban for international cruise ships next month, effectively ending all major COVID-related travel bans after two years and boosting a tourism industry hit hard by the pandemic restrictions, reports Reuters. Australia banned the entry of cruise ships in March 2020, when they were the source of about 20% of Australia’s early coronavirus infections. The vessels became a flashpoint in its pandemic response after symptomatic passengers were allowed to disembark in Sydney, many of whom later tested positive. The federal government said it would not renew the current ban beyond April 17…
Around 21.5 million people, involved in the tourism industry, have lost their jobs due to the three waves of COVID-19 that first hit the country in early 2020, Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy said on Monday. Reddy said tourist arrivals in the country were down by 93 per cent during the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak, 79 per cent in the second wave and 64 per cent during the third wave. “We have conducted a study on the impact of the pandemic on tourism. As per the study, there were 14.5 million job losses during the first wave, 5.2…
N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, has been appointed as the Chairman of Air India. The appointment was cleared at a board meeting held by Air India yesterday. Meanwhile, Air India is on hunt for a new CEO to replace former Turkish Airlines CEO Ilker Ayci, who resigned before taking charge officially. Ayci was supposed to take responsibilities as the CEO and Managing Director of Air India on or before April 1, 2022.
The Government of UK will remove the remaining restrictions on international travel for all passengers ahead of the Easter holidays, its Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced yesterday. From 4am on March18, all COVID-19 travel restrictions will be lifted, including the passenger locator form (PLF) for arrivals into UK, as well as all tests for passengers who do not qualify as vaccinated. This change, therefore, removes the need for unvaccinated passengers to take a pre-departure test and a day 2 post arrival test. This step reflects the decisions taken by the government, as set out in the Living with COVID plan,…
Thomas Cook (India) Limited and SOTC Travel, have introduced “Ultra Flexible” holidays that offers flexibility, choice and convenience of pricing. The 8-day tour features 5 days in Switzerland with the flexibility of choosing 3 days in France, Italy or Austria for free. “Ultra Flexible” holidays comes without the restrictions of either minimum number of co-travellers, fixed dates, airlines or fixed timings for sightseeing. Thomas Cook and SOTC’s internal data-consumer insights reveal that with the constant changes brought on by the pandemic, flexibility is a key traveller need. Hence, to offer its customers the power of choice and much-needed flexibility, the…
The Government of Saudi Arabia has lifted all COVID-related entry restrictions for holders of tourism visas. Effective immediately, visitors to Saudi will no longer need to present proof of vaccination or a PCR test to enter the country. Institutional quarantine requirements will be entirely removed, and all travellers from the countries currently red-listed will be allowed entry. Social distancing rules will be lifted across the country, including Makkah and Madinah, and masks will be required in enclosed public places only. This lifting of restrictions on leisure, business and religious visitors marks the most comprehensive update to travel regulations since Saudi…
Director Tourism Kashmir, Dr. G N Itoo inaugurated a capacity building programme for tourism stakeholders in Pahalgam, reports India Education Diary. The programme was jointly organised by the Department of Tourism and University of Kashmir in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Tourism. This is the third in series of the capacity building programmes being conducted by the Department. Earlier, two capacity building programmes were held at Srinagar and Gulmarg for shikarawals and Tourist Guides by the Department. The aim of conducting these programmes has been to guide the stakeholders on the implementation of COVID-19 appropriate protocols while conducting their…
Revival of tourism in the Maldives has contributed to higher revenue for the island nation in the first two months this year compared to the same period in 2021. The South Asian nation received USD137 million in January and February 2022, compared to USD 88 million collected in the first two months of 2021, according to statistics released by Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA), the country’s national tax agency. MIRA said the main reason for the increase in revenue is the rise in time spent by tourists and the increase in the number of tourist arrivals, reports Xinhua news agency.…
In a first, MakeMyTrip has launched limited edition non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to celebrate the spectacular beauty and diversity of India’s myriad landscapes, varied flora and fauna, and more. The artworks have been conceptualised and designed to commemorate some of the popular as well as the unexplored travel gems of India. This will give travellers a chance to own digital collectibles of their favorite destinations. The first batch of these digitally crafted, immersive artworks unravel the majestic landscapes of Goa, Ladakh, Odisha, Himachal, Kashmir, Kerala, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, and Andamans. Each artwork has been designed using Advanced AI Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs)…
