News

South Africa to soon start e-visa facility for Indian travellers

The South African Tourism Board has recently expressed that it’s eyeing 64% year-on-year growth in arrivals from India this year. To capitalise on the strong consumer demand in the country, they have started taking various marketing initiatives. The board, in a statement, stated that India continues to be one of their top focus markets, for which they have outlined a strategic road map to target related results. Reports stated that as part of post-pandemic revival plans, South Africa will soon be introducing e-visas for Indians to attract more tourists, movie makers, and business travellers. Referring to this, South African Tourism Hub Head (MEISEA) said, "We are glad to announce that we are on track to roll out e-visas in India in the coming months." Reports also stated that the destination is also processing tourist visas on priority. The board informed that India served as the eighth-largest international source market for South Africa, and that it expects India to maintain its position in the top 10 this year as well. Reportedly, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune continue to be top Indian source markets to South Africa. As of now, several stop-over flights fly from India to South Africa, including Etihad, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Air Arabia, Kenya Airways and Air Mauritius. As regarding the travel rules to follow while travelling to South Africa, travellers from India will be required to produce a negative PCR test, which is not older than 72 hours from the time of departure from the country of origin to South Africa, as stated by the tourism board.

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Indonesia's Mount Merapi erupts, causing disruption to tourism

Indonesia is currently dealing with a volcanic eruption, and authorities have halted tourism and mining on the slopes of the country’s most active volcano, Mount Merapi. The volcano is located on the island of Java, which happens to be one of the most important places of tourism. One Wednesday before midnight, and into the hourly hours of Thursday, the volcano erupted hot ash, with pyroclastic flows, which is a mixture of lava, rock, and gas. Traveling up to 5 km down the slopes, the volcano caused a menace. The lava flow of Mount Merapi has been dubbed as the biggest since its danger level was raised back in November 2020. Hanik Humaida, head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center, said, “Dozens of light eruptions continued during the day Thursday with a river of lava and searing gas clouds flowing 2.5 kilometers down its slopes. No casualties were reported. About 253 people were evacuated to temporary shelters but they returned to the volcano’s fertile slopes after the activity subsided.” It has been reported that residents of Merapi have been evacuated and asked to stay 7 km away from the crater’s mouth. The lava is posing a major threat in the region. Both the lava dome below Merapi’s southwest rim, and the dome in the crater have been active since last year.

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Sri Lanka’s forex crisis hits tourism industry, Canada, UK warns travellers

Sri Lanka’s ongoing forex crisis will further hit its tourism industry as the United Kingdom and Canada have warned their travellers to be aware of the current economic situation in the island nation. According to a latest advisory issued by the British government, the economic situation is deteriorating in Sri Lanka with shortages of basic necessities such as medicines, fuel and food because of a shortage of hard currency to pay for imports. “There may be long queues at grocery stores, gas stations, and pharmacies. Local authorities may impose the rationing of electricity, resulting in power outages,” the advisory said. Canada has also advised its citizens to keep supplies of food, water and fuel in hand in case of lengthy disruptions and to make sure to have sufficient supply of medicines in hand as they may not be available and monitor local media for the latest developments. The UK is Sri Lanka’s third biggest source of inbound tourists behind Russia and India. Tourism accounts for about 5 per cent of Sri Lanka's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with Britain, India and China being the main markets. The number of international tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka declined in March 2020 by 70.8 per cent in comparison to a year ago as the tourism industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The advisories came after the Sri Lankan government recently imposed import restrictions on 367 items such as milk products, fruits and fish that have been dubbed “non-essential” as part of the bid to tackle the economic crisis triggered by forex shortages. Sri Lanka is facing its all-time worst foreign exchange crisis after the Covid-19 pandemic hit the nation's earnings from tourism and remittances. By December last year, the reserves position had plummeted to just one month's imports or a little over USD 1 billion. In recent months, the public has experienced a shortage of many essentials due to the foreign exchange crisis. Import restrictions to save dollars have threatened cooking gas and fuel supplies in addition to the looming power cuts. In January, India announced a USD 900 million loan to Sri Lanka to build up its depleted foreign reserves and for food imports, amid a shortage of almost all essential commodities in the country. New Delhi also granted Colombo a USD 400 million swap arrangement to boost its reserves. Meanwhile, a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will arrive here for talks with the country’s top leadership after the government announced to float the rupee against the US dollar. “Senior IMF staff is visiting Colombo during March 14-15 to brief President (Gotabaya) Rajapaksa about the outcome of the Article IV consultation, including the views expressed by the Executive Directors during the Board meeting held on February 25,” IMF mission chief to Sri Lanka Masahiro Nozaki said in a statement. The government continued to ignore approaching the IMF to strike a bailout package despite pressure from economists, including the Opposition parties.

