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India excludes China, Hong Kong & Macau from availing e-Tourist Visa, major inbound markets UK and Canada also missing

Adopting reciprocity to lack of mutual travel recognition, India has now excluded China, Hong Kong and Macau citizens from availing e-Tourist Visa facility for travelling to the country. India is going to allow individual foreign to visit India for tourism purpose from November 15 and as previously announced travellers from prime inbound markets, the UK, Canada are also barred from accessing electronic visa facility apart from nations such as Iran, Malaysia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. A total of 156 countries can avail the eTourist Visa facility. Under guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), existing e-visa and regular tourist visas issued prior to October 6 shall remain suspended. Fresh visas for single entry with a validity of 30 days can be utilised within 120 days of issuance. Before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, India had granted the e-Tourist Visa facility to a record 171 countries, which included China, the UK and Canada as well but lack of reciprocity in recognising mutual travel guidelines seems to be the reason behind the exclusion. Border tension with China seems to have affected their prospect. Whereas, standoff with the UK on recognition of vaccine certificate and mandatory quarantine for Indian travellers promoted Indian government to apply similar guidelines for British travellers visiting India. With Canada, suspension remains in place for in response to the testing restrictions that the Canadian government continues to subject travellers from India Indian travellers taking direct flights to Canada still have only one option for getting the mandatory Covid-19 RT-PCR test done with only report from a single laboratory at Delhi International Airport recognised for entry into Canada. The other option is to travel via third country, where Indian travellers need to bear extra cost of testing, transit and travel. Travellers from India’s another important tourist source markets, the US are allowed to avail the e-Tourist Visa according to the latest guidelines. The US has reopened for international travellers from November with Indian travelllers also allowed entry without any quarantine and recognition to WHO-approved vaccine including Covishield and Covaxin. Expressing his views on the matter, Dipak Deva, Managing Director, Travel Corporation of India and Sita India, said that the move will affect inbound tourism to India. “China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan is understandable but United Kingdom not being on the list is going to impact inbound tourism,” he said in a Twitter post.

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IndiGo Adds 12 New Flights To Its Network

IndiGo has added 12 flights on its 6E network in the month of November. IndiGo commences flights between Ahmedabad-Jodhpur from November 01, 2021; Bengaluru-Rajkot, Kolkata-Coimbatore, Delhi-Trivandrum, and Dibrugarh-Dimapur effective November 02, and Ahmedabad-Ranchi, effective from November 10, 2021. Sanjay Kumar, Chief Strategy and Revenue Officer, IndiGo said, “We are pleased to add 12 new connections to strengthen our domestic network, cater to the increased demand and improve accessibility between metro and tier 2/3 cities. These routes will enhance connectivity between northern, eastern, north-eastern, western, and southern regions, promoting trade and commerce. We will continue to offer new routes as per the travel demand across various sectors. It is our endeavour to consistently provide our signature on-time, courteous and hassle-free service at affordable fares, across our unparalleled 6E network”.

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J&K admin keen to ensure a 'vibrant' winter tourism season in Kashmir: CS

The Jammu and Kashmir administration is keen to ensure a vibrant winter tourism season in the valley, Chief Secretary, A K Mehta, said on Wednesday, urging the officials to provide round-the-clock power supply to the famous resorts of Gulmarg and Pahalgam. The Chief Secretary chaired a meeting with senior officers, including Principal Secretary Power Development Department, Rohit Kansal, here to review the winter power scenario in the valley. In the meeting, Mehta said a vibrant, disruption free winter remains the topmost priority of the administration. "Government is keen to ensure a vibrant winter tourism season in Kashmir and for this purpose, provision of reliable electricity supply is of critical importance," he said. The meeting was attended by Managing Director Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL) Basharat Qayoom, chief engineers and other senior officers of Distribution Kashmir, Projects Kashmir and Transmission Kashmir, an official spokesman said. Mehta exhorted upon the officers of the KPDCL to provide 24X7 power supply to Gulmarg and Pahalgam hill resorts, the star attraction for tourists visiting the valley during the winter season. He also called for ensuring adequate electricity supply to other winter tourist spots, including Sonamarg and Doodpathri, during this winter. "For this, all necessary arrangements including laying of underground cables and other suitable arrangements, shall be made in a timely manner," he said. The spokesman said the Chief Secretary was apprised about the existing electricity scenario in the valley, the current energy consumption pattern and future power requirement during the winter season. The KPDCL has already touched a peak load of 1653 MW, which is nearly 100 MW higher than the peak load of 1546 served last year, the spokesman said. Similarly, the power supply to Kashmir this year alone has been of the order of 5719.6 million units- an increase of 12 percent over the previous year, he added. While acknowledging the efforts of the department, the Chief Secretary directed the officials to undertake greater efforts to ensure smooth power supply to the consumers during winters. He directed inspection of all transformers by November 30 to ensure good health of transformers, besides simultaneously inspecting all High Tension and Low Tension fuses within 15 days. Mehta directed prevention of unscheduled power cuts due to overloading and formulation of proper protocol to manage scheduled power cuts, the spokesman said. The department was also directed to explore the possibility of informing the public about the scheduled power cut through text messages in the future, besides ensuring lowering the existing transformer damage rate from 20 percent to 10 per cent during the three winter months. The department was also asked to ensure that the damaged transformers in all main towns be replaced within eight hours of reported failure, while in other areas, the same shall be made functional within 24 hours, the spokesman said. He said special emphasis was to be laid on providing protective gear and proper heating arrangements to the employees deployed on duties in extreme weather conditions for maintenance work

