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North Goa: Beach shacks likely to open from November

The tourism department has started the demarcation of beach shacks along the North Goa coast, and the process will likely be completed in the next 10-15 days. This was recently announced by Tourism Director Menino D’Souza. Reportedly, the tourism department is now working along Goa's North coastal belt, which includes Candolim, Calangute, and Anjuna. This process of area allotment for the beach shacks, has come as a major relief to many business owners, who have been waiting to resume operations soon. However, in the wake of COVID pandemic this year, the previous schedule set for October has been delayed. With the work in progress, the beach shack owners are hoping to get their business operation with shacks up and running by November first week. They are hoping that the upcoming festive season might likely help them boost their sales. As of now, the state is registering incoming domestic tourists; foreign arrivals have not started yet, and charter flights are yet to be functional. There are shack operators that rely exclusively on charter tourists; however, this season will likely be different as the holiday season will begin without any charter arrival. With COVID-19 still not gone and losses suffered by operators due to the pandemic, the government has announced to reduce the licence fee for shacks by 50 per cent. However, the said process of demarcation of beach shacks in South Goa is yet to start as the tourism department is short of manpower to get started with it. Reportedly, many tourism department officials have taken up COVID related duties at the South Goa Collectorate building, which will be taking some time.

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Vistara to operate more flights from Delhi, Mumbai to Goa to service demand

Vistara will operate more flights to Goa from Delhi and Mumbai from Sunday as there has been a "positive response and demand" on these sectors, said a senior airline official on Wednesday. The airline plans to operate two more weekly flights on the Delhi-Goa route and one more weekly flight on the Mumbai-Goa route, the official said. Goa sees a huge influx of tourists during every winter. "Vistara is currently operating 9x weekly flights between Delhi and Goa, and 10x weekly flights between Mumbai and Goa," Vinod Kannan, Chief Commercial Officer of Vistara, told PTI. "Considering the encouraging response on these sectors, we plan to increase it to 11x weekly flights between Delhi/Mumbai and Goa in the winter schedule starting 25 October 2020," he added. The coastal state sees a high number of foreign tourists, including a sizable number from Russia and Britain, during the winter season. From August 28 onwards, Vistara started operating special flights on Delhi-London route using its newly-inducted Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. "The (Delhi-London) flights have also been re-timed, effective October 25, to enable convenient connections to and from several cities across India, including Goa," Kannan said. The airline would operate five flights a week on the Delhi-London route from November 21, instead of four a week being operated currently, and a daily service from December 1. The increase in frequency to and from Goa as well as on the Delhi-London sector are resultants of the positive response and demand on these routes, Kannan noted. "We do expect travel to further pick up, especially around the festive season in India, however, customers' considerations will still largely depend on health and safety measures, and streamlining of quarantine requirements," he said. The aviation minister had also recently said that airline traffic and demand for domestic travel is expected to reach pre-COVID-19 levels by the end of 2020, Kannan added. India had resumed its scheduled domestic passenger flights from May 25 after a gap of two months due to the pandemic. Currently, airlines are allowed to operate maximum 60 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights. "According to our customer survey concluded in June, 65 per cent of the respondents expected to take their next Vistara flight before December. This gives us confidence as we continue to monitor passenger demand and scale up our operations in a calibrated manner," Kannan said. Scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special international passenger flights have been operating between India and various other countries, including the UK, under air bubble arrangements. Vistara's London flights are currently being operated under the India-UK air bubble pact. In such a pact, airlines of both countries can operate special passenger flights to each other's territories under certain restrictions.

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IRCTC’s ‘Padharo Rajasthan’ tour to begin from Nov 18

