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Ladakh hosts two-day Zanskar Festival

The Union Territory of Ladakh is organising a two-day festival. Known as the Ladakh Zanskar Festival, it is being held on September 15 and 16, 2021. The festival is aimed at showcasing the beauty of the Zanskar region, located in the Kargil district. This is the sixth annual two-day festival that is being held at Padum in order to commemorate the 75th year of Indian independence. It is called Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations. The mega event is being organised by Ladakh Academy of Arts, Culture, and Languages in Kargil. This is also a wonderful opportunity to explore the Zanskar region. The mega festival will have traditional archery competitions, musical nights, traditional horse riding, and cultural events, among other attractions. Zanskar Valley is known for its spectacular beauty, snow capped mountains, and good climate. It is a relatively unexplored region in the Union Territory of Ladakh. It is situated about 105 km away from Leh, and is a great place for adventure activities such as trekking, and paragliding. Here in the region you will also find age-old monasteries such as Zongla, Zongkhul, and Strongdey. This is the best time to visit Zanskar Valley, as winters here can be harrowing, with temperatures dipping as low as - 30 degree celsius. Moreover, the roads are covered in snow during the winter months, and you may not be able to travel.

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Maharashtra: Tourism, hospitality see revival; business 50-70% of Pre-Covid Days

Tourism and hospitality sectors in Maharashtra are showing first signs of recovery after the second Covid wave struck. Hotels in Mahabaleshwar and Lonavla now have a healthy 50-70% business of the pre-Covid levels, top sources from the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India told TOI on Tuesday. Sherry Bhatia, president of the association, said, “This is the first instance of room bookings picking up at these major tourist spots after the second wave began subsiding. We anticipate that the coming months would bring in more improvement in bookings.” Bhatia said his own resort in Murud-Janjira recently recorded occupancy of 60-70% of the pre-pandemic levels, a first in months. Hoteliers expect a significant increase in occupancy starting November, as against last year, because of the number of fully vaccinated people in Maharashtra and cases still being in check. “This will boost travellers’ confidence to head out,” Bhatia added. Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation resorts at these locations have now started clocking 90-95% occupancy in the last few weekends, regional manager Deepak Harane said. Poona Hoteliers Association (PHA) president Sharan Shetty said hotel occupancy in Pune has also doubled to 30% in comparison to the 10-15% figures a month ago. “Post-Diwali, we expect occupancy to increase further with corporate travel picking up. Families have also started enquiring about banquet bookings for weddings. The last few days have seen an increase in enquiries translating into tangible bookings.” Travel companies have seen a significant surge too. Travel portal iXigo sources said that based on booking trends on its website and app, flight bookings have crossed 60% of the pre-Covid levels with airlines consistently carrying more than two lakh passengers every day.

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Cap on number of tourists, negative Covid report must: New rules for those travelling to Mussoorie

Dehradun DM R Rajesh Kumar told the media on Tuesday that tourists will only be allowed to visit Mussoorie on weekends. The tourists must furnish a negative Covid test report dated 72 hours prior to arrival, he added. The District Magistrate also said that no more than 15,000 tourists will be allowed in hotels and other establishments in Uttarakhand on weekends. "No person will be allowed to enter ponds and rivers in Sahastradhara, Guchupani and Mussoorie," said DM R Rajesh Kumar. Warning both tourists and residents, he reiterated that spitting in public places is banned and will attract a fine of Rs 500 to Rs 1,000. Thousands of tourists converged on Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and other parts of the country in July of this year in what was being termed as 'revenge travel'. The Dehradun District Magistrate also issued an order extending the Covid curfew in the capital city of Uttarakhand. As per the order, the Covid curfew in Dehradun has been extended till September 21 in a bid to contain the spread of infection. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Uttarakhand has 293 active cases of Covid-19 as of Tuesday. A total of 3,35,560 patients have recovered in the state since the beginning of the pandemic while the infection has claimed 7,389 lives in Uttarakhand alone. On Monday, the Uttarakhand government extended the Covid curfew in the state till September 21 with some relaxation.

