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Puri’s holy Shri Jagannath Temple to open for devotees from August 16

Puri’s Shree Jagannath Temple is all set to reopen for devotees on August 16. The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has now announced the same. According to SJTA, devotees need to produce an RT-PCR negative report in order to gain entry inside the temple. The SJTA has also announced that the temple will remain closed on Saturdays, and Sundays, as the beach town of Puri is currently going through weekend lockdowns. However, it must be noted that the temple will reopen in phases. Hence, starting August 16, the temple will only permit residents of Puri, or from the municipality area to offer prayers. This will go on until August 20, after which the temple will be open for all devotees from August 23 onwards. According to Krishna Kumar, the Chief Administrator of SJTA, “We will issue a standard operating procedure (SOP) about the darshan system. Kiosks will be set up outside the temple to check the final dose certificates or RT-PCR negative reports of the devotees. While the temple will remain closed on Saturdays and Sundays, we will also shut the shrine on the occasions of major festivals to prevent heavy rush of devotees,” Devotees will be permitted to enter the temple from 7 am to 8 pm on weekdays, and everyone has been advised not to offer bhog or light lamps in the temple. Devotees have also been asked not to touch any idols, and structures in the temple. A COVID testing camp will be set up at the temple for all employees before it reopens.

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UAE travel: These cities to resume flights to Abu Dhabi from Aug 7

UAE's national carrier Etihad Airways said that flights from some Indian cities to Abu Dhabhi will resume on August 7, Saturday. It also said that from August 10, the airline will begin flights from three additional cities (Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Mumbai) for travel to UAE. According to Etihad, the airline will operate services from Chennai, Kochi, Bengaluru, Trivandrum, and New Delhi between August 7 and 9. Travellers must carry a negative result of a PCR test taken a maximum of 48 hours before the first flight departure time. “The test must be taken at an approved lab in the origin city and contain a QR code for verification." They must also take a rapid Covid-19 test no more than four hours before boarding the flight. An approval from the Federal Authority of Identity and Citizenship (ICA) is mandatory to travel. Once arrived in Abu Dhabi, all travellers will have to go under mandatory quarantine for 10 days. Besides, the travellers will have to wear a medically approved tracking wristband, provided by the airport authorities, during the quarantine period. The travellers under isolation will also have to take a PCR test on days four and eight. The airline passengers travelling to the UAE must have a valid residency and proof of having received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine within the UAE no less than 14 days before travel. UAE has allowed certain categories of unvaccinated people to return to the country. These include medical workers, UAE-based teachers, students, residents with extenuating circumstances, patients undergoing medical treatment in the UAE and employees who work for federal or local government agencies.

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India-Saudi Arabia air bubble arrangement under discussion

Indian government is discussing air bubble arrangements with the Saudi Arabian government. The Central government informed the Parliament that arrangement between India and Saudi Arabia is under finalisation. The Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, in a written answer to a question on the issue, said that the government has discussed finalisation of air bubble arrangement with Saudi Arabia. This will allow people from both the nations to travel without any issues during this time. He also informed that the finalisation couldn’t take place because of suspension of travel of Indian passengers to Saudi Arabia owing to rising cases of the new COVID variant. The Minister further said that as the situation improves, the issue will be taken up with the Saudi Arabian government. According to reports, more than 7.16 lakh Indian workers came back to India from Arabia during the pandemic till now. As of now, India has air bubble arrangements with 28 nations from across the globe. From Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India has travel arrangement will all thIndia-Saudi Arabia air bubble arrangement under discussionese countries.

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Domestic travel recovery continue; Mumbai airport reintroduces five flights to Tier-2 cities

July witnessed a 132% year on year growth in domestic passenger traffic as Covid-19 cases remained low in the month, revealed rating agency ICRA. Domestic passenger traffic grew around 56 -57% (at around 48-49 lakh) in July, compared to around 31.1 lakh in June 2021. According to ICRA, the airlines’ capacity deployment for July was 90% higher than July 2020 (47,200 departures in July this year against 24,770 departures in July last year). Kinjal Shah, vice president and co-group head, ICRA, “For July 2021, the average daily departures were at approximately 1,500, which is significantly higher than the average daily departures of around 800 in July 2020, and higher than around 1,100 in June 2021. Though it remains lower than around 2,000 in April 2021. The average number of passengers per flight during July 2021 was 104, against an average of 98 passengers per flight in June 2021.” “Though the recovery continued in July 2021, there is continued stress on demand, driven largely by the second wave of the pandemic, limiting travel to only necessary travel, while both leisure and business travel have been curtailed due to various state-wide restrictions, despite the decline in infections,” Shah added. While the scheduled international operations have been further suspended till August 31 the international passenger traffic for Indian carriers under the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) is estimated at around 2.1 lakh, seeing growth of approximately 43%. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) too witnessed a surge in passenger travel to the Tier 2 market in July. Sectors such as Hyderabad, Goa and Ahmedabad (top three tier-II sectors that performed) saw 7%, 5% and 5% passenger traffic respectively to these cities. Indigo, Air India and GoAir (the top three airlines) catered to over 3.5lakh, 80,000 and 46,000 passengers respectively. Looking at this upsurge in passenger traffic and easing of travel restrictions CSMIA reintroduced five domestic routes to Tier-2 cities like Bareilly, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Ajmer and Porbandar.

