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Nepal: Trekking trips likely from October 17

Nepal is gradually opening up after six-month COVID-19 lockdown, as part of gradual opening Nepal’s Cabinet is now planning to allow intercity buses, domestic flights, restaurants, and hotels. Reportedly, mountaineering and trekking groups will also be allowed to take visitors up to the mountains from October 17. This was recently announced by government spokesperson and Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali during a press briefing. As per the reports, the decision was taken on Monday’s Cabinet meeting on the recommendation of the COVID-19 Crisis Management Committee (CCMC). The Nepal Government has relaxed the lockdown from September 13 in Kathmandu Valley. Although Nepal allowed a limited number of international flights to resume on September 1, the number of people visiting the country was limited to just 800 passengers. This is also set to increase to up to 3000 passengers, as per the reports. Things that visitors need to know before travelling to the Himalayan republic is that you will need to produce an RT-PCR negative test result, which has been done no more than 72 hours before departure. Also providing such a test result will mean that travellers will not be required to self-isolate or quarantine on arrival in the country. Prior to this announcement, two expeditions were granted permission to climb in Nepal. Now, with this announcement, mountaineering and trekking groups will be allowed to take visitors to the country up to the mountain trails.

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Hyderabad finally resumes bus services on 25 routes, face masks and self-sanitising mandatory

After a six-month hiatus due to COVID-19, bus services resumed on 25 out of 50 major routes in Hyderabad. According to P Venkat Reddy, manager of the Barkatpura Bus Depot, buses will function at 25 per cent capacity and masks will be mandatory for all passengers. “We have informed the Road Transportation Corporation (RTC) staff that we are starting the city bus service from today with 25 per cent capacity. Masks and self-sanitising have been made mandatory for everyone. We request the people to follow social distancing norms so that everyone stays safe,” Reddy told ANI. He added that the cost of a bus ticket was the same as it was before the lockdown. “Hand sanitisers have been put inside the bus for passengers and the whole bus has also been sanitised. The conductor and I will ensure that protocol is followed,” Mohammed Saleem, a bus driver said. “It is good that the city bus service has resumed in Hyderabad. We have faced a lot of problems in the last six months and I am excited to be able to move around the city now. Authorities have informed us about precautions that have to be taken,” said Madhu, a passenger on the bus.

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International and domestic flights: Four major relaxations provided to airlines

From a complete shutdown of international and domestic flights in March and April, India has come a long way achieving the one crore passenger mark in the domestic sector. Vande Bharat Mission (VBM), which started in May, facilitated repatriation and outbound travel of nearly 18 lakh citizens, according to aviation ministry data. “Moving towards Pre-COVID figures. Congratulations to all stakeholders on achieving this milestone! We continue our journey towards creating an #AatmaNirbharBharat,” civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri has tweeted. In this period of time, several major relaxations have been provided to the airlines to boost domestic and international traffic. In this period of time, several major relaxations have been provided to the airlines to boost domestic and international traffic. Internation air traffic got a leg-up after India started signing air bubbles with specific countries allowing both-way traffic. At present, India has air bubbles with 14 countries. Baggage rules Airlines are now allowed to implement their own check-in baggage policies instead of one check-in bag of up to 20 kg per passenger — a rule that was put in place when domestic flights commenced on May 25. On-board meal services In August, the government allowed airlines to serve pre-packed meals, snacks, beverages on domestic flights and hot meals on international flights. No meals were allowed on domestic flights in the initial months. International flights were allowed to serve snacks, pre-packed cold meals.

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Indian Railways likely to run more special trains ahead of festive season in October

New Delhi: Expecting a surge in travel demand during the upcoming festive season in October, Indian Railways is likely to announce around 80 more special trains. The Indian Railways like every year is expecting an increase in the number of travellers as the festive season ahead has festivals like Dussehara, Navratri, Diwali and Bhai Duj. The Railways had earlier announced to run 80 special and 40 clone trains in September. The clone trains started running from September 21 for which the reservations started on September 10. This was the first time that the Indian Railways ran 40 clone or duplicate trains on high-demand routes and the advance reservation period for these trains is 10 days. These trains were in addition to the 310 special trains which are already in operation. These trains will be run one or two hours ahead of the departure of special trains. Accroding to the Indian Railways, the travel time and the stoppages will be limited to operational halts.

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Saudi Arabia partially relaxes ban by allowing outbound flights to India

Saudi Arabia has partially relaxed its suspension on international flights from India. The country has now decided to allow scheduled flights to fly from India while retaining the suspension on passengers flying from India to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia banned flights to and from India on Tuesday amid a surge in coronavirus cases. In a circular issued on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said it was "suspending travel to and from the following countries: (India, Brazil and Argentina) including any person who has been in any of the mentioned countries above in the last 14 days prior to their arrival to the Kingdom”. However, it excluded "passengers who have official government invitations. The GACA circular — titled: Suspension of travel to countries where the COVID-19 virus has outbreak’ — was marked to all the airlines and chartered flight companies operating at the Saudi Arabia’s airports. Saudi Arabia and the UAE host a significant Indian migrant population. Five days back, Air India Express had said the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) suspended its flights for 24 hours for bringing two passengers with COVID-positive certificates on August 28 and September 4. Dubai is the most populous city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23 due to the outbreak. However, special international flights have been operating between India and Saudi Arabia since May 6 under the Vande Bharat mission. India’s COVID-19 caseload has reached 56,46,010, and the death toll has climbed to 90,020 with 1,085 people succumbing to the disease in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry’s data updated at 8 am Wednesday showed.

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Cruise to be a major contributor in reviving Domestic Tourism: Vijay Kesavan, Jalesh Cruises

The travel and tourism industry witnessed a sharp decline owing to the global crisis that is the spread of the pandemic. With travel coming to a near standstill due to coronavirus restrictions, domestic/local travel and tourism will substitute the foreign tourism demand at the moment. For the Indian Travel Industry, the next big opportunity is right here at home. Our country is a treasure trove of unexplored gems that are sure to excite every kind of traveller, making domestic tourism a gold mine of possibilities. Domestic Cruise Tourism offers the biggest scope for the Indian travel industry. In lieu of the pandemic, we are witnessing global travel restrictions and with it, changing consumer preferences, which means now is the perfect time to tap into domestic tourism. Owing to the problems caused due to the pandemic, the tourism ministry assured that they would help speed up tourism activities and make India a popular destination post-COVID- 19 era. The tourism ministry has already started involving stakeholders such as travel influencers and travel media to understand how they can promote ‘Incredible India’ as well as cater and keep the travelling audience safe. With limitations for international travel, one will have to largely depend on domestic tourism, which is likely to catalyse recovery of the country’s economy. Domestic tourism is on the rise as people are looking at exploring new destinations, closer to home. Being geographically blessed the Indian coastlines are nothing short of a tropical paradise, and our nation boasts some of the most beautiful islands of the world and this is paving way for a rise in demand for cruise travel within the country. Despite a global pandemic, there has never been a better time for Domestic Cruise Tourism. Our culture of Atithi Devo Bhava will encourage countrymen to explore their country in a post COVID era. We know that sailing on a cruise ship has been on your bucket list for a while, and now, it’s time to turn that dream into reality.

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