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Kerala Tourism launches Caravan Tourism Policy

As part of introducing new products to attract new customers to God’s Own Country, Kerala Tourism has launched a new policy for Caravan Tourism for the State. The announcement of the new policy was made by the state Tourism Minister, PA Mohamad Riyas today in Thiruvananthapuram. Unveiling the ‘Keravan Kerala’ policy, the Tourism Minister has said that state tourism hasn’t been able to introduce new products to the market after backwater houseboats were introduced and became a rage in the 90s. Caravan Tourism is intended at attracting a new set of tourists and allows people to access destinations that are unexplored in the state with their Caravans. Besides the comprehensive and integrated development of tourism in the state in the post-Covid time, the Minister said that the new policy is aimed at opening up opportunities for new investments into the tourism sector and provide employment opportunities at the local level by unlocking the potential of responsible tourism. The Tourism Minister said that initial discussions have been held with potential investors in this connection and the government would offer subsidies for investors coming forward to start Caravan vehicles and Caravan parks. Even households with a minimum of half an acre of land with adequate facilities will also be allowed to start Caravan park, he added. He further said that Caravans designed as per the standards approved by the Automobile Research Association of India (ARAI) and compliant with the Transport Department guidelines will be registered under Caravan Tourism.

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Ireland starts accepting short-stay visa applications, no quarantine required for fully vaccinated Indians

In line with the next phase of its response to the pandemic, the Ireland government has announced the resumption of short-stay entry visa processing effective September 13. Ireland Visa Application Centres (VAC) in India have started accepting short stay applications as the move is expected to encourage travellers to visit Ireland for tourism. A short-stay visa allows travellers to travel to Ireland for up to 90 days. In a statement, the Embassy of Ireland in India said that eligible short stay visas will, again, be endorsed with the letters ‘BIVS’, signifying access to the shared British Irish Visa Scheme. “All travellers arriving into Ireland must continue to comply fully with measures required by law including producing proof of vaccination, recovery from Covid-19, or a negative PCR test to Immigration Control at their port of entry. All remaining Covid-19 restrictions on entry visa and preclearance processing, which were brought in as a necessary interim measure to help reduce the spread of Covid-19, have now been lifted,” it said. The Embassy also asked the visa applicants to be aware of the current visa processing time in order to manage travel expectations as requests for expedited applications cannot currently be considered. The current processing time for visa applications in September (working days) according to the embassy’s website is 25 days for a visit visa, 20 days for a study visa, and 10 days for a business visa. The VFS Global VACs in Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Kochi, Hyderabad, Jalandhar, Kolkata, South Mumbai, Pune and New Delhi are already accepting long-stay applications. Fully vaccinated Indian travellers are no longer required to undergo mandatory hotel quarantine for 14 days after Ireland removed India from the list of Designated States for Mandatory Hotel Quarantine in late August. Apart from the vaccine certificate, such travellers are required to carry a negative RT-PCR result from a test taken within 72 hours prior to arrival into the country. Ireland is currently accepting travellers jabbed with AstraZeneca/Covishield, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Indian travellers can enter Ireland 15 days after taking the last dose of Covishield.

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Centre sanctions 16 projects, Rs 200 crore for tourism development in Northeast region

Union Tourism and DoNER minister G Kishan Reddy on Monday said that the Centre has sanctioned 16 projects under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme, which focuses on integrated development of theme-based tourist circuits, in the North Eastern region. The ministry also sanctioned Rs 200 crore and a number of projects in the region under the National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) schemes. G Kishan Reddy further said that his ministry is giving special emphasis on developing infrastructure, ground capacity and skills in Northeast region. “The tourism ministry is also providing branding and marketing assistance to the northeast region through its various schemes and flagship initiatives. Under the PRASHAD schemes the ministry has sanctioned number of projects in the region and approximately Rs 200 crore has been sanctioned for these projects,” G Kishan Reddy said. While taking part in the inaugural ceremony of Tourism and Culture Ministers’ Conference of North Eastern Region held in Guwahati, Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) minister said that in the Union budget of 2021-22, the budget allocation to north eastern states is Rs 68,020 crore. He urged all the state governments in the region to submit viable proposals so that the full amount allocated across various ministries can be successfully utilized. Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said that for the overall development of Assam and other North Eastern states, culture and tourism play a very crucial role. The Assam chief minister also said that for the promotion of historical, spiritual and natural places of tourist attractions, the concept of ‘Brand North East’ should be popularized. If all the states work together, the sector can progress well in the next five years, he added.

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