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US Embassy in India to resume tourist visa interviews from September

The US Embassy in India tweeted on Sunday night, “The US mission to India is pleased to announce that we are resuming routine in-person tourist visa appointments in September 2022. Previously scheduled placeholders have now been canceled.” “Applicants whose placeholder appointments were canceled may now re-enter the scheduling system to book regular appointments. Appointments have been through 2023”, it added. India had emerged as the fifth largest source country for international visitors to the US in 2021 — up five places from pre-pandemic 2019 — despite the deadly delta wave that saw many countries, including Uncle Sam, imposing restrictions on outbound travel from here for many months. The US received about 2.2 crore, international visitors, last year, down 72 percent from 2019. Mexico (1.04 crore) and Canada (25.3 lakh) — which share a land border with Uncle Sam — occupied the top two slots as source countries. India was the third-largest overseas source country (not sharing a land border with the US) with 4.3 lakh visitors from here, next only to Colombia (10.6 lakh) and UK (4.6 lakh), according to US department of commerce data. Indians were the third highest. The commerce department’s data shows US travel and tourism-related exports in 2021 were at USD 81 billion. Of this, Mexico accounted for USD 11.7 billion, China at USD 9 billion, and India at USD 5.8 billion. The 4.3 lakh visitors from India were 71 percent lower than pre-pandemic 2019 levels. Once in line with the global trend, the US also relaxes the pre-departure testing requirement for fully vaccinated travelers from India, travel will again grow at a much faster pace. This will be a further boost when sky-high jet fuel prices fall globally, enabling airfares to return to saner levels

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Singapore Airlines sees rebound in travel demand

Singapore Airlines on Monday said travel demand is rebounding and the momentum in bookings is picking up as the carrier unveiled upgraded lounges at the Changi airport here under the airline’s SGD 50 million project to further boost its products and services offerings. Reflecting a rebound in travel demand, Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group’s load factor jumped 18 percent in April and is expected to further increase in the coming months. The group comprises Singapore Airlines and low-cost carrier Scoot. “We actually see the momentum of bookings picking up for the coming months… We also have seen a very healthy pick up in the corporate side of the business ever since Singapore opened fully in April. “We removed the VTL (Vaccinated Travel Lane) limitations and all of the (COVID) testing (requirements),” Lee Lik Hsin, Executive Vice President Commercial at Singapore Airlines, told reporters here on Monday. With the up-gradation, SilverKris and KrisFlyer Gold lounges at the Changi airport can accommodate around 1,150 customers within their 6,100 square meters. The SilverKris Lounge has three sections — the Private Room, the First Class, and Business Class sections. The SIA Group operates over 1,000 flights per week from Changi airport. The refurbishment and expansion of Singapore Airlines’ lounges was planned before the pandemic under the SGD 50 million project which started at around August 2019, to further strengthen the airline’s products and service offerings. Singapore Airlines has a total of 12 SilverKris lounges across the world and out of them, currently 7 are operational, including the one at Changi airport. Marvin Tan, Senior Vice President Customer Services & Operations at Singapore Airlines, said the opening of the upgraded lounges comes at an “opportune time” when travel demand is rebounding after reopening of borders in Singapore and around the world. Regarding the upgraded lounges, he said, “we have a 30 per cent increase in both space and seats compared to what we had pre-pandemic”. Over the last couple of months, travel demand has rebounded very strongly, he said, adding, “to have these lounges (at Changi Airport) opened now as travel picks up, particularly ahead of summer, I think it is a very opportune thing for us”. In a release, Goh Choon Phong, Singapore Airlines Chief Executive Officer, said that extensive customer engagement and research have gone into the design of the new lounges. “Opening these lounges at this time signals our commitment to SIA’s premium brand and growth strategy. It reinforces our position as Changi Airport’s anchor airline, and reflects our confidence in Singapore’s future as a pre-eminent global air hub,” he said. Earlier this month, while announcing its financial results for the year ended March 2022, SIA Group said the VTL (Vaccinated Travel Lane) was a “game changer”. VTL, which has now been done away with, has facilitated quarantine-free mass travel. “By deploying capacity and increasing services in an agile manner, SIA and Scoot were among the first to launch flights for all VTL points. This allowed the carriers to capture the pent-up demand for air travel as it returned,” it had said. At the end of March this year, Singapore Airlines had 123 passenger planes and 7 freighters, while Scoot had 53 passenger aircraft.

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Railway Line Between Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi To Be Revived

Famous for it roaring waves and small fishing communities, Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu is a quaint escape. Up until now, if you have to visit Dhanushkodi, the only way is via a road network. However, that mightt soon change. A new proposal to the Ministry of Railways states that the railway line between Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi will be revived. The decision comes after the two destinations have had a disrupted rail route for nearly sixty years now. According to a new proposal by the Zonal Office to the Ministry of Railways, Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi will once again be connected by a railway line in order to facilitate the travelers’ journey. The said railway line will provide an easier option to the travelers to reach Dhanushkodi. Currently travelers need to commute via road for the same. The railway line was destroyed in 1964, when a tsunami hit and wreaked havoc, displacing many. As per the new proposal, the railway line will be rebuilt, the total length of the track will be 18kms, out of which 13kms will be elevated from the ground. The redevelopment plan aims to connect this railway line to the new broad gauge and electric line. The 18kms long railway line will begin from Rameswaram and will have 3 halt stations and a final terminal station. Under the same proposal, Rameswaram station will also undergo some development. The project will be undertaken by the Southern Railways and is estimated to be completed at a cost of approximately Rs 700 crores. Situated at the tip of the Pamban Island, Dhanushkodi is separated from the mainland by the Palk Strait and until December 1964 it was directly connected to Mandapam station in Tamil Nadu.

