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Singapore resumes booking of new tickets on VTL flights to and from India

Singapore has resumed booking of new tickets on select-bilateral flights to India under the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) agreement after the South Asian nation had decided to temporarily suspend booking of designated VTL flights till January 20. One month ago, Singapore Airlines (SIA) had announced that it will stop accepting new bookings for all VTL flights into Singapore scheduled between December 22 and January 20. The flag-carrier of Singapore in an update said that starting January 21, travellers from India were allowed to book VTL flights for quarantine-free travel into Singapore. The airline currently operates select VTL flights from India from Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai. Vistara is operating VTL flights from Mumbai, while Chennai only operates one VTL flight, which SIA operates. Delhi has one VTL flight and rest all are non-VTL flights. All the VTL flights from India are operational daily. Placing regulatory restrictions, the Singapore government last month had said that it will temporarily reduce the VTL quotas and ticket sales for travel after January 20, 2022. For flights, the total ticket sales were also touted to be capped at 50 per cent of the allocated quota. VTL flights allowed quarantine free travel to the island-state for the fully vaccinated travellers. SIA had commenced passenger flight services from eight Indian cities, including daily VTL services from Chennai, Delhi, and Mumbai from November 29, providing eligible customers with quarantine-free entry into Singapore. Eligibility and requirement for VTL flight to/from India Pre-departure: A RT-PCR test taken within 72 hours before departure. Test results must be uploaded on the Air Suvidha portal. On-arrival: Travellers may be selected randomly to undergo an on-arrival PCR test. Post-arrival: A RT-PCR test required on Day 8. Children aged below 5 are exempted. Exemption: With effect from January 23, 2022, 2359 hours (SGT), VTL travellers who recently recovered from Covid-19 (i.e., within seven to 90 days of their last infection before departure to Singapore) are exempted from all testing requirements, if they provide appropriate documentary proof of their recovery. The SIA Group operates VTL services from 34 cities in its global network to Singapore. With the addition of Perth from February 5, 2022, this number will increase to 35 cities.

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Bringing facilities under one roof would definitely smoothen the travelling passage: TAAI

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has set the ball rolling for a complete revamp of its digital platforms to make them the best in the world. This will include the Incredible India website, the mobile app and all other digital modules deployed to provide information and services to the tourists across the globe. Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI extended her best wishes to the Ministry and spoke about the idea of bringing all the facilities under one roof. She said that the objective of the revamp, to make the Incredible India digital interface more tourist centric and make it one-stop shop for information and services through a traveller’s journey of dreaming, planning, booking visiting and returning is a great move. "I think this is a fantastic idea, We as a travel body wanted something like this “one roof” facility for quite a long, and now the government has finally decided to come up with the idea which is sufficient in itself to smooth out travelling process,” Mayal said. Adding to which, Jay Bhatia, VP, TAAI commented that the mission of the government is to make its digital platforms the focal point for information, experiences and services. “The Ministry is said to have benchmarked various features and studied various best practices of international portals of counterparts like the USA, Australia, Switzerland, Japan, Dubai, Singapore and others,” he added. “This is a welcoming move, and I, as a part of travel fraternity feels that this is the need of the hour. Also, the government promises to integrate the information and services from various states in the country, destinations and travel, tourism and hospitality stakeholders which is something innovative and would definitely prove to be a milestone in itself,” Bettaiah Lokesh, HSG, TAAI. Sharing his views on the revamp, Shreeram Patel, Treasurer, TAAI commented that the ministry had invited RFP for setting up digital marketplace platform for Incredible India, to help connect digitally with the travel and tourism partner abroad. "The IIDMPP was intended at connecting with and engaging and educating travel partners, about Indian destinations and travel products at a time, physical meetings and road shows are challenged because of the global pandemic," he said.

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Cambodia launches campaign to revive pandemic-hit tourism industry