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Sonu Sood launches rural B2B travel tech platform Travel Union

Bollywood actor Sonu Sood on Friday launched Travel Union, a rural business to business (B2B) travel tech platform to democratise travel services. Travel Union members (travel agents) will work towards serving the travel needs of rural customers at every district, block and gram panchayat level. With a mission to support, digitally empower and build a leading travel agent business community in rural India at zero investment, Travel Union aims to be the largest rural digital travel services platform. At the rural level, the travel sector has been largely unorganised with no player focusing on the needs of Indians in tier-2 cities, towns and villages. Travel Union addresses multiple unfulfilled needs of rural travel agents, small business owners and enterprises, called Travel Union Members, the primary one being the absence of travel-tech platforms designed for rural travel at the core. The platform aggregates all available price options for a particular offering and shows Travel Union members the lowest prices they can offer their customers. It provides inventory, competitive prices, and state-of-the-art technology directly from airlines, railways, hotels, trips, wholesalers and aggregators. It also allows for online cancellations and refunds, eliminating the long wait customers usually have to endure. Members enjoy the benefit of earning high margins due to direct booking options available with multiple travel service partners. “During the lockdowns, I had first-hand experience of the challenges that rural Indians face when it comes to travel as well as the struggles of small business owners. The lack of tailored offerings catering to the needs of Bharat and addressing digital needs of rural citizens stayed with me. In fact, currently rural consumers have no option to pre-plan their travel and have to run to multiple operators for different kinds of travel needs. I envisioned Travel Union so that we can remove all barriers to travel and give an entrepreneurial opportunity to anyone in the nation who wants to start a career in travel industry," said Sood at the launch. The platform is designed as a one-stop shop for travel agents across India’s hinterlands offered through an app and web portal, making it the first super-aggregator platform to meet the needs of the rural customer. The platform will give access to all trains operating in India through IRCTC, over 500 domestic and international flights, over 10,000 bus operators and more than 10 lakh hotels to its members and consumers. Travel Union will augment the income and growth opportunities for the existing travel agents, offer an additional and steady stream of income for small business owners, provide new business opportunities for the aspirational entrepreneur and create a network of reliable Travel Union Members (travel agents) to assist the rural consumers. The onboarding of Travel Union Members will require zero investment from them and there is no recurring cost post onboarding either, lowering the barrier of entry. Also, it offers the lowest IRCTC agent ID purchase cost. Moreover, this cost gets refunded over a period of time upon successful transactions making this ID effectively free, which is an industry-first opportunity available only to Travel Union members. “This super aggregator app is the future of travel management, eliminating the need for multiple platforms, thus, offering 360° travel solutions in one place. It is the first and only Indian platform designed to help rural travel agents launch a profitable and successful business venture,” Sood added. Travel Union is presently available in English and Hindi, and will be launched in 11 more Indian languages. New and upcoming offerings on the platform also include domestic and international holiday packages, visa services, forex services as well as travel/ luggage accessories. Travel Union App is available to download on Google Play store.

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Maharashtra government to introduce policy for vacation rental homes

Maharashtra is drafting a 'vacation rental home' policy, given the changes in tourist preferences during the pandemic to stay in cozy residences in faraway places rather than hotel rooms, a senior official said. The policy will help regulate the entire trade of vacation homes, which will be approved after visits from government officials and the police, and help curb the menace of unsuspecting tourists getting fleeced, the state's Principal Secretary (Tourism) Valsa Nair Singh, said speaking at an event organised by the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Singh said there is a large demand for such homes in different parts of the state, where people are preferring to go stay in already built but unused residences in faraway places rather than in hotel rooms. There are dedicated platforms that have such properties listed, she said adding that there have been instances of fleecing where bogus apps have taken payments for non-existing properties which are discovered by the tourist only on reaching the spot. "We are in the process of drafting this policy. This will be a comprehensive policy, the place is checked, police has also checked before it is given a permission," Singh said. Singh said the tourism department is planning to have a caravan parking bay at the base of the historic Raigad fort, where the recreational vehicles can be parked by the tourists. About a dozen entrepreneurs have come forward with plans on the caravan front, she said adding that it will take up to two years to have a strong caravan touring culture in the state like the one seen in the west. Maharashtra, which has a 750-km coastline, will have beach shacks by October, she said adding that there has been movement on the beach shack policy which was made public last year. Sites have been identified and detailed plans set up, she said adding that the only missing aspect is coastal zone map compliance which will happen to open the shacks once the monsoons are over. She said the response to the agro-tourism policy has been much better than what the government had expected and the government has also made it mandatory for educational institutions to take excursions at such properties. Singh said there is a huge demand for tourism and the state's focus will be to tap into outbound tourists by giving them options within. The department has been running campaigns on social media to market the state and will be upping the activity in a month, she said

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