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Hong Kong Tourism Board launches new campaign to showcase city as arts & cultural hub

Riding on the success and staging of international art and cultural events in the city, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) is launching a new global campaign ‘Arts in Hong Kong’ to showcase itself as an art and cultural hub. The campaign aims to further raise Hong Kong’s international profile, offering in-depth community arts and cultural tours and interactive art tech experiences to encourage the local public and visitors alike to rediscover the city from a cultural perspective Treats’ promotion encourages residents to explore Hong Kong from new perspectives. In Mainland and overseas source markets, the HKTB is organizing Hong Kong-themed arts events in new formats, inviting Hong Kong Super Fans active in the arts and cultural scene to showcase arts events and raise the city’s profile in the international art scene. To do the same, HKTB is working closely with the organizers of international art events staged in Hong Kong to increase their reach and impact. It has teamed up with Art Basel Hong Kong to host online tours, for instance, and has invited Hong Kong artists to bring an explosion of color to the streets by displaying their inspirational works on the city’s iconic trams. Commenting on the development, Dane Cheng, Executive Director, HKTB, said, “In-depth travel experiences have become a major global trend, and arts organized an Art Month promotion for the past nine years when international events were held in the town to generate city-wide art vibes. As well as the staging of large-scale events, new world-class art landmarks such as M+ and the Hong Kong Palace Museum is also opening its doors, boosting Hong Kong’s allure as an art and cultural travel destination. As the city’s arts scene becomes richer than ever, the HKTB will make ‘Arts in Hong Kong’ a year-round promotional platform to raise awareness of the city’s always-on, diverse experience of arts and culture, and establish Hong Kong as an East-meets-West center for international cultural exchange.” The integration of arts and technology is a rapidly growing trend, and the HKTB is stepping up its use of technology to promote art events and cultural landmarks. It has produced a video to promote the interactive virtual reality experience of French May’s highlighted program Intraverse and is supporting the promotion of the moving image work The Shape of Light – a joint presentation by Art Basel and M+ – as well as the Hong Kong Museum of Art’s outdoor artwork installation, Resonance-In-Sight.

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Hong Kong eases some Covid-19 testing requirements for inbound travel

Hong Kong will relax some Covid-19 testing requirements for incoming passengers as the city takes small steps toward easing travel restrictions. While travellers still need a nucleic acid test within 48 hours of the scheduled departure of their flight to the financial hub, they will no longer have to give documentary proof of the lab’s accreditation, the Hong Kong government said in a statement Sunday. The city will also drop requirements for transit passengers to have a pre-flight polymerase chain reaction-based nucleic acid test. The changes take effect from June 1 and are the latest tweaks from a government that says it’s committed to a strict Covid Zero policy even as case numbers dwindle and much of the world outside China opens up. Hong Kong lifted a ban on non-residents coming to the city from the start of May but still requires inbound passengers to quarantine for at least seven days after their arrival. The government’s latest announcement also included an easing of the flight-suspension mechanism for carriers that bring in a certain number of people who test positive on arrival.| From June 1, airlines that trigger the so-called circuit breaker will receive a warning and a HK$20,000 ($2,548) penalty. If the carrier again breaches the terms within 10 days it will be prohibited from flying that route into Hong Kong for five days. The current policy doesn’t offer warnings and instead goes straight to banning flights if more than five passengers test positive. Hong Kong health authorities on Sunday reported a total of 237 new daily Covid cases, 37 of which were imported. No new deaths were recorded, the officials said at a briefing.

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Ladakh to develop Sumoor desert, upgrade Nubra valley for tourists

The Ladakh administration is likely to use fences around Hunder sand dunes and ensure development of Sumoor desert to upgrade Nubra valley as a multi-destination area with improved facilities for tourists, officials said on Sunday. Chairing a high-level meeting at the Raj Niwas here on Saturday, Lt Governor R K Mathur Mathur asked officials to ensure the welfare of the double-hump Bactrian camels in Hunder and suggested that fitness certificates for the animals may be issued, they said. The Lt Governor also suggested that a landscaping plan for Nubra should be developed and fences be put around the sand dunes at Hunder for their protection. He emphasised on the need to develop facilities like online booking facilities for camel rides, establishing cafés with toilets, waiting area and wi-fi facilities, solar lighting, souvenir shops and parking space facilities among others. Mathur also stressed on the need to install high mast lights to conduct camel rides in the evening, build platforms so that riders can get on and off the animals with ease and provide training to camel jockeys, officials said. The Lt Governor suggested conducting Silk Route walks, heritage walks and nature walks along with developing astro-tourism to promote Nubra as a multi-destination tourist area. He directed that a defined area should be earmarked for camels for shelter and grazing where the camel jockeys can also grow fodder for camels for the winters. He also suggested giving additional charge of grievance officer to tourist officers to address the issues of visitors and chalk out plans for development of tourism activities in Sumoor desert.

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