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Arunachal Pradesh's inter-state car rally to promote tourism in North-East

Arunachal Pradesh Governor Brig. (Dr.) B.D. Mishra (Retd.) on Sunday flagged off the North-East India Inter-State Friendship Car Rally 2022 from Itanagar district of Arunachal Pradesh. He thanked the International Friendship Car Rally Association (IFCRA) for organizing the Rally which aims to promote and create awareness about tourism in the North Eastern Region. "The Rally will encourage and spread goodwill and amity in the region," the Governor said. Complimenting the participants from the eight states of North East India, the Governor urged them to promote the spirit of 'ASTAM-NMM', an acronym for the eight North Eastern States, which phonetically be pronounced as 'Astam Namam', meaning 'Salute to the great eight'. "The first five letters of the acronym represent the States of Arunachal, Sikkim, Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya on one axis and Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram on the Eastern axis. Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that India will develop if the North Eastern Region of India develops. The region is developing in the spirit of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishvas aur Sabka Prayas' and it is important that the participants in the Car Rally spread this message all along their routes and at halts," the Governor said. The Arunachal Pradesh Governor exhorted the participants to spread the missions of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat, Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan as Goodwill Ambassadors of the development. He also asked them to create awareness regarding tourism, traditional textiles, loin loom products and handicrafts of Arunachal Pradesh amongst the other North Eastern States. Kalaktang MLA Dorjee Wangdi Kharma, MLA, Youth Affairs of Arunachal Pradesh government Director Ramesh Linggi, International Friendship Car Rally Association (IFCRA) President Pem Sonam and IFCRA Vice President Tenzng Khalong were also present on the occasion amongst others. The Rally, organized by the International Friendship Car Rally Association (IFCRA) and sponsored by the North Eastern Council, Ministry of DoNER and the Department of Youth Affairs of the Arunachal Pradesh government, will cover all the eight North Eastern States of India.

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London’s Heathrow airport hiring as traffic hits highest since start of Covid-19

London’s Heathrow airport will ramp up hiring “as fast as possible” after passenger numbers surged last month to the highest since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Almost 4.2 million travellers passed through the facility during March, according to a statement Monday. That represents a more than seven-fold jump from a year earlier, and a 45% increase from February’s volume of 2.9 million. The hub, Europe’s busiest before the global pandemic started, is racing to hire 12,000 new workers to meet demand after the UK lifted curbs on travel. It said it expects a summer travel season that could approach 2019 levels at its peak. The rapid upswing in travel volumes has put pressure on Heathrow, other airports and the carriers that use them to rapidly gear up operations after two years of stop-and-start business. They have struggled to handle increased traffic in the run-up to the Easter holidays after cutting back on staff during the pandemic. Fuel shortages and a controversial mass firing at P&O Ferries Ltd. have added to the difficulties for Britons seeking to get away. The ferry company’s vessels running between Dover and Calais, France, remain idled after almost a month, contributing to truck backups over the past weekend. Meanwhile, drivers in southeast England have been hit by pump closures. Some 34% of EasyJet Plc flights were delayed on Sunday, according to tracking site FlightAware, and officials have warned of more queues at airports later this week. The low-cost carrier has had to cancel flights due to a wave of staff Covid-19 infections. British Airways pre-emptively pared back its schedule due to technology glitches, hiring challenges and resource issues at Heathrow. FlightAware showed 31% of its flights delayed on Sunday. Strike Action As of Monday morning, backups getting into the Port of Dover had eased, though ferry operator DFDS warned on Twitter of departure delays up to 90 minutes. A four-hour strike by air-traffic control staff in Milan on Monday also caused delays and cancellations, according to according to a post by security consultancy service Crisis24. EasyJet’s shares were 2.5% higher at 1:45 p.m. in London, while BA parent IAG SA advanced 0.2%. Demand during March was driven by U.K. holidaymakers going overseas, Heathrow said. Leisure and business travel into the country remains weak due to high Covid levels in the country and the requirement for overseas visitors to test before returning home. The airport also warned that it was still unclear whether the surge in demand was sustainable, with the war in Ukraine, high fuel prices and the potential for new Covid variants clouding the medium-term outlook. The airport said it was reviewing its forecasts and provide an update later this month. “It is fantastic to see the airport coming back to life after two years,” Chief Executive officer John Holland-Kaye said in the statement.

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Tripura to host India-Bangladesh Tourism Festival from April 17

The three-day second India-Bangladesh Tourism Festival is scheduled to begin next week here at Agartala Ujjayanta palace to boost tourism in Tripura and Bangladesh as well. The tour operators, hotel owners and tourism officials along with others from both the countries will attend the festival being organised by Tripura Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) and interact with each other to draw tourists from Southeast Asian countries, officials said here on Saturday. The leading cultural organisations, tour operators from other northeastern states and West Bengal have also been invited. Featuring the prominent artistes of both the countries, a mega cultural programme will be held in the inaugural session of the festival on April 17. To sample the delicious indigenous cuisine of Tripura, an event on traditional food at the main entrance of the palace was also included in the event. The tour operators, hotel owners and tourism officials of the two countries will meet on April 19 at the auditorium of Gitanjali Tourist Residence to prepare the roadmap for developing a tourist circuit in the region, the officials added. “With the expansion of railway connectivity in Tripura and shorter road link with Bangladesh, the state got an exclusive opportunity to offer a unique experience of diversity to the tourists. Besides, splendid hills, rivers, archeological sites, Hindu and Buddhist temples, the tourists can reach beautiful sea beaches of Southern Bangladesh by driving down only 120 km from here crossing the bridge over river Feni,” said Pranajit Singha Roy, Tourism minister of Tripura .

