News

Best Western Vrindavan Is Now Open In Mathura

Best Western Hotels & Resorts continues its rapid expansion in India with the addition of Best Western Vrindavan, Mathura, India. Best Western Vrindavan hotel extends 41 opulent rooms and suites classified into three categories to loosen up and immerse in the serenity of the place. Best Western Hotels & Resorts is aggressively expanding in India and other chosen markets and we will do so responsibly and efficiently, said Atul Jain, Chief Operating Officer, Best Western Hotels & Resorts, in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. “We are proud of our association with Best Western Hotels & Resorts and being the first internationally branded hotel in town, Best Western Vrindavan ushers in a touch of global hospitality in the city with exceptional guest comfort and service complemented by thoughtfully crafted food & beverage offerings”, quoted by Murari, owner of Best Western Vrindavan.

Read more

Switzerland gets direct flights from India again from January 10

As SWISS expands its range of scheduled services and adds new destinations to its network, the airline will be restoring its services to Mumbai and Delhi. The routes were earlier suspended in view of the pandemic developments. Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) will finally be able to welcome passengers from India from January 10, 2022, onwards. As part of the air bubble agreement, the national carriers of India and Switzerland will now be able to operate flights connecting the two nations. SWISS will begin direct flights to and fro from Mumbai twice a week starting early next year. Flights from Mumbai to Zurich will depart on Wednesdays and Fridays while flights from Zurich to Mumbai will be available on Mondays and Wednesdays. More flights will follow in the next few months from Mumbai as well as Delhi. Travellers are advised to strictly adhere to the passenger eligibility criteria mentioned at the time of booking and to check all applicable transit regulations for Switzerland. Switzerland is now open to Indians who have been fully vaccinated with either the Covishield or Covaxin doses. All fully vaccinated adults would need to submit a negative PCR test report performed no more than 72 hours prior to entry and would need to fill out an entry form and present their Covid certificate to authorities upon arrival in Switzerland. Travellers are now exempt from taking a second test, PCR or rapid antigenic, between 4 and 7 days after entering Switzerland. Travellers who have recovered from Covid-19 within the last 6 months would also be required to do the same.

Read more

Holistic & inclusive growth of tourism sector has come true in Gujarat: CM Bhupendra Patel at IATO Convention

The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel has said that his state has now developed new dimensions in tourist destinations with environment conservation, use of e-vehicles, and the scope of using solar energy. With these new dimensions, he expressed his vision of making Gujarat an all-round tourism hub worldwide and a global destination for investment. Inaugurating the 36th IATO Convention in Gandhinagar, the Gujarat CM mentioned that the state has immense tourism diversity. He also highlighted that the former Gujarat CM and the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi have given a new direction to tourism in the state by linking Gujarat’s culture and traditions. “The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, during his service as Chief Minister of Gujarat, has shown the country and the world from the soil of Gujarat, the new concept of festival tourism, which also connects festivals with tourism. As a result, local employment opportunities have also been available in abundance along with the overall development of the sector,” he said. Patel described IATO’s choice of Gujarat for its annual convention as an ideal one as the state is famous for its multiple tourist destinations. The CM said that the theme of the 36th IATO Convention is in accordance with the current time when brand India needs to move on the road to recovery. “The tourism industry has been badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, which is now recovering rapidly. Not only this, but the convention will also be guiding the future road map of the region in tourism,” he commented. The Chief Minister further termed Gujarat as the land of varied tourism opportunity with the likes of spiritual tourism, religious tourism, cruise tourism, border tourism, festival tourism, wildlife, desert tourism at Rann Utsav, patriotic tourism the Statue of Unity, monsoon tourism, and many other destinations presenting opportunities for both domestic and foreign tourists. Patel also added that the Heritage Tourism Policy of Gujarat, the first such in the country, has promoted ancient heritage, historical heritage buildings, and other heritage tourism destinations in the state. Later during the event, the Chief Minister also presented the Hall of Fame Awards to Subhash Goyal, Chairman, Stic Travel Group, and Mahendra Singh Vaghela, also fondly known as Mike Vaghela, MD, Vaghela Hospitalities for their outstanding work in the field of tourism. He, along with the IATO President Rajiv Mehra, state Tourism Secretary Hareet Shukla, and IATO EC also released the IATO Manual

