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After houseboats, Kerala set to target honeymooners with caravans

As backwater houseboats drew honeymooners to Kerala shores in large numbers over the last three decades, Kerala Tourism is planning to keep the interest of this segment going in the destination by rolling out customised tourist caravans with double occupancy. BharatBenz, the commercial automobile manufacturer, which has come forward to support the ‘Keravan Kerala’ Caravan Tourism policy of the state government will be rolling out 2-seater and 4-seater caravans for the Kerala market. “We will be offering two options for the Kerala market. One is a two-seater caravan mainly targeted at the honeymoon couple and the other is a 4-seater caravan which can accommodate a family,” said Rajaram Krishnamurthy, Vice President - Marketing, Sales and Customer Service, Bharat Benz, in a telephonic conversation with ETTravelWorld. BharatBenz organised a product presentation event in Thiruvananthapuram where they showcased their first caravan to the tourism stakeholders yesterday. “We have done a lot of research and customer study in Kerala before finalising the design of the product. We had also taken inputs from the state tourism department,” said Krishnamurthy. The caravan is mounted on a medium duty bus chassis of Daimler, which Krishnamurthy said has “proven track record” in Indian road conditions. “The design of the vehicle is approved and accredited by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI),” he added. Appreciating the commitment that Kerala has shown to Caravan Tourism, Krishnamurthy said that it is critical to have “3Ps” (Policy, Product and Parks) in place for Caravans to flourish in any market. Kerala has got all the three components right for the Caravans to make sway in Tourism, he said. “Kerala is our strongest market and the environment and eco-system they are creating for Caravan tourism is quite encouraging,” Krishnamurthy added. As far as market demand is concerned, Krishnamurthy said that they have been flooded with enquiries from the moment they announced the product. Apart from tour operators, there are also demand for caravans from individuals for family use. “We are more than overwhelmed by the demand,” he said. The priority the government is giving to caravan tourism was evident from the gestures made by the tourism and transport ministers after the preview event.

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KSRTC announces special Munnar tourism package from all districts

Thodupuzha: The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has announced an innovative tourism package to Munnar. Under the package, the public carrier will conduct special weekend services to the hill station from all districts of the state. The buses will depart from the district headquarters on Saturdays and arrive in Munnar later that day. Travellers can spend one night and a day at the tourism destination and start their return journey by Sunday evening. The package includes Saturday night’s stay in the sleeping coach of the KSRTC stationed at the Munnar depot and visiting the local attractions in the Corporation’s sightseeing bus on Sunday. The inaugural service of the bus has been planned from Malappuram depot on Saturday afternoon. After arriving in Munnar by 7.30 pm that day, passengers can enjoy the attractions in the area in KSRTC’s sightseeing bus from 9 am to 4 pm on Sunday. The return trip to their home district would start at 6 pm

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Fiji opens borders to vaccinated tourists for quarantine-free from December

After 19 months without visitors, Fiji has drawn a line in the sand under the Covid pandemic, announcing its borders will be open by the end of the year. Fiji will welcome fully vaccinated tourists from 1 December. New Zealand is one of 15 "travel partner" countries on Fiji's green list, meaning fully vaccinated travellers can visit without quarantining. "It's been almost two years since we welcomed international visitors," said Faiyaz Koya, Minister for Tourism. "And in these two years, we've struggled, we've adapted, and we've prepared." Linked to this announcement was the restart of Fiji Airways flights to New Zealand. From December there will be daily return flights scheduled from Auckland, as well as three flights a week from Christchurch, and two from Wellington. The routes will be served by Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and Airbus A330s. CEO Andre Viljoen said the airline was "more than ready to safely welcome back international travellers from 1st December and greet them with our famous Fijian hospitality". "Fiji's entire tourism industry has been waiting for this," Viljoen said. Tourism Fiji welcomed the announcement as one very long in the making. "This is the moment we have been planning for nearly two years now and I can assure the world that Fiji is safe and ready to welcome you back," said the tourism body CEO Brent Hill. "We are ecstatic that Fiji will open its borders to international visitors before the end of the year." Part of this has involved creating a directory of Fiji-based tourism businesses and travel operators through the Fiji Care Commitment programme. There are 206 businesses whose staff have been fully vaccinated and have followed Covid-19 best practice to gain CFC approval. Tourism minister Koya said that the islands have been looking forward to the moment when this announcement can be made: "Today, our national airline is ready, our hotels and tour providers are ready, and Fijians are ready to safely welcome the world back," he said. The 333 islands were one of the most popular and well-connected destinations in the South Pacific. Served by direct flights from Japan, Australia, the US, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand - Nadi was a travel hub for much of the South Pacific. However since March 2020 the country shut its borders to all non-essential travel. Recording over 51,000 cases of Covid-19 since June with recent local outbreaks in the islands, Fiji was not spared the virus. The county's vaccination rate has given them the confidence to reopen to tourists even though cases may never return to zero. On Saturday Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said that it was time to reopen Fiji to the World. Under a framework that involved welcoming only fully vaccinated, with a negative RT-PCR test 72-hours prior to boarding, and again after arriving visitors could enjoy their holiday quarantine free.

