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Odisha to revive river cruise tourism

BHUBANESWAR: IN a bid to revive the tourism industry amid Covid-19 pandemic, the State Government on Thursday announced plans to revive river cruise tourism on public private partnership (PPP) mode. Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy directed the Tourism Department to chalk out modalities while exploring possibilities of innovative tourism activities at high level meeting with experts and stakeholders on digital mode. Tourism Secretary Vishal Dev said three principal river cruise circuits can be developed in river Mahanadi, Chilika lake and in water bodies in reserve forest near Dangamala including the National Water Way-5 from Dhamara to Paradip. Bhitarkanika circuit can connect the spots like Chandbali-Aradi-Dhamara-Khola to other spots in Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary. This circuit can be a five nights and six days cruise. Chilika circuit can connect Chilika, Kalijai-Nalabana-Honeymoon island-Mangalajodi-Satapada-Rajhans island-Satapada and Puri. It could be a three night and four days cruise. “River cruise is compatible with Covid-19 restrictions. There is a huge scope and latent market for world class river cruising in Odisha. It can also be connected with many eco-spots and refill the economic activities in the sector,” Tripathy said. Issues relating to various regulatory permissions, compliance to pollution norms, river jetties and bar license were discussed at the meeting. The Chief Secretary said the State Government will provide all support for this activity. State PPP cell was advised to work out the details in consultation with department of Tourism and Odisha Tourism Development Corporation. He asked Tourism department to coordinate with Inland Waterways Authority regarding statutory requirements.

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Nepal government planning to give priority to Indian tourists to revive tourism

Wooing Indian tourists is a high priority for the Gandaki provincial government of Nepal once the travel restrictions are lifted after the lockdown. According to the latest statement given by Nepal's Tourist Minister Bikash Lamsal, the Nepal government is planning to give utmost preference to Indian tourists on their list as they form a major part of Nepal foreign tourist arrivals. Reportedly, of the total tourists who visited Nepal’s Pokhara, the City of Lakes, in 2019, 40 per cent were from India. In the year 2018, Nepal’s foreign tourist count was 11.73 lakh, and the majority were from India. Top tourist activities in Nepal include trekking, paragliding, boating, kayaking, etc. Lamsal said that although the government was unable to welcome tourists from abroad in 2019 due to the Coronavirus, they are trying to make the situation conducive to tourist foreign tourists in the upcoming years. The minister also added that Nepal tourism is celebrating the year 2019-2022 as Tourism Year, and they are aiming for two million tourists. In addition, the year 2021 will be Tourism Infrastructure Improvement Year and 2022 International Tourism Year. Since the tourism sector has suffered in terms of revenue this year due to the pandemic, the country is trying to cover up the losses and trying to make better efforts for the next year. Reportedly, Nepal has suffered a loss of 13 crore Nepal rupees per day owing to the present pandemic, which has suspended all tourist activities.

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Maldives tightens entry requirements for tourists after spike in cases

The Maldives has tightened entry requirements for tourists after a spike in coronavirus infections at more than a dozen resorts, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. The Indian Ocean archipelago re-opened its luxury resort islets in mid-July after a months-long lockdown, and did not require visitors to be tested or carry virus-free certificates when entering the country. Since then, 29 local staff and 16 foreigners have tested positive at the resorts, officials said, where they were also being isolated. Under the new guidelines, all tourists will be required to present a negative Covid-19 test result on arrival. Tourism is the major economic driver for the Maldives, a tropical island paradise popular with honeymooners and celebrities. Authorities had hoped tourists would flock back to the archipelago of 1,190 tiny coral islets after international flights restarted. But only 5,200 tourists visited the country in the month since July 15 -- a fraction of the pre-pandemic 141,000 monthly average. Meanwhile, the Maldives recorded more than 1,000 new infections in just the past week to take the total number of cases to 8,003. Most of the infections since the start of the pandemic have been among poor migrant laborers and locals in the densely populated capital Male. The government had imposed a night curfew in Male and neighboring inhabited islands from early August to contain the sharp rise in cases there. Some 29 people have so far died from Covid-19 in the nation of 340,000 people.

