News

G20 Leaders Agree to Facilitate Post-Covid Travel and Tourism

Facilitating tourism and resuming safe travel were among the issues discussed at this month’s G20 summit held on November 21-22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which focused overall on ways of overcoming the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and its far-reaching repercussions. Last week’s G20 summit, hosted for the first time by an Arab nation, sought ways to address the multiple consequences of the Covid-19 shock on the global economy with the world’s leaders committing first of all to ensuring fair access and allocation of Covid-19 vaccines once these become available. Ensuring travel and transportation as well as restarting tourism were key issues addressed primarily due to their major contribution to global and local economies. In this direction, G20 leaders committed to ensuring that global transportation routes and supply chains remain open, safe, and secure, and that any restrictive measures related to Covid-19, are targeted, proportionate, transparent, temporary, and in accordance with obligations under international agreements. “We will continue to explore concrete ways to facilitate the movement of people in a way that does not impede our efforts to protect public health,” reads the G20 Riyadh Leaders’ Declaration, adopted after the completion of the summit to address common global challenges. With regard to tourism, the leaders underlined the importance of the industry in supporting local economies, creating jobs, empowering local communities, especially rural, safeguarding the planet, and preserving cultural heritage. In this direction, the heads of the world’s strongest nations pledged to continue efforts in collaboration with public and private sector stakeholders to facilitate the sector’s recovery. They also endorsed the Tourism Community Initiative, G20 Guidelines for Inclusive Community Development through Tourism, the AlUla Framework for Inclusive Community Development Through Tourism, and G20 Guidelines for Action on Safe and Seamless Travel, welcoming at the same time the establishment of the G20 Tourism Working Group. “As a lesson from the crisis we need to step up global preparedness. We will discuss this again in May 2021 at the joint G20 Global Health Summit in Italy. To build back a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient world we also need to step up actions to fight climate change,” said European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen. Besides Covid-19 response, crucial global issues addressed at the G20 Riyadh Summit included economic recovery, WTO reform, climate change, taxation of the digital economy, and supporting low-income countries.

Read more

COVID-19: Elephant rides in Jaipur’s Amer Fort and Hathi Gaon resume after 9 months

The Rajasthan government has allowed elephant rides inside the famous Amer Fort of Jaipur. This significant decision was made keeping the wellbeing of mahouts in mind, whose livelihoods are completely dependent on elephant tourism. The elephant rides were prohibited because of the Coronavirus outbreak. The ban was implemented on March 18 and all the mahouts living near Amer Fort and Hathi Gaon regions have been struggling to make ends meet since then. As of now, the elephant rides at Amber Fort for tourists will be organised between 8 AM and 11 AM only that too following strict protocols related to the pandemic. A Department of Archaeology and Museum order, dated November 23 reads, “It would be mandatory for mahouts and tourists to wear face masks. Also, thermal screening is a must before the ride. Before and after, the tourists and mahouts have to sanitise their hands.” As per the updates, mahouts in the said regions have decided to follow a self-imposed roster on a daily basis as tourist footfall is quite low in these times. As mentioned in a TOI report, Mahout Ballu Khan said that there are 100 elephants which they have decided to divide into 50-50 batches. On the first day, a batch of 50 elephants will go, and the next lot of 50 will go the next day. A number of news stories were published talking about the poor conditions and the plight of mahouts and elephants because of no employment. The issue was brought to Rajasthan’s Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s notice. Elephant safari is one of the prime attractions at the grand Amer Fort in Jaipur. These rides make for an interesting experience and are considered one of the best ways to explore the fort.

Read more

Thomas Cook unveils India’s first Virtual Holiday Store for bookings & assistance

In an endeavour to empower customers with contactless and convenient holiday planning, , Thomas Cook India has introduced India’s first Virtual Holiday Store. The company’s dedicated team of travel experts will be available over video chat 365 days, from 8 am to 12 pm, to guide customers with all their travel requirements, including: domestic & international holidays, value added services like travel insurance, end-to-end COVID-negative certification services, visa services, documentation and more. Given the uncertainty in the current environment and constant changes in travel and health protocols/ documentation, India’s travellers are in need of guidance and reassurance when planning their holidays. So as travel restrictions are being eased and growth and economic activity returning steadily – Thomas Cook is now focused on the biggest challenge: to instil confidence and a positive sentiment towards leisure & business travel for customers. To this end, Thomas Cook India drives a holistic three pronged confidence-building programme in the form of the “Assured-Insured-Secured” that covers every aspect of physical safety as well as mental and financial security to give the customer complete peace of mind. The newly launched Thomas Cook Virtual Holiday Store intends to support customers with convenient and contactless holiday planning – from the safety and comfort of their homes. With no app downloads or pre-registration required, customers merely need to log onto https://www.thomascook.in/virtual-store, to connect over video chat with Thomas Cook India’s Holiday Experts from anywhere in the country between 8 am and midnight. Mahesh Iyer, Executive Director & CEO, Thomas Cook (India) Ltd., said, “The pandemic era and lockdowns have accelerated the demand for virtual and contactless sales and service. In line with this need and as is expected of a market leader, keeping customer safety as the top priority, we at Thomas Cook have launched our Virtual Holiday Store – an innovative, interactive sales and service platform that combines the power of digital with the much loved Thomas Cook personal - human connect. Our Virtual Store model aims at supporting our customers with safe/contactless and convenient holiday planning – incorporating much needed personalised, face-to-face connect, so essential when it comes to holiday planning and reassurance in the COVID era.”