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Switzerland now open to all fully vaccinated Indians

With the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) emergency use listing of India’s indigenously made Covaxin vaccine, Switzerland has opened its doors for all Indian travellers who have been fully vaccinated with either the Covishield or Covaxin doses. Switzerland opened its borders for tourists vaccinated with two doses of Covishield starting June 23, 2021. However, post the WHO nod for Covaxin, all fully vaccinated adults need to only fill in an entry form and present their COVID certificate to authorities on arrival in Switzerland and are exempted from taking the test. Travellers who have recovered from COVID-19 within the last six months are also exempted from tests and quarantine upon entering the country. For entering Switzerland with children or adolescents, travellers need to note the following: Children and adolescents need to fill in the entry form, which can be included in the entry form of the adult travelling with them. Children under the age of 16 are not required to provide proof of a negative coronavirus test on entering Switzerland. They are exempted from the test requirement on entry and the test requirement within 4-7 days of arrival. The above regulations are only applicable in Switzerland. Transit through other countries to Switzerland and visiting other Schengen countries internally from Switzerland might be restricted, depending on the travel regulations outlined by the respective country. Travellers are advised to check with the authorities of concerned countries while planning their travel. The Embassy of Switzerland Visa Section in Delhi and VFS Global have started accepting applications for all types of Schengen Swiss visas, including Type C (entry and a stay of up to 90 days within a period of 180 days). Vaccinated people can file for their visa applications in VFS Global centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin and Hyderabad.

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Six new flights to Southeast Asian countries from Guwahati soon

Dhaka, Kathmandu, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore are among six destinations to be connected with Guwahati soon under the international Udaan scheme. The Northeastern states have no international flights at present. State transport minister Chandra Mohan Patowary told the media here on Monday that under the International Udaan Scheme, six Southeast Asian countries, including Yangon (Myanmar) and Malaysia, will be connected with Guwahati. “Our government gave a commitment of INR 100 crore to the Centre for the viability gap funding. We have already released INR 10.9 crore and bidding to select the operators has also been done. In the meantime, Covid hit the country. As and when international air connectivity fully resumes, we are expecting to start the new flights,” said Patowary. The first flight under the international version of Udaan in India was launched between Guwahati and Dhaka on July 1, 2019 but its operation was put on hold a few months later in the same year due to lack of adequate passengers. Suspension of flight operations between Guwahati and Bangkok from January 2020 came as another major setback for the government’s plan to transform the city into a travel hub in southeast Asia. The last international commercial flight through the Northeast was for Paro-Guwahati- Singapore. Amid Covid scare it was suspended on March 20 last year. Sources at the Airports Authority of India (AAI) NE headquarters said they are waiting for the flight schedule and intimation about the commencement date of the international flights. “Imphal and Agartala have the potential to connect international destinations,” they added. Since the Agartala airport may get international airport recognition soon after the new terminal building gets inaugurated most likely in December, it can become the third international airport in NE. Imphal airport is already an international airport and has seasonal air connectivity with Mandalay in Myanmar. When contacted, chief airport officer at LGBI airport, Guwahati, Utpal Baruah, told TOI that Guwahati airport is fully equipped to handle international flights and is waiting for the schedule. Airport officials said recovery at the airport has been significant and daily footfall has touched around 15,000. “In terms of air traffic movement, recovery is 80 per cent in Guwahati airport, whereas passenger footfall recovery (departure and arrival) has crossed over 77 per cent,” said an official. The aviation sector in the northeast has shown noticeable growth by October with passenger and aircraft movement registering 85 per cent recovery as compared to the preCovid days. Freight transport has already reached preCovid levels in the northeast as per the AAI NE regional office.

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India will soon have a considerable share in the global luxury travel market: TAAI President

Sharing her views on the luxury travel and the potential of growth for the sector in India, Jyoti Mayal, President, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has said that luxury travel has picked up well in India in the postpandemic era and the day is not far when the country will soon have a considerable share in the global luxury market. She commented, “The demand for charter planes, exquisite properties, yachts, private estates for family vacations etc. has taken a spike. With this pace, we will soon see the paradigm shift in the travel market, whereby domestic luxury travel will have a larger She further added that to achieve desired targets, the travel and tourism industry needs more technical tie-ups and joint ventures to raise the existing standards and work in collaboration with partners in abroad. “We have had many instances and experiences which has taught us what the expectations of travellers are and what it would be once the luxury travel segment expands,” share in the business and contribute immensely to the economy of India.” Mayal stated On the onset, she also stressed on the need for well trained and polished manpower in the industry so that travellers can have more pleasant experience in India.

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