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Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab opens in Dubai

Jumeirah Group has unveiled Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab, the latest addition to its beachfront hotel portfolio. Nestled at the tip of a peninsula of a private beach, the property joins the wave-shaped Jumeirah Beach Hotel and sailboat-inspired Burj Al Arab Jumeirah in Dubai. The new resort, with design influences of a futuristic superyacht, will feature 386 rooms and suites, four penthouses, as well as 83 luxury hotel apartment suites, set amid private landscaped gardens. It encompasses specially integrated wellness and leisure destinations and an impressive line-up of signature restaurants, including a new concept comprising four restaurants in one. Jose Silva, chief executive of Jumeirah Group, commented: “This aspirational project defines the next era of luxury hospitality. “Creating truly exceptional experiences in unmatched physical spaces that are designed for energy and redefine luxury, is a core part of our vision. “Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab will be another iconic addition to the Dubai skyline, catering to the ever-evolving needs of our guests and complementing our signature properties while further establishing the Jumeirah brand across the globe.” Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab forms part of a wider development spearheaded by Dubai Holding, and reinforces their commitment to positioning Dubai as the preferred global tourist destination. The development, which spans more than 160,000 square metres of reclaimed land, includes an exclusive collection of exceptional ocean-facing six-bedroom marina villas and a new state-of-the-art 83 berth superyacht marina and boardwalk.

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Singapore Removed From List Of ‘At Risk’ Countries By India

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has announced that India has removed Singapore from the list of ‘At Risk’ countries for international arrivals into India. With this new development, passengers arriving into India from Singapore will no longer be subjected to additional arrival protocols specified for countries categorised as ‘At Risk’ by the Indian authorities. These additional protocols include a mandatory on-arrival RT-PCR test and seven days of home quarantine, with a follow-up RT-PCR test on day eight. Instead, Singapore will now be classified together with other countries Not ‘At Risk’. Passengers arriving from these countries can enjoy quarantine-free travel within India and will need to self-monitor their health for 14 days. In addition, a random sample of 2% of passengers travelling from Singapore will need to undergo RT-PCR testing on arrival at Indian Airports. On 29 November 2021, SIA restarted passenger services from 8 cities in India, including daily Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) services from Chennai, Delhi, and Mumbai, providing eligible customers with quarantine-free entry into Singapore. SIA also operates non-VTL services from Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Kochi. Customers on these flights must meet entry requirements into Singapore and will face prevailing health control measures including seven days of quarantine in Singapore. Scoot, SIA’s low-cost subsidiary, operates non-VTL services from Amritsar, Hyderabad, and Tiruchirappalli.

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CII And ITC Hotels Join Hands With EHL Group To Offer

In a significant initiative for skill development in Indian hospitality undertaken by industry body CII, an 18-month Vocational Education & Training (VET) Professional Diploma program by the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) Education Group of Switzerland will be delivered at four ITC Hotels across the country. A total of 200 students who have passed 12th standard in school will be enrolled in the first batch across four luxury properties including ITC Maurya (New Delhi), ITC Sonar and ITC Royal Bengal (Kolkata), ITC Maratha (Mumbai) and ITC Grand Chola (Chennai). Fifty students will be taught at each hotel. CII has assured 100% placement to students upon successful completion of the ‘VET by EHL’ Professional Diploma program that is recognized by all major hospitality chains worldwide. Said Sougata Roy Choudhury, Executive Director, CII: “At CII, we intend to address the need of the Indian hospitality industry for skilled, globally benchmarked talent. Hence this partnership with the 127-year-old EHL Group, which is ranked as the No. 1 hospitality and leisure management school in the world. We also wanted to partner with stalwarts of Indian hospitality to impart training to the students, and ITC Hotels was the natural choice. India not only has a sizable youth population conversant with English, but also exponentially growing accommodation offerings across tourist destinations in the country.” The VET by EHL program, including training, will be delivered at ITC Hotels by the best of industry experts as faculty. Said Nilesh Mitra, Vice President, Talent Management, ITC Hotels: “We have an excellent faculty for this program. At ITC Hotels, we consistently upgrade the training skill set and integrate new learnings to the modules. Our faculty at each ITC Hotel has been trained and certified by EHL and CII. They bring with them immense experience and knowledge. Moreover, students will be able to learn through interactions with guests in real work settings at ITC Hotels. The programme will enable us to strengthen our talent pipeline as we continue to expand our presence in the country. We intend to add more hotels to this programme in 2022.” Said Aman Aditya Sachdev, Director & Regional Head at EHL Advisory Services for South Asia, Middle East & Myanmar: “The VET by EHL program is based on principles of the world-renowned Swiss Competency Framework. It has been developed over a two-year period by EHL subject matter experts and faculty members, with global industry feedback. The objective is to prepare the youth for frontline job roles in hospitality at global standards. Students of the program in India will be at a significant advantage with future employers, in global mobility and in career progression. They will acquire knowledge and competencies required by the industry at par with international programs.” Added Praveen Roy, Associate Director and Regional Head of VET by EHL for South Asia, Middle East & Myanmar: “India has always been a high priority country for the EHL Education Group due to several factors like the demographic dividend, the pro-hospitality mindset of the youth, the current size and projected growth of the hospitality industry resulting in high levels of demand for a qualified workforce, India’s unique position in the global supply of skilled manpower for the hospitality industry, and the quality of the current skilling programs available to the Indian youth.” The VET by EHL Professional Diplomas is spread over 18 months, divided into three levels of learning - Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced. The Program will offer learning in three distinct streams: ‘Culinary’, ‘Food & Beverage Service’ & ‘Rooms’ that follow VET by EHL’s world-renowned quality-assurance standards. Each certificate level builds skills on top of the previous and culminates into a Professional Diploma. Students will get online access to the world-class global Learning Management System developed by EHL. They will be assessed on both theoretical knowledge on the Swiss Learning Management System as well as on practical skills acquired during training. On completion, the students will become a part of the prestigious VET by EHL Global Alumni Network. Furthermore, they are also offered an option to enrol for and pursue a UGC recognized degree.