A campaign named "Cambodia: Safe and Green Tourism Destination" was launched here on Thursday, aiming at reviving the Covid-19 hit tourism industry, Tourism Minister Thong Khon said. Speaking at the launch event held via video conference, Khon said for the past two years, many tourism businesses were shut down and tens of thousands of employees lost their jobs, Xinhua news agency reported. "This campaign is a strategy to attract tourists from around the world as well as from countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to Cambodia," he said. All fully-vaccinated tourists are welcome to Cambodia without quarantine, the minister said, advising all tourism-related businesses to implement tourism safety measures and standard operating procedures effectively in order to prevent the spread of Covid. Tourism is one of the four pillars supporting the kingdom's economy. The country received up to 6.61 million international tourists in 2019, generating gross revenue of $4.92 billion, according to the tourism ministry. But due to the pandemic, the sector attracted only 163,366 foreign visitors during the January-November period in 2021, down by 87 per cent from 1.28 million over the same period in 2020, the ministry said. Cambodia is famous for its three world heritage sites, namely the Angkor Archaeological Park, the Preah Vihear temple, and the Sambor Prei Kuk Archaeological Site. Besides, it has a 450-km pristine coastline stretching across four southwestern provinces. The Southeast Asian nation opened its door to fully-vaccinated travellers in November last year after most of its population had been vaccinated against Covid. The kingdom has so far administered at least one dose of the Covid vaccine to 14.34 million people, or 89.6 per cent of its 16 million population, the health ministry said on Thursday, adding that 13.74 million people, or 86 per cent, are fully vaccinated with two required shots. Most of the vaccines used in the country's inoculation programme are China's Sinovac and Sinopharm.

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An underwater 'Ocean Highway' is being created by the Galapagos and Costa Rica

The governments of Central and South America are planning to build a new highway but this is not going to be your normal highway on land where you can travel. Well this brand-new highway in the ocean will be exclusively for the fish! Guillermo Lasso, President of Ecuador, has signed a decree to create the new Galapagos Marine Reserve. As per officials, the reserve expands the total protected marine region in the archipelago by 45 percent and will take it from 51,351 sq ml to 74,517 sq ml. Ecuadorian President Lasso stated, "There are places that have made a mark on the history of humanity, and today, we have the honor of being in one of those places. These islands that welcome us have taught us many things about ourselves. So, instead of acting as the absolute masters of these lands and seas, shouldn't we act as their protectors?" The "ocean highway" will connect the two marine UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The highway will also help in protecting several rare and endangered marine species, such as hammerhead sharks and whale sharks. The prime goal is to see the highway run through Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica in the coming years. All the country heads have committed to the cause and the new zone will allow travellers to experience the grandeur of the ocean. The Galapagos and its surrounding waters are perfect for sea adventures. Here travellers can enjoy scuba diving and experience the extraordinary world of sea creatures. The historic signing ceremony was attended by Ivan Duque, the President of Colombia, the Foreign Ministers of both Panama and Costa Rica, and former US President Bill Clinton.

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Unexplored destinations of Central India to fuel your wanderlust

