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Vistara to start flights between Mumbai and Male from March 3

Vistara on Saturday said it will start flights between Mumbai and Male from March 3 onwards under the air bubble arrangement formed between India and the Maldives. The airline will deploy its three-class A320neo aircraft on this route, said its press release. The carrier’s flights between Mumbai and Male would operate three times a week – Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Scheduled international flights have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special international flights have been operating since July last year under air bubble arrangements formed between India and around 24 countries.

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Valentine’s Day: Goa tops travel trends in Feb! Increase in advance bookings, new curated menus and premium stays

Goa tops travel trends in February 2021! The latest travel trends indicate that Indian travellers are in love with Goa among all leisure destinations! From boutique travel companies that now offer curated experiences to iconic luxury suites coming with limited offers and solo kitchen restaurants rolling out new menus, there’s plenty for Indian travellers to choose from. After all, it is a Valentine’s Day weekend coming your way. The month of celebrating love, as February is known for, comes with exciting travel and hospitality offers for those who are looking for the perfect, dream-like getaway from daily routine. Valentine’s Day travel bookings: Increase in advance bookings According to Cleartrip’s Vice President Rajiv Subramian,”Goa is the preferred leisure destination of choice. This trend has continued for the Valentine’s Day weekend as well. An increase in advance bookings for the Valentine’s Day period has been noticed. This is a possible long weekend for some as Basant Panchami is on 16th (Tuesday). In the post Covid environment, hygiene and safety are top most. We have seen the share of 5-star and 4-star hotels increasing to account for more than 70% of our bookings.” Announcing an offer of Rs 2000 on round trips for all travel bookings from 8th Feb to 11th Feb, Rajiv Subramanian, Vice President, Cleartrip shared that travelers can make use of the offer on all their channels and payment modes, reward points and payment modes. Also, travelers can avail the offer by using the cde CTSPECIAL. Valentine’s Day offers: Premium and luxury travel options For travellers looking to enjoy with a dash of luxury, Taj’s Suite Surprises offer the best from its iconic hotel suites including Royal Suites at Taj’s Palaces, themed suites at Taj’s flagship based in Mumbai, besides its suites and part of the Cinema Suite and Jaguar Suite in the heart of London. The limited offer includes luxury amenities, personalised butler service, lounge access and travellers can also avail airport transfers. At a time when India’s travel and hospitality industry has been badly hot, an emerging trend in the world of travel pertains to boutique travel companies that specialise in curated experiential luxury holidays such as Bespoke in India which offers curated travel experiences, alongside premium linkages with luxury partner hotels such as The Oberoi, The Taj Group of Hotels, Four Seasons, Hyatt Group and JW Marriott, among others. According to its Delhi NCR Bespoke founder, Chhavi Chadha, Bespoke nurtures not just client needs but also relationships that grow into a personal bond of trust. “When the travel industry was hit, Bespoke has not just stayed afloat but it has been thriving, which comes down to the brand’s ability to innovate,” Chadha observes. Transforming Bespoke into a completely digital avatar was Bespoke’s secret sauce of success in turning around the offline travel brand during the new normal. Meanwhile, celebrating the season of love has spurred the hospitality segment to innovate as well. The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel in Delhi has rolled out a special, curated luxury experience. For couples who want to enjoy a romantic staycation, the offer includes luxury accommodation and an ala carte menu at Dilli 32 or Mei Kun. Personalised touches such as a heart-shaped cake, non-alcoholic welcome drink and flexible check-in and check-out timings add to the overall lure of celebrating Valentine’s Day. Andaz Delhi is offering curated experiences at AnnaMaya and The Hong Kong Club for couples. Be it grooving to music by a live band at The Hong Kong Club or enjoying a violin performance alongside ‘AnnamMaya Artisan Dinner’ spread which also showcases special artisan stalls that are put up to mark the special day. The Ruchira Kitchen, known for crafting meals from across South India and the Middle East, has also announced an exclusive Valentine’s Day menu for two with a perfect culinary setting for a special meal. If you forgot Valentine’s Day is on Sunday, here’s your chance to still make a last minute plan and make it a special one.

