News

After a year, Air India Express to resume Surat-Sharjah flight

After a gap of almost a year, international flight will start operating again from Diamond City. From Saturday, Air India Express started booking for Surat-Sharjah flight which will run twice in a week. The flight will operate on Monday and Thursday from the city. The operations of the flight were discontinued in March last year after Covid-19 outbreak. It was in high demand, especially among diamond and jewellery business community in the city, due to Sharjah's proximity to Dubai. “The flight will come from Sharjah on March 28 and return to Sharjah on the next day. It is the only international flight the city has and people were desperately waiting for it,” said Sanjay Jain, a member of We Work for a Working Airport at Surat (WWWAS). The flight was also used by many travellers from other parts of the country. “It is good news for the city's business and industry that the Sharjah flight will resume operations again. Those travelling to Dubai and other destinations in the world will get easy connectivity,” said Dinesh Navadiya, president of Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “Going to Mumbai and then catching an international flight is time-consuming. We need direct flights to Dubai and Hong Kong as well,” Navadiya added.

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After 71% plunge last year, tourist footfalls pick up pace again in Raj

Tourist footfalls in the state dived 71% in 2020 compared to 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But recovery has been steady after the lockdown started to be lifted in June last year and movement of people began albeit with restrictions. In fact, in the first two months of 2021, the deficit in visitors, compared to January and February in 2020, has shrunk further to 49% despite curbs on movement of foreign travellers. After April and May turned a dud with zero visitors, the state received 26,113 visitors in June. Rajasthan was the first in the country to open its state monuments for visitors from June 2. The numbers continued to rise steadily, reaching 13.59 lakh tourists in December 2020. In January and February this year, the inflow further strengthened as the state received 16.02 lakh and 18.55 lakh tourists, respectively. A senior tourist department official said the upward trend was expected to continue in the coming months though the lean summer season was likely to run its course. “Given the way the pandemic has disrupted life and businesses, the steady pace of growth in tourist inflow is reassuring. From the days of gloom, we have reached a stage where we expect to touch the pre-Covid days. The department is playing its part to revive the sector. We are participating in tourism marts happening in various cities and activating our source markets. Also, the restart of tourism fairs and festivals will contribute to the revival,” said Nishant Jain, director, department of tourism.

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Singapore PM says may reopen borders for leisure and business travel by year-end

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a TV interview he hoped Singapore would start re-opening its borders by the end of the year as more countries ramp up vaccination drives against Covid-19 infections. The Southeast Asian island nation has largely banned leisure travel, but has put in place some business and official travel programmes. It is also discussing the mutual recognition of vaccine certificates with other nations. "I hope if that many countries can have substantial proportions of their populations vaccinated by later this year, we will be able to have the confidence and to have developed the systems to open up our international borders to travel safely again," Lee said in an interview with BBC that aired on Sunday. "Hopefully by the end of this year or next year, the doors can start to open, if not earlier," he said. The city-state has brought its Covid-19 situation under control with few new local cases and has been rolling out its vaccination programme, having approved shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

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Gujarat imposes night curfew in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot till March 31

To contain the surge in coronavirus cases, the Gujarat government on Tuesday decided to increase the night curfew timings in four major cities of the state by two hours. The curfew will now remain in force in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot from 10 pm to 6 am, an official statement said. The curfew timings earlier were from 12 am to 6 am. The decision was taken on Tuesday in the core committee meeting of the coronavirus task-force headed by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. "The state government has decided to impose curfew from 10 pm to 6 am in view of the increasing cases of coronavirus," the government said in the statement. The restrictions will be in place till March 31, it added. The Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) on Monday said the next three T20 matches between India and England will be played without any spectators at the Narendra Modi Stadium here in view of rising cases of coronavirus. On Monday, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation also asked eateries, restaurants and malls in eight wards of the city to close down at 10 pm. Gujarat on Monday reported 890 new cases of coronavirus, taking its tally to 2,79,097. Last month, the state was reporting around 200 new cases every day. Surat has been reporting the highest number of coronavirus cases in the state, followed by Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Rajkot, as per official data.

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Maldivian appoints Bird Travels as GSA in Mumbai

Maldivian, the National Carrier of the Republic of Maldives, owned and operated by Island Aviation Services Limited (IAS), has appointed Bird Travels, the airline management service arm of Bird Group, as its General Sales Agent (GSA) in Mumbai. The appointment is part of Maldivian's expansion in India, which aims to strengthen the airline's sales team and provide support to the Indian travel trade. Maldivian is the leading domestic carrier ‘connecting the atolls’ within the Maldives and providing its customers with safe and convenient air transportation all year around. On the international front, the airline currently operates to India and Bangladesh from its main hub at Velana International Airport. The announcement also comes at a time when the Island nation is witnessing a surge in inbound tourists from India like never before. Currently, Maldives is the only country offering Indians travel with least encumbrances. Talking about the strategic importance of the Indian market for the airline, Aishath Jennifer, Deputy Managing Director, said, “Maldives is the top destination in the South Asian region and a main leisure market for Indian travelers; and this relationship with Bird is a vital one for us and one we believe will flourish.” With over 47 years of experience, Bird Group is one of India’s leading travel management companies representing 28 international airlines in India. The GSA office for Maldivian will be located in Mumbai.

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Planning to Travel by Long-Distance Train? Check New Rules Amid Covid-19 Surge

The Ministry of Railways on Monday, March 15 shared an important message on their official Twitter account. In their post, the ministry urged people travelling from train to read and adhere to the guidelines issued by different states. They informed that some states have a requirement of RT-PCR test within 72-96 hours of train arrival. When the coronavirus pandemic had hit last year, passenger trains were entirely suspended ever since the national lockdown. Passenger trains have started functioning in a full-fledged manner very recently. The Railways Ministry has been taking a lot of precautions on their part to ensure that people can commute safely. But now, as the COVID-19 cases are increasing once again, the ministry has advised all commuters to strictly adhere to the guidelines. In the graphic shared with the tweet, the Railways urged everyone to carefully go through the guidelines of the state they are visiting. They have clearly mentioned that each state has specific guidelines, which the passenger should be aware about. Further, it has been mentioned that some states need the latest COVID-19 test report to permit entry. A part of the tweet read, “Passengers are requested to read the health advisory guidelines issued by different states before the commencement of their journey."

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