When planning a holiday, we usually think about going to those places that we have heard of often or have been to before. Popular tourist destinations like Munnar, Goa, Pondicherry and Coorg are the places we tend to head to time and time again instead of trying out the road less travelled. Our country has a lot more to offer in terms of a fulfilling holiday than what we are aware of. Many undiscovered destinations and lesser-known jewels are just waiting to be explored! Read on to know about some of the relatively unknown and unexplored travel jewels in Central India. 1. Bhimbetka Rock Shelters, Madhya Pradesh Interested in learning about human life in India from the Stone Ages? Head to Bhimbetka. Located 45 kms away from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Bhimbetka is a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of seven hills and over 750 rock shelters for 10 kms inhabited more than 100,000 years ago! Some of the rock shelters feature prehistoric cave paintings about 30,000 years old. These cave paintings show animals, early evidence of dance and hunting. The Bhimbetka site has the oldestknown rock art in India, considered the oldest petroglyphs in the world. Interestingly, Bhimbetka gets its name from Bhima (the second Pandava brother) and Baithaka, meaning seat or lounge – Bhimbetka meaning Bhima’s resting place or Bhima’s Lounge. 2. Gandikota, Andhra Pradesh Located in the Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh, Gandikota is a small village and a historical fort situated on the right bank of the Penna River, which used to be the seat of power for many rulers like the Kalyani Chalukyas, the Pemmasani Nayakas and the Golconda sultanate. The fort was initially made of sand by the Kakatiya Raja in 1123 and later was transformed into a major fort with 101 towers by the Nayakas. Gandikota is also known for the Gandikota Canyon – a 300-foot-deep gorge that is said to be carved by the Penna River. The top of the gorge gives a breathtaking view of the fort, the surrounding forests and the Penna River. 3. Patan, Gujarat Once the capital of Gujarat for 650 years, Patan (108 kms away from Ahmedabad) was founded by Vanraj Chavda - the first of the Chavda kings in the 8th century. It was considered to be the world’s tenth largest city at the beginning of the 11th century. Patan is a city that overflows with a rich historical past and legacy. It is home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Rani Ki Vav, an 11th century, 7-storey step-well that boasts of more than 500 intricately carved sculptures and the Mara-Gurjara style of architecture. What’s more? Patan is located on the banks of the Saraswati River (of what probably remains of the ancient extinct river) and is also famous for the finest hand-woven Patola sarees produced here to date. 4. Tarkali, Maharashtra Known for its beautiful Tarkali beach, this small village is located in Malvan in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra, 410 km away from Pune, at the confluence of the Karli River. The Tarkali beach has recently been declared the ‘Queen Beach’ of the Konkan region. It offers several water sports options and activities like scuba diving, snorkelling, parasailing and dolphin spotting – all following the international standards of safety and guidance. Tarkali is one of the best places to come and learn scuba diving under the guidance of some of the best trainers. The Sindhudurg Fort stands on a small island on the Arabian Sea, just a few metres away from the Tarkali beach and is a great place to reminisce about the Maratha Empire and the valour of the great King Shivaji Bhonsle. And that’s not all! You can even stay in a houseboat on the backwaters of the Karli River, much like in Alleppey in Kerala and also satiate your taste buds to your heart’s content with some delicious, finger-licking local Malvani cuisine. So, step aside Goa and Kerala… Here comes Tarkali! 5. Sirpur, Chhattisgarh Located on the banks of the Mahanadi River in Mahasamund, Chhattisgarh, Sirpur was the capital of the Panduvanshi dynasty in ancient times. Sirpur (78kms away from Raipur), also referred to as Shripur, is a major archaeological site known for its temple ruins related to Shaivism, Shaktism, Buddhism and Jainism. There are currently 22 Shiva temples, 5 Vishnu temples, 10 Buddhist viharas and 3 Jain viharas. The archaeological site containing these monuments is known as the Sirpur Group of Monuments. Interestingly Sirpur, or Shripur as it was known in ancient texts, was also visited by the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Hieun Tsang in the 7th century. According to his memoir, some 10,000 Mahayana Buddhist bhikshus (monks) lived in Shripur in some 100 monasteries, and there were over 100 temples. 6. Konark, Orissa Konark, located 22kms away from Puri and 35 km away from Bhubaneswar in Orissa, is famous for the Konark Sun Temple, dedicated to the Sun God, built by Narasimhadeva I in the 13th century. The temple has been built to resemble a 100 ft high chariot with massive wheels – all built out of stone. Also known as Surya Devalaya, the temple is a classic example of the Kalinga style of architecture. The Konark Sun Temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is also a major pilgrimage centre for Hindus who gather here for the Chandrabhaga Mela in February. 7. Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh is a town that speaks of a rich past, heritage and culture. Mainly known for hand-woven Chanderi sarees, this 11th-century town is also quite famous for its fort, temples and the surrounding hills. The Chanderi Fort dates back to the famous Battle of Chanderi in 1528, whereby the Mughal emperor Babur defeated the then ruler Medini Rai and took over the city. Chanderi is also famous for its ancient Jain temples like the Shri Choubeesee Bara Mandir, built in the 11th century. The temple has 24 idols for the 24 Tirthankaras, the Parasnath Digamber Jain temple built in the 7th century and many others. We hope that this list of undiscovered and lesser-known places has left you excited enough to visit them soon. Do include some of these places in your itinerary the next time you plan for a trip. We assure you; you will be amazed at what you discover!

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Choice Hotels Opens Comfort Inn Kaikaluru

Choice Hotels India has announced the opening of the Comfort Inn Kaikaluru in Andhra Pradesh. This is the first internationally branded hotel in the city of Kaikaluru. The city is famed for aquaculture and offers a range of tourist attractions including a bird sanctuary, Kolleru Lake, temples, and other places of religious significance. Vilas Pawar, CEO, Choice Hotels India, said, “We are delighted to announce the opening of Comfort Inn Kailaluru – the first internationally branded hotel in the city. Our brand has the endeavor of offering an international experience with world-class facilities at the best value proposition. Ideal location and unmatched facilities make it a vital asset in our portfolio”. Bala Murali Krishna Kamineni, Promoter of Comfort Inn Kaikaluru, a proprietor in aquaculture & aquafeed manufacturing under Deepak Nexgen Feeds Pvt. Ltd., and handling real estate projects in Vijaywada, said “We are proud to associate with Choice Hotels India. Being the first branded hotel in the city, we have got the opportunity to offer an international experience to the people of Kaikaluru. The hotel has received a warm response from the locals and is the preferred address for social gatherings and business meetings for people in and around the city”. Comfort Inn Kaikaluru also features modern banqueting facilities to hold extensive meetings & conferences facilities and cater to intimate social gatherings.

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