News

Kumbh Mela 2021 to be held only for 48 days instead of 3 months

The Kumbh Mela will be held for 48 days in Haridwar next year instead of three and half months, Uttarakhand Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik said. "The Uttarakhand government will issue the notification for the Kumbh Mela in February instead of January 1", the Minister said. "Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, preparations have been made for main baths to be held in March-April. Devotees can take royal bath during these 48 days," the Minister said. He added, "Devotees coming to Kumbh Mela will also be allowed till the bath. While the Kumbh Mela had been for three and a half months since years, this time the duration of Kumbh will be one and a half months due to the changed circumstances." The Uttrakhand Chief Minister has approved INR 17.34 crore for a surveillance system, for which INR 6.94 crore will be released as the first installment. Along with this, the CM has allotted INR 15.46 crore for purchasing material for setting up a temporary 1,000 bed COVID care centre and INR 6.18 crore will be released as the first installment.

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Goa: As tourists opt to drive down, hotels see last minute bookings

Hotels may not have seen advance bookings for the Christmas week this year, but there is a silver lining. They are getting last-minute guests with many choosing to drive down in Covid times. This is the new trend as against the previous when guests would fly down and make all bookings — flight and accommodation — in advance. “So even if some rooms may not be taken, hotels can still expect them to be filled up by last-minute arrivals. Some bookings are even received on the day the guest arrives. Basically, the booking pattern has changed because of Covid. The booking window period, which was earlier a week or ten days, has reduced to two to three days now,” director of the Alcon Victor Group, Varun Albuquerque said. In the last two days Goa has witnessed a significant rise in domestic arrivals and occupancy at most hotels has gone up to 80%. “More than two-third of the guests drive to Goa. Unlike earlier, the decision to holiday in Goa is taken at the last minute and so the booking window has shrunk. We are getting a large number of bookings closer to the date of arrival, which is 24 to 48 hours before arrival,” general manager at The Zuri White Sands, Goa Resort & Casino, Rajendran Menon said. Bookings have picked up, but since there are so many hotels available, tariff is still low despite high occupancy. “Still, the rates are 30% to 40% lower as compared to last year,” Albuquerque said. Menon said that it will take some time for hotels to be able to command pre-Covid tariffs. “The positive thing is that business is picking up and I’m sure by the next financial year the gap in pricing will narrow drastically. By October-November next year, hotels should be able to command rates even higher than the pre-Covid period,” Menon said. President of the Travel and Tourism Association Goa (TTAG), Nilesh Shah, said that with about 28,000 rooms available, occupancy at most starred hotels is about 85% and about 75% at smaller hotels. With a surge in footfalls, hotels are facing problems with staff as their housekeeping workers from other states have not returned. “Many have sent their staff flight tickets to bring them back,” Shah said.

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Ahead of New Year Eve, offbeat regions in U’khand see spurt in tourist footfall for first time since March

With the New Year Eve just a few days away, several offbeat tourist spots in Uttarakhand like Munsyari, Binsar, Khirsu, Joshimath, and Lansdowne have started witnessing an increase in tourist bookings for the first time since March when the first coronavirus-induced lockdown was announced. Owners of hoteliers and homestays at these locations said that bookings have reached over 50% for the firsttime since the coronavirus pandemic struck and with the snowfall predicted in the coming days, there are prospects that these bookings will further increase. “Till Christmas, most of the hotels here were struggling but these days, most of the hotels here are functioning at over 50-60% capacity. This is the first time since March when tourists have turned up in such large numbers,” said Devendra Singh, a hotelier from Munsyari. Ajay Bhatt, owner of hotels and homestays in places like Joshimath and Auli, said that all his properties and camping sites are almost booked around the New Year. “We have suffered disastrous losses in the last several months. However, tourism has finally started to pick up,” Bhatt said. The officials at the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) – run by the tourism department — in both Khirsu and Lansdowne also said that these properties have now started to witness tourists for the first time since the lockdown began. “Around Christmas, we had 10 rooms booked but we are expecting more bookings for the New Year,” said the official from Khirsu. Meanwhile, hoteliers have said that though the tourist numbers have picked up, they are no match for footfall recorded last year. “During New Year and the first few weeks of January, most of the hotels used to be totally packed but this year, the numbers are not the same. The situation is certainly better than summers but it will take time to get back to the pre-pandemic days,” said Singh.