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) has swung back into action with several tours in the coming months. The corporation had halted all train tour operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and has revamped its SOPs and is ready with tours for train travel enthusiasts. The first in this series is the 4 nights/5 Days Padharo Rajasthan Tour which will start from Delhi on November 18, 2020 and cover Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. The Deluxe Tourist Train which was launched by IRCTC in 2018 has a host of features including two fine dining restaurants, a modern kitchen, shower cubicles in coaches, sensor based washroom functions, foot massager. The fully air-conditioned train provides two types of accommodation viz. First AC and 2nd AC. For enhanced security, IRCTC has also deployed private Security Guards on the train. The 04 Nights/ 05 Days trip will cover the sand dunes at Sam in Thar desert, Gadisar lake, Jaisalmer fort, Jain temples, Royal Havelis, War museum etc at Jaisalmer and Mehrangarh fort, Jaswant Thada, Ummaid Bhawan palace museum, Maa Chamunda temple & Mandore garden at Jodhpur. To ensure the safety measures post Covid-19 in the new normal in this deluxe tourist train, provision for booking is limited to around 120 tourists against the total capacity of 156 tourists. Besides this, IRCTC will also provide a safety kit to all tourists, containing face masks, hand gloves, sanitizer and also a face shield. Regular temperature check of tourists, train sanitisation at halt stations and other precautions will be done.

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Govt relaxes travel guidelines; overseas Indians, foreigners can now visit India

In a big relief to Indians living abroad, all OCI (Overseas Citizens of India) and PIO ( Persons of Indian Origin) card-holders and other foreign nationals who want to visit India for any purpose, except on a tourist visa, have been permitted to enter the country. A Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) statement said on Thursday that anyone who wishes to visit India by air or water routes through authorised airports and seaport immigration check posts will be allowed do so, except for tourist visas. The latest decision will enable foreign nationals to come to India for various purposes such as business, conferences, employment, studies, research, medical purposes etc. "In view of the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of India had taken a series of steps to curtail the inward and outward movement of international passengers since February, 2020," an MHA statement said, adding that it has decided to make a graded relaxation in visa and travel restrictions. Under this relaxation, the government will restore all existing visas (except electronic visa, tourist visa and medical visa) with immediate effect. Foreign nationals who want to visit India for medical treatment can also apply for a medical visa, including for medical attendants, the home ministry statement added. People coming in via various travel arrangements will be allowed travel to the country but they'll have to follow all MHA guidelines. "This includes flights operated under Vande Bharat Mission, Air Transport Bubble arrangements or by any non-scheduled commercial flights as allowed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. All such travelers will, however have to strictly adhere to the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare regarding quarantine and other health/COVID-19 matters," the government statement said. The Centre said if validity of such visas has expired, fresh visas of appropriate categories can be obtained from Indian mission or posts concerned. Notably, the ban on international flights to or from India had been extended till October 30 earlier. However, the international scheduled flights on selected routes were being allowed. The government had suspended scheduled international and domestic flights in India since March 23. After two months of long hiatus, domestic flights resumed operations on May 25 but international flights have continued to remain suspended. However, air passengers can still travel abroad or can come to India via air bubble arrangement.

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Goa’s tourism sees boom in the time of Covid! Vistara to operate more flights; Check routes, dates

Vistara airline currently operates 10x weekly flights between Goa and Mumbai and 9x weekly flights between Goa and Delhi. Citing positive, encouraging demand and response, Vistara will be operating 11x weekly flights from October 25. Goa has been one of the most popular tourist destinations in India not just for desi travelers but also for globetrotters. The coastal state witnesses a sizeable number of foreign tourists including those from Russia and Britain, during the winter season. This year Coronavirus pandemic cast a shadow on the tourism sector. However, there is a silver lining that people are beginning to visit their favorite destinations. Vistara has said that it will operate more flights on Delhi-Goa and Mumbai-Goa routes. The Vistara has revealed that the airline was planning to operate two more weekly flights between Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) and Goa International Airport (GOI) and one weekly flight on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (BOM) and Goa Airport, as per PTI report

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IndiGo celebrating Durga Puja at six airports

IndiGo on Thursday said it is celebrating Durga Puja through Dhunuchi dance, Alpona design and Sindoor Khela at six airports from October 21 to 27. These six stations are Kolkata, Silchar, Guwahati, Bagdogra, Agartala and Jorhat, IndiGo said in a press release. “In addition, special Bengali food menu has been introduced as part of 6E tiffin, which will be available exclusively on flights from Kolkata for travel dates between on October 21 to 27 October,” the airline said. The carrier said this celebration is part of its “India by IndiGo” campaign that promotes diverse Indian culture. “The (Oct 21-Oct 27) festivities will include Dhunuchi dance, Alpona design and Sindoor Khela at the airport, while the staff will be dressed in traditional Puja clothes and boarding gate and inflight announcements will be made in Bengali,” the airline said.

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