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Phuket, Thailand is ‘100% ready’ to welcome tourists

The Thailand Special Tourist Visa (STV) is a special visa introduced by the Tourism Authority of Thailand for long-stay tourists who would like to travel to Thailand. It is one of the economic measures by the Thai government to restore the local tourism industry that has been affected heavily by COVID-19. For weeks, the Phuket International Airport is preparing for the arrival of the first groups of foreign tourists who applied for the new Special Tourist Visa with COVID-19 mobile testing vehicles parked in the airport to test the incoming tourists upon arrival. “At this stage, Phuket International Airport is 100% ready for welcoming and testing tourists arriving on the STV (Special Tourist Visa). The lab and mobile lab trucks together can test 578 tourists per day,” the minister confirmed. Moreover, 17 hotels have also been approved and designated as alternative state quarantine facilities for the tourists. This opens 1,900 rooms for the required quarantine. The government aims to have at least 5,000 rooms available.

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Portugal Welcomes Indian Travelers for Tourism

The beautiful European country, Portugal, which is all set to welcome more international visitors, says it hopes to see tourists from India as well. Q: What’s the status of the travel – both domestic and international in Portugal like? A: The Portuguese government has been taking all necessary public health measures to protect the entire population. The analysis of the evolution of the outbreak is constant and implementation of new measures will be carried out whenever necessary. We believe, we have managed this situation with good results. Our main concern is always criteria and responsibility for public and health assurance. We are seen as an example of how well we managed the pandemic situation, and because of Turismo de Portugal initiatives, we were the first European Country awarded with ‘Safe Travels’ stamp from the World Travel & Tourism Council. We undertook several measures to ensure safety to the ones that visit us: Clean&Safe stamp which certifies tourism activities or equipment (from rent a car to hotels, museums to event venues, etc) that comply with clean and health protocols. Turismo de Portugal gave more than 22,300 stamps and trained more than 22,000 staff. Tourists can track all the establishments and tourist services with a Clean&Safe stamp, in a specific website Evaluating the compliance with a traffic light system; Portugal Health Passport, granting access to previously fixed costs to health care providers at private hospitals in Portugal and tourists can have Portugal Health Passport by registering on the platform; Portugal Travel Insurance, covering health expenses, repatriation, cancellation travel issues originated by COVID-19; Stay Away COVID, Portuguese voluntary and free App, indicating if you have been exposed to the disease and we had already 1,29 million downloads. There are rules regarding social distancing and use of beach facilities and equipment. The level of occupancy will be shown using colored flags at the beach, and travelers should download the Info Praia app, which will show real-time information on water quality and occupancy levels. As far as domestic tourism is concerned Turismo de Portugal launched a campaign #TuPodes, visita Portugal, being an invitation to all the Portuguese to discover the reasons which made our country World’s Leading Destination. We have been having tourists and they are enjoying themselves and we are obliviously very grateful to those because all partners in the tourism sector in Portugal, either private or public have worked together and very hard to set Portugal as a safe destination and this is already a successful achievement! In September we had a 45 per cent air connectivity capacity, 35 international airlines, 100 cities.

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Indians can now travel to 21 countries

Tanzania, Netherlands and Rwanda have been added to the list of countries with whom India now has an air travel bubble arrangement. This takes the total number of countries, to where Indians now can travel, to 21. As Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri had earlier pointed out, air bubbles are "at a stage short of normal civil aviation activities." In other words, these flights are a little more evolved than the repatriation flights, but have not yet reached the 'normal' stage. Under the arrangement, airlines from both the countries are allowed to operate a specified number of flights between cities. Following is the list of the 21 countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, the US, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Netherlands, Canada, Iraq, Kenya, Oman and Ukraine. Even though domestic flights resumed in May, India has kept scheduled international travel suspended. It is now suspended till November 30. Since May though, the government has been operating international flights under the Vande Bharat Mission repatriation exercise. The Ministry of Civil Aviation had released guidelines on who can travel out, or travel to India, under the repatriation and travel bubble flights. A complete list of the guideline, specific to each country, can be seen here. In October, the government had relaxed visa restrictions for international passengers, with only those on tourist visa now barred from entering the country.