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It’s ski season in Gulmarg and Manali

February is the perfect time to head to India’s ski towns of Gulmarg and Manali, in Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh respectively. Besides groomed slopes with ropeways, gondolas and ski lifts, there’s a whole selection of off piste trails, and a community of instructors and enthusiasts enjoying them. “It’s magical when it starts to snow and you are on your skis all day, flying down the mountain,” says Shiva Keshavan. The 39-year-old six-time Olympic luge participant grew up in Manali and spends most winters on the slopes at nearby Solang. The adrenaline rush is what drew Cindy Khrime to snowboarding in her teenage years in Manali. Turning a pastime into a profession, she travelled to Whistler in Canada and then to New Zealand and Japan as snowboard instructor. Now Khrime is back on the slopes she grew up on. Standing atop her snowboard, the 32-year-old demonstrates traversing turns , riding the slopes as she zigzags down the mountain. The lower slopes of the Solang Valley are easy to access for beginners but are shared by the growing community of winter sports enthusiasts drawn to them too — skiers, snowboarders, paragliders and snowmobilers that carve gigantic circles in the snow. By 4 pm the sun disappears and a chill falls over the landscape. When the snow starts to go from powdery to icy smooth, as it refreezes, it’s time to pack up for the day. Little clumps of skiers and snowboarders head to the red plastic chairs of the valley’s cafés, yanking off their bulky gear and gratefully accepting glasses of steaming ginger-cardamon tea. There are good days like this one. But as the group drives the 13 km back to Manali, Khrime becomes wistful. She is not sure what the next few months will bring. Making a living in snow sports is beset with difficulties, she says. Like most instructors, she works freelance, depending on word-of-mouth referrals and her Instagram page. And there is so much untapped potential. At Solang, Sethan, Gulaba, Jagatsukh — all picturesque villages perched at heights of over 4,000 metres — back country snow trails meander through magnificent deodar trees. In the Lahaul Valley, a few hours’ drive away across the new Atal Tunnel, there are spectacular snow runs across rugged terrain that is now easily accessible in winter. It is the beauty of trails like these, set amidst breathtaking landscapes, that inspired Keshavan to present a plan to the Himachal Pradesh government to develop winter sports here. “The plan spells out details, from training of children in winter sports to infrastructure and international partnerships,” says Ram Lal Markandey, minister for IT and tribal development in the HP Government and the legislator from Lahaul-Spiti. “We have the best natural slopes in the world,” he adds. Across the Pir Panjal range, 700 km away in Gulmarg, the slopes are better groomed, the range of choices even greater, and the snow falls steadily and powder-like. But even here, the skiers must be lured. Most of that luring is being done by individual instructors. Every December, for instance, Mudasir Ahmad Bhat begins sending out pictures of skiers trailing clouds of powder snow, to his list of contacts. “Sir ji, naya snowfall hua hai. Kab aa rahe ho (There’s fresh snow, Sir. When are you coming?),” the 27-year-old texts. Among those who often respond is Maulik Sharedalal, a Mumbai-based investor. The 54-year-old first came to Gulmarg in 2016, with his wife and then seven-year-old daughter. They’ve returned again and again over the years. “After a day of hard physical exercise on the slopes, my wife and I spend the evenings at the hotel bar. Sitting among skiers from all over the world, over après ski drinks, we compare the thrills and spills of the day,” Maulik says, adding that he enjoys the sense of community. Pravin Devanathan, 38, a vice-president at the supply chain start-up Ninjacart in Mumbai, says he prefers Gulmarg to the slopes of Fugen in Austria. “Here, there is help for everything — from a dedicated guide to a porter to carry your skis — so you end up learning much faster,” he adds. In an adventure sport on moody terrain, expertise is crucial, and some skiers keep coming back for the guides. “Talented local guides make all the difference,” says Angus Winstone, 48, who runs a ski tours agency with his wife Victoria in New Zealand and visited Gulmarg last year. The fact that the region is under-developed is another reason to bring international ski groups here in the future, he adds. There’s enormous potential, says Nitisha Sethia, a former consultant with McKinsey and now founder of outdoor sports company Adventure Play. She first came to Gulmarg last year and says she fell in love with the town and its highest slope, Phase 2 . “It’s mostly foreigners. Why can’t more Indians venture higher? It’s beautiful, wild, pristine,” she says. “There’s fresh powder snow. You can carve your own path here.”

