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Puducherry to host four-day beach festival from April 13 to woo tourists

The Union territory of Puducherry is set to host ‘I Sea Pondy 2022, ’a four-day beach festival, from April 13 to April 16. The festival will be organised across four venues – Gandhi Statue Beach Promenade, Chunnambar Water Sports Complex, Pondy Marina and Paradise beach. Tourism Minister K Lakshminarayanan said the festival will comprise stage shows and performances, water sports activities, western and classical music programmes, silambam, thappatam, puppet show, catamaran race, kite flying, fashion show, volleyball tournament, and exhibitions, among others. A seafood festival will be held as part of the event on April 16 from 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Addressing the reporters, the minister said Puducherry is one of the finest tourism destinations in the country and people from neighbouring states such as Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh flock to Puducherry on weekends. “To attract more tourists, we planned to host this beach festival from April 13 to April 16. The Puducherry governor, chief minister, and other ministers will participate in the event,” he said.

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Rajasthan Cabinet approves ‘Film Tourism Promotion Policy- 2022’

The Rajasthan Cabinet on Wednesday approved a film tourism promotion policy aimed at promoting the state’s culture, tourist places and employment generation. The Rajasthan Film Tourism Promotion Policy, 2022 was approved in the cabinet meeting chaired by CM Ashok Gehlot. The Cabinet also gave a nod to the formation of the Public Financial Management Training Society and the cadre of vice-principals in higher secondary schools. According to an official statement, the film tourism policy will promote the preservation of art and culture along with the creation of employment in various fields related to films. Through films, tourist places of Rajasthan will also be promoted in the country and the world. Through this policy, provisions for financial assistance, awards and cash prizes have been proposed to encourage film production in Rajasthani language. Along with this, it has also been proposed to give financial benefits and grants to domestic and foreign filmmakers for shooting in Rajasthan. In the meeting, it was decided to name the recently announced free IPD and OPD treatment scheme as “Mukhyamantri Free Nirogi Rajasthan Yojana”. Gehlot had announced to provide free IPD and OPD treatment schemes in all government medical institutions of the state in the budget of this financial year. The Cabinet has approved the Rajasthan Educational (State and Subordinate) Service Rules (Second Amendment) 2022. With this, a cadre of vice-principals will be formed to improve the smooth operation and supervision of educational work in higher secondary schools. The cabinet has approved an amendment to the Rajasthan District Court Clerical Establishment Rules-1986 (Rule 7-C) through which better opportunities will be available to eligible sportspersons in jobs. The Cabinet decided to appoint Rajasthan State Road Development and Construction Corporation (RSRDC) as the executive agency for the construction work of the Mini Secretariat at Sri Ganganagar.

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Japan lists Covaxin as recognised COVID-19 vaccine to facilitate travel

The government of Japan has included Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin in the list of recognised vaccines to further facilitate travel from India, said the Indian embassy on Thursday. “Government of Japan includes the indigenously developed and manufactured Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin by Bharat Biotech of India, as one of the recognised vaccines for 1st and 2nd dose with effect from 10 April 2022 to further facilitate travel from India to Japan (sic),” the embassy took to Twitter to say. Japan also recognises Pfizer’s Comirnaty, AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria, COVID-19 vaccine by Moderna and Janssen COVID-19 vaccine. COVID-19 vaccination certificates issued outside of Japan are accepted in Japan if they are in Japanese or English and contain the following information: name, date of birth, vaccine product name or manufacturer, vaccination date, and number of COVID-19 vaccine doses.

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Thailand mulls easing Covid test rules for overseas visitors to attract tourists

Thailand will consider scrapping a mandatory polymerase chain reaction test on arrival for foreign visitors as the Southeast Asian nation further relaxes its visa rules to attract tourists. The Health Ministry will propose replacing the RT-PCR tests with a rapid antigen test, Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters on Thursday. The Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, led by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, will consider the relaxation at a meeting on Friday, he said. Visitors to Thailand currently need to pre-book a RT-PCR test along with a one-night hotel accommodation to secure a visa. Hotel operators say the rules are a major dampener for travellers to the country. Under the proposed rules, visitors may undergo the rapid antigen tests at the airport or any other designated venues starting May 1, government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said in a statement Thursday. Thailand was among the first tourism-reliant nations to end quarantine requirements for inoculated visitors and this month waived a pre-travel Covid test mandate, but arrival numbers have failed to meet expectations. Thai Hotels Association and the Federation of Thai Industries want the government to end the so-called Test & Go visa program to stimulate the economy. The average daily foreign arrivals jumped 66% to 11,623 so far in April from a month earlier after the government withdrew a pre-travel Covid test requirement, Thanakorn said, adding ibound travel will pick up pace in the coming months to aid faster recovery of the tourism sector. Prayuth’s government may further ease Covid restrictions if the annual Songkran holidays to mark the Thai New Year don’t trigger a spike in new cases, Anutin said. New daily infections may jump to 50,000-60,000 as people travel and hold family gatherings starting next week, the Health Ministry warned earlier this week. Thailand reported 26,081 new Covid infections and 91 deaths on Thursday, official data showed. While the active cases totalled almost 250,000, hospital bed occupancy was only about 28%, the government said. Thailand has stepped up a campaign to provide booster shots to the elderly and other vulnerable groups with the majority of the deaths during the current omicron-fuelled wave reported among the unvaccinated groups. While the country has prepared a road-map to classify the pandemic as endemic, the progress toward it would be contingent on first quelling the outbreak, Prayuth has said

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Cyprus to lift Covid-19 restrictions for travel to island from April 18

Cyprus will lift Covid-19 conditions for travel to the island from April 18, authorities said on Thursday, ending two years of rules imposed by the pandemic. The island said it was scrapping a colour-coded assessment of other countries based on epidemiological risk, an inbound flight permission to travel and PCR or rapid lateral flow tests for those who were fully vaccinated against Covid-19. People who have not been vaccinated, or not completed their booster shots would still need a PCR test or a lateral flow test, the transport ministry said in a statement. Cyprus, a popular tourist destination, has reported 950 deaths since the first outbreak of Covid-19 recorded in March 2020.

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Air Canada suspends direct Vancouver - Delhi flights till September 8

Air Canada will not be operating flights between Delhi and Vancouver, starting from June 3 till September 8, 2022. The Canadian flag carrier recently announced the same and stated that the reason for the said suspension is the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the flights going to Canada's densest city are required to use the Russian and Ukrainian airspace. Referring to this, Arun Pandeya, Country Head and General Manager - Indian Subcontinent at Air Canada confirmed the development and added that the airline will be deploying more flights on other routes flying to the country. He further added that the flight suspension will not be affecting Indian travellers majorly, as they will be accommodating the passengers, with existing booking, on other flights without any additional fee. He said, “If you purchased your ticket directly from a travel agency or an online travel website, please contact them directly for your new itinerary information.” Air Canada also released a statement on this and stated that the Delhi-Vancouver route is operationally constrained because of extended flying times and a refuelling stop, which is required due to the current flight paths to go around Russian and Ukraine airspace. The airline also added that the summer wind and weather conditions in South Asia are expected to compound these constraints, which make the route unviable during this period. During this period, when the flight will not be operating on the same route, Air Canada will continue to operate up to 11 weekly flights between Canada and India from its gateways in Toronto and Montreal as these routes utilise different flight paths. Air Canada outlined that India is an important market and added that it will restart non-stop flights between Vancouver and Delhi from September 6, and Delhi and Vancouver from September 8.

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