Read more

Air India announces first direct flight between Bengaluru and San Francisco

Passengers from Bengaluru airport can soon fly non-stop to San Francisco as India’s national carrier Air India on Wednesday announced a direct flight between Bengaluru and San Francisco. The new flight, which will be operated twice-weekly, is scheduled to commence from January 11, 2021. “This would be the first non-stop flight between Bengaluru and the United States, connecting the world’s two tech hubs – the original Silicon Valley and the Silicon Valley of India,” Bengaluru International Airport Limited(BIAL) said in a statement on Wednesday. Air India has opened ticket booking starting from Wednesday. BIAL further said that the first non-stop flight between Bengaluru and San Francisco is a significant milestone for Kempegowda International Airport Airport in Bengaluru and will transform it as the new gateway to India. “This will tremendously help passengers, enabling faster and easier access to cities on the West Coast of the United States,” BIAL added. The new non-stop service is expected to meet the demand of corporate customers for travel to San Francisco and adjoining areas in the US. Air India plans to operate a 238-seater Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft, to serve the largest unserved international origin/destination market for Bengaluru Airport. Bengaluru and San Francisco are ranked first and second, respectively, among the World’s top 45 digitally advanced cities. “The new route sets two records – it would be Air India’s longest route at 14,000+ km (8,698 miles) and longest flight to and from India (over 16 hours),” BIAL said.

Read more

Surge in traffic from West Asia & Europe to Mumbai’s CSMIA airport

The international passenger traffic at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) from West Asia has increased by 63% since June and that from Europe by 18% and North America by 10% as of October 31. The traffic is expected to further increase this month, reports Neha Tripathi in The Hindustan Times. “While the airport is seeing maximum air passenger traffic from the Middle East [West Asia], Europe and North America respectively, some air traffic is also being seen from Africa. However, currently, the least traffic is being witnessed from the Asia Pacific,” said a CSMIA spokesperson. Africa contributed to 7%, while Asia Pacific 2% of the total air traffic. A higher movement of passengers has been seen on the Mumbai-Dubai route, followed by Mumbai-Sharjah and Mumbai-Abu Dhabi since the commencement of India’s air bubble agreement with the UAE. As part of the air bubble agreement, over 1,22,960 passengers flew from Mumbai to the UAE from June to October. Etihad Airways, Emirates, and Air Arabia carried a bulk of the passengers to Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah. As many as 1,08,250 passengers travelled on the Mumbai-Dubai route with 751 flights, followed by Sharjah (8,715 passengers on 91 flights) and Abu Dhabi (5,990 passengers and 130 flights).

Read more

COVID-19 in India: Details about latest travel restrictions and night curfew

The number of new coronavirus cases in India has witnessed a spike over the last few weeks, especially in the northern states. So far the country has reported over 92 lakh confirmed cases and this tally keeps on increasing every single day. As the number of fresh COVID-19 cases in India continue to mount, some state governments have decided to take strict measures in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus. While some states have announced travel restrictions for people entering from other states, there are some which are contemplating enforcing night curfews to help curtail the spread of COVID-19. Let's take a look at some of the restrictions announced by some Indian states. Maharashtra: Maharashtra has been the worst affected state in the country and had started witnessing a steep rise in the number of new COVID-19 cases quite recently. To address this, the state government has made it mandatory for people entering Maharashtra to carry a report of COVID-19 RT-PCR test. The test must have been conducted 72 hours before reaching the state. This condition is applicable for travellers reaching Maharashtra from Delhi-NCR, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa. Himachal Pradesh: In the view of increasing COVID-19 cases, Himachal Pradesh state government has announced night curfew in Mandi, Kangra, Shimla and Kullu. The night curfew will remain in effect from 8 PM to 6 AM till 15 December, 2020 after which the policy will be reviewed. Madhya Pradesh: MP has implemented night curfew in five districts, including Indore, Bhopal, and Gwalior. The curfew will remain in effect from 10 PM to 6 PM. Gujarat: The Gujarat state government has implemented night curfew in Rajkot, Vadodara, Surat, and Ahmedabad between 9 PM to 6 AM. This restriction will continue till 7 December, 2020, but could be extended, depending upon the rate of new COVID-19 cases. Rajasthan: The state has announced night curfew in eight districts including Jaipur, Bikaner, Udaipur, Ajmer, Jodhpur, and Kota. The restriction will be in effect from 8 PM to 6 AM but the markets in these eight districts will have to close by 7 PM. The state government has also ordered the government and private offices to work at 75 per cent of their employee capacity.

Read more