Read more

Thailand likely to reinstate mandatory quarantine for foreign travellers due to Omicron scare

Thailand is likely to reinstate mandatory quarantine for foreign visitors due to concerns over the spread of a new variant of COVID, Omicron. The Health Ministry reported the country's first case of local transmission of the Coronavirus variant. Referring to this, Minister Anutin Charnvirakul stated that the Public Health Ministry will likely revert to hotel quarantine and a ‘sandbox’ programme, which allows free movement of people in specific locations and will propose scrapping a quarantine waiver for vaccinated visitors. Mr Anutin also added that these steps are driven by worries over the spread of Omicron. The Minister's statement comes just after Thailand reopened to foreign visitors in November, after ending its nearly 18 months of strict entry policies, which lead to a collapse in the country's tourism, a key industry and economic driver which was responsible for luring around 40 million visitors in 2019. Referring to the active Omicron cases in Thailand, Anutin added that the country had detected 63 people infected with the Omicron variant so far, with one case of local transmission, while the rest are imported cases. A Health Ministry official informed that the first locally transmitted case was found in a Thai woman, who tested positive to Omicron after contracting the virus from her husband, who returned to Thailand from Nigeria in late November. The official added that she is likely the first Omicron case in Thailand to have contracted the virus from an overseas traveller, and the first locally transmitted case.

Read more

Saudi Arabia approves Covaxin for travel

The Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia has announced that Indian nationals vaccinated with indigenously made Covaxin are now allowed to enter the Kingdom. In a Twitter post, the Embassy said that the vaccine manufactured by Bharat Biotech has been added to the gulf nation’s list of approved Covid19 vaccines, with which travellers are required to be fully vaccinated to enter the country. “Embassy is pleased to inform that Indian national vaccinated with ‘Covaxin’ are now approved to enter the Kingdom. Vaccine certificates are to be uploaded at Ministry of Health website for residents and Muqeem website for visitors,” the post on social media read. In November 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had granted emergency use approval to Covaxin which paved way for various countries to approve the vaccine to recognised for entering their borders. Until then, another popular vaccine in India, Covishield was approved by the organisation and is being widely accepted by international travellers. Saudi Arabia has now approved a total of seven vaccines including Pfizer, Moderna, OxfordAstrazeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Sinopharm, and Sinovac apart from Covaxin. Before Saudi Arabia, the Bharat Biotech vaccine has been approved by the US, UK, Oman, Switzerland, Australia, and 66 other countries.

Read more

Gujarat to launch new Cinematic Tourism Policy, draft likely to be released in January: Secretary Hareet Shukla

Hareet Shukla, IAS, Secretary - Tourism, Devasthanam Management, Civil Aviation & Pilgrimage, Government of Gujarat said that events like IATO Convention will give a great fillip to the tourism sector in the state. He expressed optimism that such large-scale and important events will give Gujarat Tourism a lot of ideas and feedback on how to proceed further. The western state will be hosting the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit and Trade Show in Gandhinagar. “This convention of IATO would also give a great fillip to the tourism sector of Gujarat. I am sure the travel trade including the agents and the operators will discover new locations in Gujarat and bring a lot of foreign and domestic tourists to our state. Gujarat is a very welcoming state for tourism and industries. It is a very efficient policy-driven state and we have one of the most aggressive tourism policies in the country and the first state to have a heritage tourism policy,” Shukla mentioned. Further, he announced that Gujarat will soon come out with a new Cinematic Tourism Policy and the draft policy is likely to be finalised and released among the industry stakeholders for review in January 2022. “We already have issued guidelines on homestays and adventure tourism, and we are working actively to promote border tourism in the state. We have developed a new destination called Nadabet on the India-Pakistan border, where a zone has been developed with varied activities for visitors. We have been very progressive in developing new destinations and festivals so that we can offer new experiences to tourists coming to the state,” Shukla informed.

Read more