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Indian travel agencies plan ‘vaccine tourism’ with packages for UK, US and Russia

New Delhi: With the United Kingdom government approving the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine, travel agencies in India have already started planning ‘vaccine tourism’ packages for Indians who want to travel to England to take the shots. Travel agencies such as Zenith Holidays in Kolkata, Gem Tours & Travels in Mumbai and Chariot World Tours in Bengaluru confirmed that they are formulating such tour packages, which could even include the vaccine cost. Travel agents have also been receiving many enquiries from Indians about travelling to the UK as soon as possible for the purpose, PTI reported last week. But there are words of caution from even within the industry. “Unless we hear from the Indian or the UK government, nobody should be offering tours like these,” Jyoti Mayal, president, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), told ThePrint. “Also, travel agents can get dragged into legal suits if they are making offers that are not authentic or yet to be approved by local governments.” The mass vaccination drive in the UK is likely to begin as early as this week with the elderly, especially those with comorbidities, on the priority list for the first phase. Then, the vaccine will be administered to the other risk groups from January to April. The vaccine will be administered in hospitals, mass vaccination centres and by general practitioners and pharmacists. It is a two-dose vaccine. India is currently allowing international flights via ‘air bubble arrangements’ with only 22 countries, including the UK. An individual has to undergo 14-day self isolation upon arrival in the UK but can opt for a Covid test after five days, the results of which normally come back within 24 to 48 hours. This means people can stop self-isolating after six days if they test negative.

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Kolkata metro extends timings and runs additional services

Kolkata Metro will be running additional services and will also be extending the timings of its services from Monday, December 7, 2020. In order to facilitate passengers to travel conveniently the Metro Railway, Kolkata, will run 204 daily services, instead of the earlier 190 services, every Monday to Saturday. In a tweet, Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways, also commended the Kolkata Metro team for extending its services. The first service will start from both Dum Dum and Kavi Subhash at 07.00 hrs, instead of 08.00hrs on Monday and from Noapara at 07.09 hrs instead of 08.09 hrs. From Monday onwards, the last service will leave Kavi Subhash and Dum Dum at 21.30 hrs, instead of 21.00 hrs and from Noapara at 21.25 hrs instead of 20.55 hrs. The metro services will be available every 7 minutes during the morning and evening peak hours. For senior citizens, ladies and children (below 15 years), e-pass will not be required throughout the day. For all other passengers, e-pass will not be required only in between 07.00 hrs to 08.30 hrs in the morning and 20.00 hrs onwards in the evening. No token will be issued, only smart card shall be used.

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Tourism Ministry to explore scope of travel insurance to boost travellers' confidence

The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has reported to have started preliminary consultation with the insurance sector players and the Ministry of Finance about the possibilities of introducing a travel Insurance to boost the confidence of international visitors. This was informed by Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General - Tourism while speaking at a webinar organised by the Federation of Associations of Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH). Brar said that the government is considering different international models like that of the Singapore government in this regard so that at least a structure can be put in place. Reassuring the travel and tourism trade audience at the webinar about the various steps under consideration of the government to revive the tourism sector in the country, Brar said that there have been “no dearth of interest, inclination or ideas” in the different stakeholders at the government and the private sector and only a confident industry can infuse confidence and trust in the consumers as travel restarts internationally. Commenting on the industry’s demand for a Task Force between Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Civil Aviation, she said that there is an Inter Ministerial Committee in place which has seized many of the issues being flagged by the Tourism industry already. While international inbound travel has its own significance as it brings foreign exchange to the country and therefore high value compared to domestic, Brar said that the travel industry should not lose sight of the domestic potential and channelise it through professional services and innovative packages. As the vaccine against the pandemic is in sight and travel revival is not far away, she said that the Tourism Ministry is currently finalising content to send out as digital campaigns, through all possible channels, demonstrating the welcoming message and safety and security measures being put in place for visitors. These campaigns will be rolled out in the next couple of weeks time, she added. Nakul Anand, Chairman, FAITH while setting the agenda of the meeting urged for a Task Force between Ministry of Tourism, and Ministry of Civil Aviation to sort out various issues on a real time basis that crop up hindering the revival of travel and tourism in the country post-pandemic.

