News

Scenic Group suspends operations until end of June

The Scenic Group will suspend operations for land tours, river and ocean cruises until the end of June at the earliest in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. The move includes Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours and Emerald Cruises. Colin Downing, managing director for Scenic in the UK, explained: “Our commitment to the health, well-being, and safety of our guests and our employees remains at the core of everything we do. “Due to the ongoing global situation and government restrictions it is impossible for us to operate our scheduled departures up to June 30th. “Please be assured we are here to support our valued agent partners and guests during this challenging time. “When this crisis is over and the travel industry begins to recover, we look forward to exploring our precious world with our guests again.”

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IATA agents seek bailout package for travel and tourism sector

IATA Agents Association of India has urged the Centre to introduce a bailout package for the travel and tourism industry. The sector had contributed 9.2 per cent of the GDP in India and now due to the Covid-19 crisis, it is passing through a very critical phase, said Biji Eapen, National President of the IATA Agents Association of India. Quoting reports, he said 75 million jobs are at immediate risk in the global travel and tourism, of which 9 million would be from India. Currently, the travel and tourism businesses in India are forced to lay off their employees and remain apprehensive over the looming business situations, including liquidation. The Association has urged the government to protect the salaries and jobs and extend interest-free loans as working capital to provide liquidity for large and small travel tourism businesses to resume their business. The government should also announce a moratorium on interest payments of all existing working capital loans and cash credit overdraft for next 12 months The government should also waive or remove all dues, taxes, or fiscal charges for the next 12 months that affect cash flow. The Association is planning a nationwide signature campaign to mobilise support from the industry as the government is in the process of introducing a simulation package for the economy, he added. IAAI invited entrepreneurs, employees, other stakeholders in the sector to participate and support the campaign.

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Airbnb offers online travel experiences from hosts around the world

With communities around the world staying home to protect their own health and the health of others, the travel and tourism industry has suffered some of the most immediate impacts. Travellers can't leave home, and those employed in the industry can't work. A new initiative from Airbnb hopes to offer some help for both sides. "Human connection is at the core of what we do," says Catherine Powell, Head of Airbnb Experiences. "With so many people needing to stay indoors to protect their health, we want to provide an opportunity for our hosts to connect with our global community of guests in the only way possible right now, online." The company has today launched Airbnb Online Experiences, an extension of its popular Airbnb Experiences platform, which have been suspended at least until the end of April. It's hoped this temporary solution will help hosts continue to earn, while also allowing those stuck at home in lockdown to learn a new skill, safely connect with others, or pursue an interest. There are already more than 50 experiences available to be booked from hosts based in more than 30 countries, including meditation with Buddhist monks, cooking lessons from a Moroccan family, and workout routines from Olympic athletes. Thousands more are expected to come online in the coming months. All will be hosted on Zoom.

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ADARA Announces Tourism Dashboard Offering for Destination Marketers

ADARA, the world's travel data co-op and leading provider of customer intelligence, today announced a new data product for destinations. As part of the COVID-19 response, ADARA has created the ADARA Tourism Dashboard. The ADARA Tourism Dashboard will be integrated into the company's new COVID-19 Resource Center and will provide continuously updated destination trends and projections by country and by state. The new product helps destinations and tourism marketers track how searches and bookings are trending and offers projected changes in behavior in the future in order to accurately assess changes in demand and plan future visitation accurately. "Destinations everywhere are in a state of suspended animation as the coronavirus pandemic limits travel and tourism around the globe. The Tourism Dashboard is designed for destinations to have the real-time insights they need to assess changes in demand now and in the coming weeks, so that they act with full confidence," said Piyush Shrivastava, Director Product Management - Analytics at ADARA. "With this new offering, destinations can see accurate timing in the inflection between downward and upward trends by origin, aiding both accommodation and marketing plans." The moment travel restrictions ease, destinations will want to act, the Tourism Dashboard helps them understand the trends around the globe, so they can act according to the volume of the rebound and the origins that are rebounding first, helping them manage their messaging and demand planning as accurately and effectively as possible. Currently, data indicates major decreases in search and booking behavior to destinations affected by COVID-19 restrictions, with a rebound projected in the coming weeks. Bookings are down 89% year-over-year for worldwide travel to the US from all global originations for the week of March 30th. Demand for travel continues to decline week over week with searches down 37%. Looking at the demand for the future 20 weeks we are seeing an uptick from week 10 onwards indicating more confidence as the summer progresses.

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FAITH Meets Commerce Ministry To Discuss Measures On Tourism Exports

Industry association FAITH has asked for survival support from the Ministry of Commerce. The support includes rating the SEIS @ 10% and crediting it immediately on the basis of previous financial year, deemed export status, SEIS on gross forex earnings, zero rating of tourism exports & GST refunds to tourists, strategic focus on mice sector, EPCG on tourist vehicles and relaxing export obligations among others. Most of the tourism enterprises support their infrastructure (hard & soft) by managing different tourist seasons. As all global source markets are hit, it will be domestic business of India which will keep India tourism businesses running. Thus, FAITH also has requested the Ministry of Commerce to request Mr. Piyush Goyal, who is both, the Commerce and the Industries Minister to take up the request for the survival support for the whole tourism travel & hospitality industry with the PM. These include deferment of all statutory liabilities, setting up a COVID 19 Tourism relief fund for interest free 10 year working capital loan for salaries & establishment costs , increase of banking moratorium period to 12 months without any interest for or for direct benefit transfer to affected employees and a national legislative tourism task force of central and state governments. FAITH has also requested ESI funds to be used for compensating employees as ‘stay at home’ is a forced and mandatory curative medical need to fight the virus. They have also requested PF coverage of all tourism travel & hospitality employees as under the PM Rozgar Pradhan Yojana. FAITH has also shared examples from the US & UK, Thailand and Indonesia where salary support, taxes exemption and stimulation of domestic travel is being extended by governments for tourism, travel & hospitality.

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Goa’s tourism industry should be allowed to operate under these protocols, says minister

The state Ports Minister Michael Lobo has announced that Goa tourism industry will become active again only after the lockdown is lifted and the pandemic Coronavirus is under complete control in India. The minister also said that mass assemblies should not be permitted in Goa for the upcoming months to check the transmission of COVID-19. Goa thrives primarily on the tourism business, and sees tourists from India and abroad, who visit the coastal state to explore and enjoy its beaches, spice plantations etc. According to the statement given by the minister, Goa’s government cannot open its state borders even after the lockdown period is over. It would only be after the government is assured about the strict abidance of health protocols, that the decision to resume tourism industry businesses in the state can be taken. News has it that when the government of Goa permits the tourism industry to restart operations, everyone entering the state via airport, railway or road will be allowed entry only after going through a mandatory health check-up. Private labs may be deployed to perform COVID-19 tests of the entrants, and only those who test negative will be allowed entry. Michael Lobo is a BJP MLA, in-charge of Calangute constituency in North Goa district. The above suggestions will be presented by him before Pramod Sawant, the Chief Minister of Goa, on April 14. Meanwhile, news has it that Goa’s ministers have been asking the government to extend the lockdown in the state till April 30.

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