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International flights to operate with 100 per cent capacity from March 27

The services of all international passenger flights will resume by March 27, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia informed Rajya Sabha on Monday. The Minister made the announcement during Question Hour as the Upper House assembled for its second part of the Budget Session after one month's break. "All regular international flights will operate in 100 per cent capacity by March 27 as the coronavirus situation in India has improved now," Scindia said. The government had banned all international scheduled flights for a week starting March 23, 2020. The ban stretched for nearly two years in the midst of a raging pandemic. However, special international flights have been operating between India and about 35 other countries since July 2020 under the air bubble. The move is expected to boost international tourism and will help soften airfares' which have been soaring due to an increase in crude oil prices. While the government had earlier planned to resume international flights on March 15, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which necessitated relief flights to bring back stranded Indians in Ukraine, delayed the process. Ministry of Civil Aviation recently also announced "after having recognised the increased vaccination coverage across the globe and in consultation with the stakeholders, the government of India has decided to resume scheduled commercial international passenger services to/from India from March 27". For airlines, it is a much-needed relief because resuming international operations means they will be able to use aircraft on longer sectors, resulting in better utilisation of assets. They will also be able to improve their revenue earned per seat because fares are higher on international sectors than on domestic routes.

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Daily flight commences on Indore-Gondia-Hyderabad route

Daily flight between the Indore-Gondia-Hyderabad route under RCS-UDAN scheme was flagged-off recently. Fly Big was awarded the route under the UDAN RCS-4.0 bidding process. With this, 409 routes would be operationalised under the UDAN-RCS scheme. The inaugural event was graced by Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister, MP(virtually), Sumitra Mahajan, Former Speakar, Lok Sabha, Shankar Lalwani, Member of Parliament, Indore, Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, MoCA, and many other dignitaries. Sunil Mendhe, Member of Parliament, Gondia, Ashok Nete, Member of Parliament, Gadchiroli and Dhal Singh Bisen, Member of Parliament, Balaghat also joined the event virtually. Speaking on the occasion, Jyotiraditya M Scindia said that the UDAN scheme is fulfilling the Prime Minister's dream of providing air services to the common man. Under UDAN, 405 routes have already been made operational. The Indore-Gondia-Hyderabad route will connect Indore with the two states Maharashtra and Telangana. In the last one year, the aircraft operation from Indore has doubled while in Bhopal it has increased by 40 percent. Mr Scindia said that 100 new airports will be built in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, which will give a further boost to last mile connectivity. He said that the central government is going to bring Small Aircraft Scheme, which will further strengthen connectivity in tier 2 and 3 cities. The airline will operate one daily flight everyday and will deploy it’s ATR 72, 78-seater turbo prop aircraft designed for shorter distance flights on the route. With this, Gondia will become their 14th UDAN destination and Fly Big is the first airline to connect Gondia with a scheduled commercial flight to other metro cities. This is also the first flight route for Gondia as prior to this it as not connected with any airports in India. Birsi airport in Gondia was established as a domestic airport which is owned and operated by Airports Authority of India (AAI) and it is located at Birsi Village, 12 km northeast of Gondia, Maharashtra. MoCA has invested INR 21 crore in the airport for re-carpeting of runway, procurement of Aircraft Crash Fire Tenders (ACFTs) and other equipment to operationalise the airport. With the new flight route, people of Gondia and its adjoining areas will get direct air connectivity between Indore, Gondia and Hyderabad which will facilitate seamless movement of passengers between Indore, Gondia, Hyderabad and vice-versa under UDAN. With these new flights under UDAN, common people will get multiple options to travel between these places which will boost the tourism potential and increase the economic activity of this region.

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Tamil Nadu starts boat ride to Kurusadai island in Gulf of Mannar

Tourists can now enjoy a jolly boat ride to Kurusadai island, one of the 21 islands in the Gulf of Mannar marine national park, and soak in the sights of corals, sea cucumber, shoals of fish, sea urchins, devil's eye crab and other coastal flora and fauna in the shallow waters en route. What's more, they could also spot humpback dolphins and other sea creatures on the way to the 168-acre island. "Travelling to the islands in a marine national park is a serious offence that attracts strong punishment. But, in a first of its kind in the country, this initiative has been taken up by the forest department for the benefit of tourists and local fishermen community," Mandapam range officer G Venkatesh told TOI. He said the aim is to create awareness among students and the public on the importance of the islands and the marine ecosystem. Boating is planned from 7 am to 2 pm which, however, could be stopped abruptly in view of rough waves and unfavourable climatic conditions. Tourists can click pictures of the island and the migratory birds. Approved by the wildlife management plan, the trip is operated by the eco tourism federation based on the island community comprising villagers of Chinnapalam and Kunthukal villages. S Nizamohideen, 58, a fisherman, is the president of the 12-member committee while the range officer is the member secretary. The jetty in Kunthukal, from where the 90-minute round trip starts, is about 10 kms from Rameswaram town.

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