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In a first, Lahaul to remain open for tourists in winter too

The snow-bound Lahaul valley will remain open for visitors in winter season for the first time ever. After holding a meeting with the Lahaul administration officials, HP tribal development minister Ram Lal Markanda said there would be no restriction on tourist inflow to the valley in clear weather. Outsiders, for the first time, would get to experience the winters of this tribal belt, which used get cut off from the rest of the world after snowfall, he added. The road to the valley would kept clear of snow and tourism infrastructure would be developed on war footing, the minister said. “Tourist footfall in the valley has increased suddenly after opening of the Atal tunnel. There will be no restriction on movement of tourists if weather is clear. We shall organise skiing, winter carnival and other events to attract more tourists this season. Meanwhile, we need to develop our infrastructure to meet the growing demand,” Markanda said. He said a ‘yatri niwas’ at Sissu, adequate parking at Keylong, large bus stand, parking and cafeteria at Trilokinath would be built soon. Parking spaces, dustbins, waste management facilities, viewpoints, parks, tourism activities centers, exploration of new destinations and organising cultural events for tourists were in the offing. Markanda said Lahaul had received Rs 65 crore under the tribal sub-plan which would be spent on its development. The Lahaul-Spiti district, known as cold deserts of Himachal, gets very heavy snowfall from November to March. The area is coldest in the state with minimum temperature at some places plunging below minus 25. Visiting Lahaul in winter season was impossible till Atal tunnel connected Lahaul with Manali. Nearly one lakh tourists have already visited the valley in just two months. These days tourists are not being allowed beyond Sissu due to surge in the Covid-19 cases. Most areas near tunnel had been made containment zones. The restriction is expected to be lifted soon.

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Jharkhand ready with a new tourism policy to create local jobs

The state tourism department has drafted a new tourism policy aimed at encouraging private investments to boost tourist circuits and generate local jobs locally after concluding that the one framed by the former government of Raghubar Das in 2015 had failed to achieve similar objectives. “The draft of the New Tourism Policy 2020 is ready and has received an in-principle nod from chief minister Hemant Soren,” an official of the department said on Friday, adding that work on it had begun soon after the Hemant Soren government took office in December last year. Referring to some of the salient features of the policy that is yet to be put in the public domain, the official said, “The policy has the provision of providing 30 per cent subsidy, or Rs 10 crore _ whichever is lesser _ on capital investment of a private party. If the investment is made in a tribal area, then there’s an additional 5 per cent subsidy.” He noted that the 2015 tourism policy failed to bring any private investment and whatever projects were rolled out in Jharkhand during the time were done with government funds. “Private players were roped in to develop projects on an outsourcing basis. This model can’t be sustainable unless investments are encouraged to take place in this sector for building parks, amusement options, hotels and so on. The new policy aims to be forward-looking, wooing investors to create all-round facilities for tourists,” said the official who has been involved in drafting the new policy. The 2020 policy also aims to create employment opportunities for an estimated 75,000 to one lakh people. As per statistics available with the tourism department, around 3.5 crore tourists had visited Jharkhand in 2018-19 of which around 1.50 lakh were foreign arrivals. Figures of 2019-20 are yet to be released. “The tourism and hospitality sector is the biggest job-creator, besides contributing to state earnings. One of the provisions of the new policy is to set up a tourism security force (TSF) that will act as facilitators for incoming tourists, take care of their well-being and double up as guides,” he said. The state tourism sector has been divided into 12 parts for specific interventions and plans. These include religious tourism, eco-tourism, cultural tourism, rural tourism, craft tourism, adventure tourism, weekend getaway, film tourism, water sports, recreation tourism, wellness tourism and mine tourism. “Also, there is a plan to geo-tag every tourist point, document the place and put it out along with available facilities on a single-window platform so that it can act as a ready reckoner for visitors. It will also help the government keep a track of every incoming visitor, their movement and their well-being from safety and security point of view,” he said. State tourism director A. Dodde said the new policy would be tabled in the cabinet soon. “We presented the new policy before the chief minister and chief secretary on Thursday and received an in-principal go-ahead,” he said.

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Vaccine for Covid-19 will be ready in a few weeks: PM Modi

Addressing an all-party meeting through video conferencing, where he briefed them about the status of the development of the Covid-19 vaccine, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed hope that the vaccine to fight coronavirus is all set to hit the market in a few weeks time. “Experts believe that the coronavirus vaccine will be ready in the next few weeks,” PM Modi said in the all-party meeting, raising hope among Indians to enter another stage of fighting the pandemic in the New Year. The Prime Minister said that the vaccine is expected to be ready in the next few weeks and the exercise will begin as the government gets a go-ahead from the scientists. The frontline health workers will be administered the vaccine In the first phase. PM Modi said that around 8 vaccines are under different stages of trial in the world and 3 of them are in India currently. He said that the country has the adequate experience in vaccination programmes and the required healthcare network. A special software has also been developed for vaccine stock and real-time information. As far as the pricing of the vaccine is concerned, PM Modi said that the pricing will be decided in consultation with the states. The representatives of political parties attending the meeting demanded that the vaccine should be made available, free of cost, to all the people.

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