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Air travel becomes expensive: Govt raises limits on domestic airfares by 10-30 pc

Passengers will have to shell out more money for air travel from now as the Civil Aviation Ministry on Thursday increased the lower and upper limits on domestic airfares by 10 to 30 per cent. These new limits would remain “in force up to March 31, 2021, or until further orders”, the ministry said its order on Thursday. While announcing the resumption of scheduled domestic flights on May 21 last year, the ministry had placed limits on airfares through seven bands classified on the basis of flight duration. The first such band consists of flights that are of less than 40 minutes duration. The lower limit for the first band was increased on Thursday from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,200. The upper limit in this band was set at Rs 7,800, which was Rs 6,000 earlier. The subsequent bands are for flights with durations of 40-60 minutes, 60-90 minutes, 90-120 minutes, 120-150 minutes, 150-180 minutes and 180-210 minutes. The fresh lower and upper limits set by the ministry for these bands on Thursday were: Rs 2,800 – Rs 9,800; Rs 3,300 Rs 11,700; Rs 3,900 Rs 13,000; Rs 5,000 Rs 16,900; Rs 6,100 Rs 20,400; Rs 7,200 Rs 24,200, respectively. Till date, the lower and upper limits for these bands were: Rs 2,500 – Rs 7,500; Rs 3,000 – Rs 9,000; Rs 3,500 – Rs 10,000; Rs 4,500 – Rs 13,000; Rs 5,500 – Rs 15,700 and Rs 6,500 – Rs 18,600, respectively. Aviation regulator DGCA had said on May 21 last year that each airline would sell at least 40 per cent of its tickets on a flight at prices less than the midpoint between the lower limit and upper limit. Domestic passenger services resumed on May 25 after nearly two months of suspension to combat the coronavirus outbreak. Along with the limits on airfares, the government had asked the airlines to operate not more than 33 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights. On June 26, the cap was increased to 45 per cent. This was gradually increased to 80 per cent. The ministry said on Thursday that the 80 per cent limit would remain in place till March-end. The aviation sector has been significantly impacted due to the travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries in view of the coronavirus pandemic. All Indian carriers last year took cost-cutting measures such as pay cuts, leave without pay and firing of employees in order to conserve cash. Scheduled international passenger traffic continues to remain suspended in India since March 23, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special international flights have been operating since July 2020 under air bubble arrangements formed with various countries.

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Goa to host two carnival parades amid COVID-19 pandemic

Goa will host only two carnival float parades instead of six this year in light of the COVID- 19 pandemic, a senior official said on Thursday. The parades will be held on February 13 and 14 in Panaji and Margao in South Goa respectively due to curbs imposed to contain the spread of infection, said Nikhil Desai, managing director of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation. The tourism department usually hosts parades at six cities across the state, and this would be the first time in the history of the coastal state's tourism that only two parades will be held, he said. Mythological character King Momo will be heralding the colourful float parades. All COVID-19 restrictions will be in place during the parade, which will be attended by thousands of people, the official added.

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New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat to run as Tejas Express from Feb 15

The New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat Express, India's first indigenously built semi-high train which was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019, will now operate as the Tejas Express from February 15 to March 31. In a letter dated February 10, the Northern Railways said: "In reference to your letter under reference (ii), Railway Board vide letter under reference (i) has clarified regarding running of New Delhi-Varanasi-New Delhi Vande Bharat from February 15 till March 31 this year." While confirming the development, a Northern Railway official said the train will be operated by the Indian Railways only and that there will be no difference in the fares. The Indian Railways is currently operating four pairs of Tejas Express services, which were introduced in the last three years. Two of these, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus-Karmali Tejas Express and Chennai Egmore-Madurai Jn Tejas Express are being run by the Indian Railways. While the other two Tejas trains, the Lucknow-New Delhi Tejas Express and Mumbai Central-Ahmedabad Tejas Express, are operated by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). With the addition of the New Delhi-Varanasi Vande Bharat Express as Tejas Express, the Railways will operate three Tejas Express trains. The Vande Bharat Express was dedicated to the nation by Modi on February 15, 2019, and it started its commercial run from New Delhi to Varanasi two days later. It covers the distance between New Delhi and Varanasi in eight hours and runs on all days of the week, except Monday and Thursday. It has 16 air-conditioned coaches. All the coaches have a stainless steel car body equipped with automatic doors with sliding footsteps, onboard computers for train control and remote monitoring. The gleaming blue-nosed train comes with the best amenities, including high-speed on-board WiFi, GPS-based passenger information system, touch-free bio-vacuum toilets, LED lighting, mobile charging points and a climate control system that automatically adjusts the temperature. The train has two executive compartments with 52 seats each and trailer coaches with 78 seats each. The executive class coaches have rotating seats to match the direction of the train. The Railways had introduced another Vande Bharat Express train between Delhi and Katra on October 5, 2019.

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