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‘Covid tourism’: Mt Abu sold out on weekends

JAIPUR: Try booking any hotel or resort in Mount Abu on weekends, the answer is invariably going to be, “It’s sold out.” The local hospitality industry calls it “Covid tourism”. Continuous rains over the past one month, misty mountains, gurgling streams and water falls are just the cherry on the cake. Till June, the hill station was in green category, but isolated cases started since then and went almost unnoticed. Mount Abu has so far reported 54 cases out of which 15 are active now. Being a four-hour drive from Ahmedabad, Mount Abu is a popular among for Gujaratis, as it also serving as a watering hole for the liquor-starved neighbours. As borders opened after the lockdown, they were the first ones to arrive. But the rush begun from August. “We lost the summer rush to the pandemic. In July, travellers were tentative … As rains came in August, it opened the floodgates of cooped up tourists. Now, the destination is a full house on weekends,” said Kashyap Jani, former president of Mount Abu Hotel Association. He said while Gujaratis traditionally account for 80-90% of tourists, people from nearby cities like Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaipur are also thronging the destination. “It’s been too long a confined life, depression is not far away. With almost negligible coronavirus cases, Mount Abu is safer than my place,” said Heeral Mehta from Ahmedabad, who along with his family spent the last weekend in the hill station. The rates charged by hotels are as high as pre-Covid days, but Jani said, the weekday rates are cheaper by about 50%. With occupancy during weekdays rising from 10-15% a month back to about 40% now, rates are also rising proportionately. District collector Bhagwati Prasad said, “We are not worried about the rush, but the administration is strictly monitoring adherence of SOPs by hotels and visitors.” It’s hard to guess how long the hill station can remain as an oasis in the Covid world.

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Tourism activity picks up in Hampi

Ballari: After a hiatus of six months, tourist activities are picking up in Hampi for the past two weeks. As the flow of tourists is slowly increasing, it has given rise to the hopes that Hampi will soon be back to its earlier days when scores of tourists from all over the world used to flock there, before the pandemic. In order to give tourists a green option to visit important monuments, the Hampi World Heritage Management Authority, (HAWHMA) has resumed the service of battery-operated vehicles from Tuesday in Hampi. P N Lokesh, commissioner, HAWHMA, told TOI that there is some good news, as there is an increase in the number of tourists visiting Hampi, after the government eased the lockdown. “Now, people from different places are visiting Hampi since two weeks. On an average, 100 to 150 tourists are visiting Hampi every day now, and more than 800 tourists visit during the weekends. The number is really encouraging, and it has prompted us to reintroduce the service of battery-operated vehicles, which was stopped since five months, from Tuesday. We are now operating 4 battery-operated vehicles on weekdays and will deploy 16 battery-operated vehicles during the weekends,” he said. “The eco-friendly vehicles will ferry tourists on a 1.3 km stretch of road between Gejjal Mantap to Vijay Vittal Temple. Each vehicle has 11 seats, and there will be a nominal charge for each person taking a ride on these vehicles,” he said. Hampi has 85 ASI protected monuments and more than 3,000 listed monuments. “We have taken all precautionary measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus in Hampi, by adhering to the norms laid down by the government. We have made it mandatory for each tourist to wear a mask, sanitise their hands and maintain social distancing. We have also trained our staff on the SOP prescribed by the government, to ensure that each tourist follows these guidelines seriously,” he said.

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Malaysia closed to tourists until December

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has announced that the country’s Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO), which maintains strict travel restrictions, will remain in place until Dec 31, 2020. Initially, the RMCO was due to expire on Aug 31, reports TTR Weekly. As long as the RMCO is in place, foreigners who have a ‘social visit pass’ (tourist visa) that expired after Jan 1, 2020, will be permitted to leave Malaysia without incurring any fines or penalties. The concession does not apply to social visit passes that expired before Jan 1, 2020. Thailand has given foreigners a much shorter grace period that ends on Sept 26. Foreigners will need to apply for a visa extension or leave Thailand to avoid penalties by the deadline. Travel to Malaysia will continue to have strict controls with foreigners needing to obtain a ‘Letter of Undertaking and Indemnity’ approved by the nearest Malaysian consulate or embassy in addition to an appropriate visa. However, leisure travellers will not be permitted to visit Malaysia as long as the RMCO is in place. Entry is limited to travellers who have families in Malaysia and for essential travel linked to business and investment activities. All travellers who are permitted to enter Malaysia must undertake mandatory 14-day quarantine. Thailand follows similar protocols, strictly applying the 14-quarantine rule but offering travellers arriving in Bangkok what it calls “alternative state quarantine” in certified hotels that are linked to hospitals. They charge around B50,000 to B70,000 for the 14-day stay, including three meals a day and COVID-19 tests. Thailand is currently confusing overseas tour operators with contradictory statements by leaders who in the space of a few days suggest they are opening the borders gradually to limited travel and then contradict themselves just days later by suggesting the opposite, noted the TTR Weekly report. There are various programs bandied about by the media, but due to the 14-day quarantine rule, they would appeal only to long-stay visitors (six months or more) repeat travellers who are prepared to buy into expensive schemes to return to Thailand.

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