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Half-marathon held to promote sport tourism

Idukki: Projects aimed at development would be introduced in Idukki, said water resources minister Roshy Augustine. Inaugurating the valedictory function of Dam to Dam Run at Kulamavu in on Sunday, the minister said that rejuvenation of sports by promoting sports is needed in the district.“The sports sector will also get a priority in the Idukki package, for which discussions are going on. The district had produced eminent sports persons and basic infrastructure in the district needed to be strengthened,” said the minister. The marathon began from Kulamavu dam premises andended at Cheruthoni dam area after covering 21km. The marathon was led by Augustine, DCP R Karuppaswami, collector Sheeba George and district development commissioner Arjum Pandian. Pandian participated in the entire run. As many as 150 people from various parts of the state took part in the half marathon. The first and second top runners were Devaraj and Sherin, students of MA College, Kothamangalam.

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Tourist spots in Lonavla, Maval to reopen from October 12

Lonavla’s tourist belt includes Lonavla city, Lonavla rural, Kamshet and the Vadgaon and Maval police station areas whereas multiple tourist spots are located at and around Lonavla hill station. These picnic spots are accessible and frequented by Mumbaikars as well as Punekars during the rainy season. In a spot of cheer ahead of the festive season, all tourist spots in Lonavla and Maval districts are set to open from October 12 following directives issued by the district collector. The Pune district administration in its order dated October 10 has announced reopening of all tourist spots in Lonavla and Khandala. These districts are famous for their many forts (Lohagad), caves (Bhaja and Karla) and dams (Bhushi) apart from tourist attractions such as Tiger Point and Duke’s Nose, all of which draw huge crowds on holidays and over weekends. Over the past fortnight, the police have put up check posts at these places and barricaded roads leading to them however starting Tuesday, tourists will be able to enter these areas as well. Lonavla’s tourist belt includes Lonavla city, Lonavla rural, Kamshet and the Vadgaon and Maval police station areas whereas multiple tourist spots are located at and around Lonavla hill station. These picnic spots are accessible and frequented by Mumbaikars as well as Punekars during the rainy season. Over the past many months of the Covid-19 lockdown, over 60,000 residents of Lonavla whose livelihoods depend on tourism have suffered huge losses. Following news of the reopening, tourists have already started arriving in droves with most hotels booked before the weekend, according to local police in Lonavla city. Police inspector Dilip Pawar from Lonavla city, said, “We have removed extra police bandobast at tourist areas and also the barricades following orders. Now there are no restrictions on tourists visiting these areas. Crowds have started thronging the city with more and more people heading towards Bhushi dam and Tiger Point.” The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has also started value adding to their resorts in tourist areas, offering guests winter packages with complimentary breakfast etc.

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Vietnam To Welcome Vaccinated Foreign Travelers in Key Tourist Areas by December

The Vietnamese government revealed Wednesday that it’s planning to reopen key tourism destinations to fully vaccinated foreign visitors coming from countries that it considers low-risk for COVID-19, starting in December. This will forerun a full reopening to international tourism that’s targeted for June 2022, according to CNN Travel. Vietnam implemented strict border controls right from the start of the pandemic aimed at keeping out COVID-19, and succeeded to some degree initially. Unfortunately, like several other Southeast Asian countries, its economy relies fairly heavily on tourism, which normally generates about 10 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). The government announced in September that it would reopen the popular resort island of Phu Quoc to fully vaccinated foreign tourists starting in November, and that all of the island’s residents would also be fully vaccinated. Vietnam will also begin allowing tourists from approved foreign countries to visit UNESCO World Heritage Site of Halong Bay, the ancient city of Hoi An, the Central Highlands town of Dalat and the coastal hotspot of Nha Trang. As of yet, there has been no indication given as to which foreign countries will meet Vietnam’s criteria for inbound travel. "We are only open when it's truly safe," the government said in a statement. "We are moving step by step, cautiously but flexibly, to adapt to real situations of the pandemic." This phased approach mirrors that of neighboring Thailand, which will be reopening multiple key tourism destinations to vaccinated foreign travelers this month, including Bangkok, Hua Hin, Pattaya and Chiang Mai. The Thai government has already piloted its step-by-step reopening scheme on the resort islands of Phuket and Samui. Vietnam welcomed 3.8 million foreign arrivals in 2020, compared with the 18 million international visitors it hosted in 2019. That pre-pandemic year, the tourism sector generated $31 billion in revenue, representing 12 percent of the nation’s GDP. Even as it attempts to cautiously reconnect with the world and restart its tourism industry, Vietnam is still struggling to rev up its vaccination rate, which is only of the lowest in Asia with 14.76 percent of its population of 98 million people being fully immunized so far. The country has thus far recorded 836,134 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 20,442 deaths.

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