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Peru declares tourism emergency over Covid

Peru on Saturday declared a state of emergency in its critical tourism industry, which has been crushed by Covid. The country went from receiving 4.4 million foreign tourists in 2019 to 900,000 in 2020. In 2021, only 400,000 visited, according to official data. The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism will approve the emergency plan within 15 days, including financial rescue measures and investment in tourism promotion. Known for Machu Picchu and its varied cuisine, Peru's economy plunged 11.12 percent in 2020 and was in recession until June 2021, but the blow was much greater in the tourism sector. Peru in December began to suffer the third wave of the pandemic, but infections have decreased considerably in recent weeks. With 33 million people, Peru officially has registered more than 3.5 million cases of coronavirus and more than 212,000 deaths.

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UK travel disruptions continue to hit travellers, set to impact Easter holiday

Travel disruptions continued to hit UK holidaymakers on Sunday as officials warned of expected queues later in the week. Both EasyJet Plc and British Airways Plc had more cancellations Sunday, though the airlines said those flights had been called off in advance. According to FlightAware data, British Airways cancelled 7% of flights today and delayed 9%. More than 20% of EasyJet’s flights are delayed, according to FlightAware, and an airline spokeswoman said 40 flights were cancelled in anticipation for Sunday. “Queues are anticipated as travellers return later this week,” said Lucy Moreton, a spokeswoman for the Immigration Services Union, which represents Border Force staff. Staff are being deployed to Heathrow airport from Scotland and Northern Ireland to help mitigate the queues. Travellers who have waited years for the return of overseas holidays are now facing last-minute cancellations of their trips and lengthy queues at airports. Airlines which laid off staff during the coronavirus pandemic are scrambling to add enough people, as well as dealing with coronavirus-related absences. Both Heathrow and Gatwick airport said they were expecting significant numbers of travellers over Easter. Heathrow said it was deploying extra staff in anticipation of passenger numbers not seen since early March 2020. A Gatwick spokesman said queues may form during peak periods, such as weekends and the Easter Holidays. It advised passengers to arrive at the earliest time their airline allows for check in, typically three hours for long-haul and two-and-a-half for short haul. The UK Civil Aviation Authority wrote to airlines earlier this week asking them to work with airports to manage staff shortages and ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum. The agency’s Chief Executive Officer Richard Moriarty said it’s important that airlines set schedules based on available staff and make allowances for sickness, such as from Covid, as well as meet their obligations to refund passengers if they can’t offer them a suitable alternative flight.

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Jerusalem's Holy Sepulchre Church reopens after two years of Covid-19 lockdown

Prayers in Arabic and Latin echoed in the rotunda of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday as Christians from around the world were once again able to attend Palm Sunday mass after two years of Covid-19 travel restrictions. Around 500 worshippers passed through the huge wooden doors of the church that is the focus of the most important festival in the Christian calendar as the site where Jesus is believed to have been crucified and resurrected. "After two years of Covid, of restrictions, of closed churches, today we are in a normal atmosphere. We have a lot of pilgrims, a lot of local Christians. We are very happy. For us, it's a kind of resurrection," the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told Reuters. Worshippers rattled palm fronds, a traditional gesture to remember the branches laid down by the crowds welcoming Jesus to Jerusalem as recorded by the gospels. The day marks the start of Holy Week for Roman Catholics. "There's no better place to celebrate Holy Week, seeing that this is where all the events originally took place, and also seeing as the Covid-19 pandemic is mostly resolving, so it's safe enough to come this year," said Joseph Obiajulu, 26, from New York City. Israel has only recently started to allow foreign tourists to enter the country again. Holy Week is usually the high season for Christian pilgrims, but on Sunday, there was only about 20% of the number of worshippers that normally fill the church, said Athanasius Macora, a Franciscan monk in his 23rd year as secretary of the commission that negotiates disputes among the churches with claims to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. "Normally, where I am, we would have had seven to 10 groups a day, and now we're averaging two," he said. 'FULL OF EMOTIONS' About 400,000 visitors entered Israel in 2021, a sharp decline from a record high 4.55 million visitors in 2019 who contributed $7.2 billion to Israel's economy. "It's very exciting and full of emotions," said Patricia Mercader, 20, from Spain. "Standing where he stood and feeling what he felt, there’s no words to explain it." Worshippers lit candles and knelt at the marble Stone of the Anointing, where it is believed Jesus's body was prepared for burial. "I never believed I would visit the holy land," said Francisca Teresinha de Jesus Fernandes Farias, 85, from Brazil. The Holy Sepulchre lies at the heart of the Old City's Christian Quarter in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in a 1967 war and later annexed. The Armenian, Catholic and Greek churches share custody, and the Coptic and Syrian churches have rights. The return of overseas tourists has not yet been in large enough numbers to restore business in the quarter. "About 20 years ago, we couldn't even get any sleep during this month," said Modar Natshe, a shop owner in the Old City. "We would earn almost as much as the rest of the year in this one month. Now, nothing. We have forgotten that there are holidays, that's how bad it is."

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