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Mumbai-Dubai, Delhi-Dubai now among busiest international routes

Mumbai-Dubai and Delhi-Dubai have now emerged among the busiest international routes in the pandemic world. According to the UK based air consultancy firm OAG, Delhi-Dubai is the fifth and Mumbai-Dubai 10th busiest air route this month in terms of seat capacity deployment by airlines operating on various routes. The busiest international route is Dubai-London Heathrow (1.7 lakh seats) followed by Orlando-San Juan (1.6 lakh seats) and Cairo-Jeddah (1.4 lakh). Delhi-Dubai has 1.1 lakh and Mumbai-Dubai over a lakh seats this month, according to OAG. While scheduled international flights remain suspended, foreign travel by eligible categories of people is currently happening to and from countries with which India has created air bubbles and on Vande Bharat Mission flights. Domestic air traffic, on the other hand, is reviving steadily albeit with the pandemic leading to new travel trends. Christmas saw a higher number of domestic flyers at over 2.5 lakh, since scheduled flights within the country were allowed to resume on May 25. In a statement, online travel firm Cleartrip said: "The uncertainty caused by the pandemic has resulted in travellers preferring to book their travel close to the travel date. In (pre-pandemic) January-March, 51% of the trips were booked within two weeks of the travel date. However, trips booked within two weeks before travel increased to about 81% in April-September. We have seen this trend reverse to an extent in Q4 (67%)." Similarly, in January-March, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Goa, Kolkata and Hyderabad as the top booked cities by travellers from Delhi. The lockdown months of April-June saw Patna at the top spot followed by Kolkata, Srinagar, Ranchi and Bengaluru. This trend was due to people returning to their home cities once domestic air travel was allowed to resume, Cleartrip data shows.In July September, the top five cities booked to travel to from Delhi were: Mumbai, Patna, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata. And in October-December, the five cities were: Mumbai, Goa, Bengaluru, Patna and Kolkata. "The (April-June) quarter saw Patna, Srinagar, and Ranchi feature in the top destinations with Mumbai and Goa not being present. This indicates a shift away from business destinations and implies that travellers were returning to their hometowns in the north and east after the pandemic. In July-September quarter, we saw some confidence come back with the return of Bangalore and Hyderabad in the top five booked destinations. In the (October-December) quarter, easing of restrictions coupled with the onset of festive seasons has led to a preference towards leisure destinations as evidenced by Goa being among the top-ranked destinations booked in the quarter," Cleartrip data shows.

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New quarantine rules in Mumbai for passengers arriving from UK, Europe, Middle East. Check details here

Mumbai local body authorities have decided to amend the mandatory institutional quarantine rules for passengers arriving at the Mumbai International Airport from the UK, South Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Under the new guidelines issued by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, travellers will be kept under institutional quarantine on arrival and RT-PCR tests will be conducted only on the seventh day after at the hotel or institution they are lodging at their own cost. If the reports of the test come negative, they will be allowed to leave the quarantine facility on the condition of seven days mandatory home quarantine. Returnees will be stamped ‘home quarantine’ and they have to submit an undertaking that they will abide by guidelines. "If the report of the test is found negative, the passenger will be discharged from institutional quarantine after 7 (seven) days with advice of 7 (seven) days mandatory home quarantine," the statement said. "If the test is found positive, passengers will be shifted to designated COVID-19 hospital, Seven Hills for UK and GT Hospital for travellers from other countries for further evaluation and treatment," it added. Institutional quarantine is, however, exempted for officials working at foreign embassies and consulates. In case of home quarantine, undertakings will be taken from passengers to stay at home during the quarantine period while they will also be stamped during the process. As things stand, India has suspended flights to and from the UK till 31 December to prevent the spread of a new strain of the coronavirus that is considered to be 70% more infectious. Meanwhile, South Africa's health department last week said that a new genetic mutation of the virus had been discovered and might be responsible for a recent surge in infections in the country.

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MP launches India’s first Balloon Safari

Forest Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah has said that this is the first balloon safari in India, which will enable tourists to view the wildlife and natural greenery in the areas near the national park from the sky. Forest Minister Shri Shah was inaugurating the Hot Air Balloon safari under the Buffer mein Safar scheme at Umaria (Badhavgarh) National Park on Friday morning. Forest Minister Shah also enjoyed the hot air balloon ride. Sharing his experience, he said that the sight of the alarm calls of wild animals at a height of 400 meters and the sound of the tigers growl was supernatural. He said that tourists will now be able to enjoy this new facility. Forest Minister Shah said that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had approved the decision to link local youth with employment to promote tourism in the Tourism Cabinet held in Bandhavgarh on November 24. The launch of the balloon ride within a month proves how fast our Chief Minister is in accomplishing the tasks in each region for the all-round development of the state. He said that with the expansion of different types of tourism activities, more tourists will start visiting Madhya Pradesh and this will create employment at the local level and economic activities will increase. He said that the diversified beauty of Bandhavgarh National Park is unique. Forest Minister Shah announced to start night safari in the buffer areas of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve from today, which will enable people to avail facility of safari in the buffer areas even after sunset, for which the rate will be the same as fixed for the daytime.

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