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Brazil updates Covid travel rules, will quarantine unvaccinated airline visitors

Brazil will require international travellers who aren't vaccinated against the coronavirus to quarantine for five days in their city of destination after arriving by plane. The decision issued by the ministries of health, justice, infrastructure and the government's chief of staff was published in the nation’s official gazette Thursday. The administration of President Jair Bolsonaro, who is unvaccinated himself, will start enforcing the measure Saturday. It is unclear how effectively Brazil can or will track those required to quarantine. The head of the country’s health regulator, Antonio Barra Torres, told The Associated Press that the policy will “mean discouragement of anti-vaccine tourism to Brazil.” The quarantine requirement “is a deterrent and educational measure,” Torres said by phone. Travellers coming to Brazil still need to submit a negative PCR test result before boarding in their country of origin and submit a declaration to the country’s health regulator. Unvaccinated travellers will have to take a new virus test after the five-day quarantine period and must check in with a health agency center that will have their addresses. Brazil’s government announced the quarantine requirement as worldwide concerns grow about omicron, a new and rapidly spreading variant of the coronavirus, though it is not yet clear if it is more dangerous than other variants. More than 616,000 people have died of Covid-19 in Brazil, the country with second-most deaths from the disease. The pandemic has waned in recent months and the nation’s seven-day average is approaching 200 deaths a day. Many of Brazil’s major cities, including Rio de Janeiro, have either cancelled or scaled back their New Year’s Eve festivities due to fears of a new spread of the virus. Rio’s fireworks show on Copacabana beach is a major tourism draw, and Mayor Eduardo Paes said Thursday that it will take place as expected. The fireworks will be placed in 10 boats for a 16-minute-display. “Of course there will be a gathering (for the fireworks),” Paes said at a news conference. “Gatherings are not prohibited in Rio de Janeiro."

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Rapid PCR, RT-PCR test rates slashed at Chennai airport

The rates of Rapid PCR and RT-PCR tests at the Chennai airport were reduced by INR 500 and INR 100 per test respectively on Wednesday. The slashing of rates of the two tests that are mandatory for passengers since the Omicron variant scare has surfaced has brought major relief to travellers. An earlier report by IANS had mentioned about the trauma of workers who had to arrange money from their hometown for undergoing Rapid PCR tests before boarding a flight to Dubai where they were working on meager salaries. The Rapid PCR test per head was costing INR 3,400 and now the rates have come down to INR 2,900 per person. RT-PCR was costing INR 700 per person and has now come down to INR 600. Chennai Airport Director, Dr Sharad Kumar in a statement, said that the decision to reduce the rates of tests will bring an immediate respite to the travellers. He said that the decision was taken by the Airport Authority of India to help the passengers due to the pandemic situation. The Director of Chennai airport said that the Airport decided to forgo the revenue share of the tests conducted on its premises and passed on the same to the passengers. He also called upon the passengers to register and make payment online before reaching the airport to cut short the time of waiting for the tests. After the Omicron variant had surfaced, both the central and state governments have made it mandatory for passengers reaching from at-risk countries to undergo RT-PCR tests and random check of two per cent for the total flight passengers arriving from non-at-risk countries as well. A separate corridor has been set up at the Chennai airport in Terminal -4 to conduct mandatory tests for passengers arriving from at-risk countries. Outgoing passengers are also subjected to Rapid PCR tests and this has affected the passengers to Dubai, who were labourers. Nizamuddin Rawther, a passenger who is travelling to Dubai told IANS, "I have taken a Rapid- PCR test and have to shell out INR 2,900. While a reduction of INR 500 is welcome, poor people like me urge the Airport Authority of India to further bring down the prices so that it would make us more comfortable."

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Government plans to introduce facial recognition technology by March 2022 at four airports

In a written reply in the Parliament, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, General VK Singh, said that the Airports Authority of India(AAI) is working on the country's first facial recognition technology-based biometric boarding system for passengers at Varanasi, Pune, Kolkata and Vijayawada airports. The new technology is expected to be ready by March next year. Currently, no airport in India offers a facial recognition facility. While replying to Feroze Varun Gandhi and Ram Shankar Katheria in the Lok Sabha, the Minister said that as part of the first phase of Digi Yatra Implementation, the AAI has engaged NEC Corporation Private Limited to implement this technology, the first of its kind in the country. He added that the service will be scaled up in a phased manner for adoption across various airports in the country. For availing of the Digi Yatra services, passengers would need to send their travel details, which will include their name, PNR, and biometrics, to the Biometric Boarding System of the respective departing airport using an app. Registering to the system will be voluntary and optional for passengers. The regular manual check-in process will continue to exist at these airports. "The Digi Yatra Central Ecosystem envisages assessments (by independent teams to assess the level of security and system resilience to protect PII) and periodic audits by governing/regulatory bodies twice every year. Facial recognition is as per Industry ISO standards with best-in-class National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) listed algorithms complying to Data Privacy and Data protection requirement as laid down by Government," he said. Data shared by the passenger is to be used for the purpose defined and would not be shared with any other external stakeholders. Besides, the data will not be retained for more than 24 hours after the take-off/departure of the flight, Singh further informed.

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