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India’s first solar-powered miniature train launched at Veli Tourist Village in Kerala

A solar energy-driven miniature train, billed as the country’s first of its kind, was inaugurated at the Veli Tourist Village here by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday. The train, which would be an attraction for children especially, was part of a string of projects totally worth Rs 60 crore taken up to elevate the facilities at the panoramic destination to international standards. Vijayan also dedicated an “Urban Park” and a swimming pool at the eco-friendly tourist village, located on the outskirts of the state capital where the Veli Lake meets the Arabian Sea. The miniature rail has all the features of a fully- equipped rail system, including a tunnel, station and a ticket office. The train has three bogies that can accommodate around 45 people at a time. “The eco-friendly solar-powered 2.5 km miniature railway will enable visitors to enjoy the beauty of nature. The Rs 10 crore project is the first of its kind in the country,” the Chief Minister said in his online address. Artificial steam spouted by the engine of the train, modelled after the vintage steam locomotive, will stir nostalgic feelings. The station house was also designed in a traditional style. The surplus energy generated by the system will be routed to the Kerala State Electricity Board’s grid, Vijayan said. A tourist facilitation centre, convention centre and Art Cafe are also to be opened at Veli soon. The convention centre will have an art gallery, digital display facility to feature major tourism and cultural centres of the state and an open-air theatre. These world-class facilities will impart a new look to Veli, the Chief Minister said. Tourism Minister Kadakampalluy Surendran, who presided, noted the government had allotted around Rs 120 crore for the tourism sector. Of these, administrative sanction has been given to Rs 60 crore worth projects at Veli itself. This showed the governments determination to transform Veli into one of the most attractive destinations for tourists, he said. Among the projects at Veli, Rs 20 crore worth of works have been completed, and other schemes were progressing, he said adding the tourist facilitation centre will be opened in January. The urban park entailed a budget of Rs 5 crore and the swimming pool Rs 2.5 crore.

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Kaziranga National Park starts elephant safaris; COVID-19 protocol in place

Assam's Kaziranga National Park resumes its much-awaited elephant safaris, a few days the park has been thrown open to tourists. However, officials at the park allowed booking for only 37 seats while following COVID-19 protocols. The Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve were thrown open to visitors on October 21. Referring to this, Assam Minister of Excise, Forest and Environment and Fisheries Parimal Suklabaidya welcomed the tourists to 'get amazed at majestic Kaziranga'. The park has been closed since March due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and flood, and was thrown open recently. While jeep safaris were on, elephant safaris were on hold till now. As per the park authorities, tourists from both Assam and outside the state, including foreign tourists, have been visiting the spot in large numbers. Regarding the elephant safaris, Kaziranga National Park director P. Sivakumar, while talking to the media, said that they have resumed the elephant safaris with just 10 elephants and that the number will be increased on the basis of the response in the coming days. He also added that privately-owned elephants would be subsequently allowed to undertake safaris at the Bagori range of the park after November 10. He also added that as against 100 per cent booking, i.e., 40 seats per day under Kohora range for the elephant safaris, they have allowed only 37 seats for occupancy while adhering to the COVID-19 safety protocols. The park authorities also stated that the Laokhowa-Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuary will also be thrown open for visitors from November.

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Surge in demand for rail travel: Out of 736 special trains, 327 have waitlisted passengers

New Delhi, Nov 2 (PTI) Out of the 736 special trains currently in operation, 327 have passengers in the waiting list, the Railways said Monday, indicating a major surge in demand from people keen on travelling even as the coronavirus pandemic refuses to die down. According to data provided by the Railways, the average occupancy of these special trains is around 92 per cent. 'We are monitoring these 327 trains daily. Once we determine the nature of the waitlist -- for how many days is the waitlist and how long -- we will run clone trains on those routes. 'We have been saying that we will introduce trains wherever necessary, but they will be only reserved trains and will follow all coronavirus protocols,' said Railway Board Chairman and CEO V K Yadav at a press briefing on Monday. The Railways, which had suspended all passenger train services since the lockdown in March, has so far earned Rs 3,322 crore as revenue from the segment, which is 90 per cent less than what it earned during the same period last year, Yadav said. Other than the 736 special trains being operated, the Railways is also running 200 services of the Kolkata Metro, 2,276 Mumbai suburban services, 20 special clone trains and 436 festival special trains from October 20 to November 30. Yadav said while the overall occupancy of the 736 trains is around 92 per cent, 19 trains have occupancy below 30 per cent, 44 have occupancy between 30 per cent and 50 per cent, 83 trains have occupancy between 50 per cent and 75 per cent and 327 trains have waitisting. Yadav also said besides Mumbai, the Railways is geared to begin suburban services in other cities. Discussions are underway with the West Bengal and the Tamil Nadu governments in finalising modalities for the resumption of suburban services there, he said. While passenger trains have all but stalled, the Railways' freight business seems to be speeding forward with incremental loading of over 14.32 metric tonne over October 2019. In October this year, the freight revenue was Rs 869 crore more than last year and it also saw the highest ever automobile loading. While 320 rakes of automotives were loaded in October 2020, as many as 162 were loaded in 2019 which is around a 97.5 per cent increase. Overall this year, the cumulative automobile loading surpassed last year with 1,156 rakes as compared to 886 rakes till October 2020 which is a 30.5 per cent increase.

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