Offbeat Villas, a leading provider of custom technology for professional trip designers, announced its partnership with One Rep Global. Offbeat Villas is a B2B booking portal connecting travel agencies in India and the Middle East with the world’s most unique private residences, villas, homes, and other one-of-a-kind accommodations. Available exclusively to the trade, Offbeat Villas offers travel professionals insider access to private retreats spanning a range of price points and global destinations, from beach villas and heritage estates to serviced apartments and ski chalets. In contrast to peer-to-peer homeshare platforms, every property available through Offbeat Villas is professionally managed, with…
Author: Prasenjit Chakraborty
Collinson’s Priority Pass has launched a global partnership with CarTrawler – the global B2B provider of technology solutions for the travel industry – offering members access to CarTrawler services through the Priority Pass app. The partnership represents a push towards creating a seamless travel experience for Members, by going beyond the airport to enhance the overall customer journey. With 56,000 locations around the world, CarTrawler leverages a network of over 2,200 car rental and mobility providers to ensure optimal availability and pricing – allowing for travellers to choose from a range of add-on transport options that best suit their needs,…
According to a HT report, Thailand is considering bringing back a quarantine waiver for vaccinated visitors, its health minister said on January 17, as part of a proposed easing of some Covid-19 measures later this week. Thailand reopened to vaccinated foreign visitors in November to help a vital tourism industry that collapsed during nearly 18 months of strict entry policies. It saw about 200,000 arrivals last year, compared to nearly 40 million in 2019. The ‘Test and Go’ policy, which allows visitors to skip the mandatory quarantine if they test negative on arrival, was suspended late in December over concerns…
Trade bodies in West Bengal are pressing for relaxation of the partial lockdown measures clamped by the government on the job intensive tourism sector and have demanded its relaxation. The travel restriction announced by the Mamata Banerjee government to contain the spread of the disease in the state has severely impacted the state’s tourism industry, they said. This season sees high flow of visitors to the mountains in north Bengal, the Sundarbans, Santiniketan, in the sea resorts of Digha and Mandarmani and other tourist destinations in the state. The restrictions have pushed to the wall again the tourism sector which…
According to a HT report, a part of Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport will be closed for nine hours every day from today onwards due to planned ‘recarpeting work’ on the runway. At least 52 flights arriving and departing from the airport will be rescheduled during the entire duration. As per the airport officials, the work will begin today and go on till May 31 this year. The resurfacing work will be carried out on all days, barring Sundays and public holidays, from 9am to 6pm. The work was supposed to begin from November 2021 but got delayed due…
A suspected drone attack has been reported at Abu Dhabi’s new International Airport. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement said it had carried out an attack on the United Arab Emirates after authorities in the Gulf state reported two fires in the capital Abu Dhabi that were possibly caused by drones – Reuters reported. An attack was reportedly targeted towards three fuel-carrying tankers at the new Abu Dhabi Airport. Two similar attacks were carried by Yemen’s Houthi rebels at two key oil installations in Saudi Arabia on September 14, 2019. The attacks had resulted in an escalation of tensions in the Persian…
A majority of Indians would prefer to go local and explore domestic destinations instead of international ones this year with Goa topping the bucket list followed by Manali, according to OYO Travelopedia. OYO Travelopedia, the annual consumer survey by OYO to study travel intent and expectations among its user base across some of its core markets, including India, Indonesia and Europe, took responses of nearly 3,000 people in December 2021. As per the survey, 61% of Indians would prefer to go local and explore domestic destinations, while 25 per cent would like to try international as well as domestic trips…
IATO, the apex inbound tourism body has written to Prime Minister, seeking his help to overcome unprecedented financial crisis facing the industry since March 2020, which has further been worsened by recent postponement of international flights on account of recent wave. It has asked for relaxation in traveling norms and financial aid to the tour operators to remain viable till revival of the industry. In the letter, Rajiv Mehra, President IATO has sought PM’s help on relaxation on 7 days quarantine for the fully vaccinated international travellers coming from non-high risk countries and have uploaded a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report…
According to a report by The FE, in a significant improvement from the ranking of last year, the Indian passport has strengthened as the country improved its passport ranking in the Henley Passport Index 2022. Climbing from its earlier ranking of 90th, the country’s passport has now reached the 83rd rank. With the jump in Indian passport ranking, the Indian nationals will be able to visit as many as 60 countries from around the world without the need of a prior visa. In other words, a total of 60 countries will now felicitate the direct entry of tourists holding Indian…
South Africa’s tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu has welcomed the decision by EU countries to remove South Africa from red lists, but simultaneously lamented the loss of over a billion rand in much-needed tourism revenue during the peak December holiday season. The loss was incurred after massive cancellations because Britain and over 20 other countries imposed a travel ban on South Africa immediately after it first announced the discovery of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus in November. “While these moves are welcomed, it comes after the peak of the tourist season and in the wake of over R1 billion…
