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Devotees from outside MP to be allowed into Ujjain’s Mahakal Temple

After a 20-day ban amid the coronavirus outbreak, devotees from outside Madhya Pradesh will be allowed entry into the renowned Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain from Monday, an official said. The decision was taken at a meeting of the district’s crisis management group on Sunday, he added. The management committee of the temple, one of the 12 ‘jyotirlings’ of Lord Shiva, had banned entry of non-MP devotees from July 20 to contain the spread of the infection. In Sunday’s meeting, it was also decided that owners of lodges and hotels in the vicinity of the temple will have to put up boards with their names, phone numbers etc. at the mentry of their establishments. Entry into the temple for people from MP is through online pre-booking at present.

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IRCTC gearing up for post-Covid world with hands-free amenities, ready-to-eat food

Have you ever wondered how travel will look like in a post-coronavirus world? The Indian Railway Catering And Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) is all set for the 'new normal'. The company has helped Indian Railways to serve foods in Shramik Special Trains. The IRCTC has recently introduced ready-to-Eat meals in 200 special passenger trains run by the Indian Railways . Meanwhile, the IRCTC has trained 1,500 employees on how to follow COVID-19 guidelines during the journey. From regular sanitisation to checking temperature of its employees and maintaining social distancing norms, the IRCTC is leaving no stone unturned to make your travel safe. Indian Railways has developed a special 'post-Covid coach' for travellers. From several hands-free amenities to plasma air purification system — Railways has designed this new coach to fight against the deadly virus. Developed in Kapurthala rail coach factory, the post-Covid coach is loaded with several new features. One of the salient features is hands-free amenities which include foot operated water tap and soap dispenser,foot operated flush valve, foot operated latches in lavatory door. There will be washbasins with foot operated water tap and soap dispenser option. For compartment doors, the travellers will get forearm operated handle feature. As copper has anti microbial properties, the Indian Railways has decided to use copper-coated handrails and latches in train. The coach will be equipped with copper-coated handrails & latches as copper degrades the virus landed on it within few hours. "When virus lands on copper, Ion blasts pathogen and destroy the DNA and RNA inside the virus," the railways said in a statement. The new coach will have a provision of plasma air equipment in AC duct. This air equipment will sterilize the air and surfaces inside the AC coach using ionised air to make the coach coronavirus and particulate matter resistant. "This provision will also improve the ion concentration from 100 ions/cm3 to more than 6000 ions/cm," the national transporter added. Post Covid Coach will have Titanium Di-oxide coating in the coach. Nano structured Titanium Dioxide Coating functions as photo-active material. This water-based coating will kill viruses, bacteria, mold, and fungal growth. It is non-toxic and approved by food testing laboratory of the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA), CE certified. TiO2 is considered to be a safe substance and is harmless to humans. This Titanium Di-oxide coating will be applied on washbasins, lavatory, seats & berths, snack table, glass window, floor, virtually every surface that comes in human contact. This coating will be effective for 12 months.

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Meghalaya to reboot tourism with eyes on niche tourists

Meghalaya Government is on the throes of reviving tourism industry from its present comatose state by adopting a revised strategy of “high value, low volume” as its new mantra. Simply put, it implies that the state would be eyeing the niche tourists among the 1.3 million who visited Meghalaya in the past year or so. The message is clear: try and attract the high-end tourists even though the budget tourists make for bulk of the stats. Meghalaya Secretary for tourism D. Vijay Kumar, who is currently rewriting the script of a new model tourism doctrine, in an exclusive interview with The Shillong Times (See Page 3), said that the policy formulation was in final stage and it is likely that Chief Minister Conrad Sangma would be unveiling it at his Independence Day address. The challenge is to rediscover tourism industry after COVID pandemic lent it a body blow that not just paralysed the local economy but also concomitantly shattered the dreams of many a private entrepreneur. If the new doctrine is indeed adopted by the government, it would surely imply that the hundreds of private guest houses, road-side eateries and local handicraft shops might also have to rethink on their strategy for survival. For, these enterprises largely thrive on budget-tourists. According to Kumar, between 2011 and 2019, the footfall of tourists doubled from 6.5 lakh to 13 lakh yearly. This upward graph may be somewhat flattering but the policy makers are going to seek out “high value” tourists who would be less in number but would spend more open handedly than not. A key component of the new tourism package is to create a blue print for promoting prominent tourist destinations that would cater to the economic interest of the local people. Elaborating, Kumar said as per records with Tourism Department, the tourists paid on an average a paltry Rs 20 for entering the various popular destinations for scenic beauty and recreation. This is ridiculously low by any standard. To make it more sustainable for the local entrepreneurs, the government is going to upscale the rates for entry into all the destinations. To take it forward, the department has constituted “Eco Tourism Committees” at each of the tourist destinations. They are being kept in the loop for fixing the fees and tying up operational details. As part of the package, upscaling hospitality training of some 500 local individuals is underway. Already two batches have been successfully groomed as to how to take care of the tourists. Efforts are on to provide institutional finance to the entrepreneurs. As the upend tourists prefer get away destinations involving minimum time and travelling, far less grueling journeys, the plan is afoot to bolster air traffic arrangement connecting the state capital. Besides, the existing daily flight connecting Kolkata, the government is in the process to introduce flights linking Delhi. If all goes well, two-way air service is going to be operational by October this year, Kumar disclosed. For the record, between April last year and January this year, there were 585 flights between Kolkata and Umroi ferrying some 25,000 passengers either way. The Secretary is of the view that COVID may have had disastrous effect on tourism, but the pandemic has also enabled the government to rethink its strategy in order to make it sustainable for all concerned. One of the key strategies, Kumar informed, is to sell Meghalaya as a safe haven since the state has had relatively low COVID positive cases.

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Uttarakhand to develop ‘Ramayana Circuit’

The Uttarakhand tourism development corporation is likely to develop a ‘Ramayana’ circuit comprising all holy sites linked with Ramayana in the state to boost religious tourism. Under the initiative, officials are keen to bring holy sites associated with Ramayana and build them for tourists to visit and learn about. “We have some holy sites and temples in the state which are linked with Ramayana. We will develop all of them and bring it under our initiative of Ramayana circuit to boost religious tourism in the state,” state tourism minister Satpal Maharaj said. The minister was among the saints present in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya during the foundation stone-laying ceremony. “We have some holy sites and temples in the state which are linked with Ramayana. We will develop all of them and bring it under our initiative of Ramayana circuit to boost religious tourism in the state,” Satpal said. Revealing more details on the concept, Satpal said, “We have Bharat and Shatrughan temple in Rishikesh where it is believed that the two met Lord Ram to urge him to return to Ayodhya from his sojourn in the forest. Apart from this, we also have Raghunath temple in Devprayag which was visited by Lord Ram.” “We will link all of these places and develop them. It will help the people know about the significance of Uttarakhand in Ramayana as well as attract them to visit,” said Maharaj. The tourism minister also said that he had discussed the concept with Union minister of tourism Prahlad Singh Patel a few days ago. “I urged him to assess the possibility of developing similar circuits in all those states which have some connection with Ramayana. I also urge him to get a study done on the significance of Ramayana on some of the South East Asian countries where it is a part of their culture,” said Maharaj. Uttarakhand tourism department has also been developing Mahabharat circuit and Sita circuit in the state to boost religious tourism. “We are already working on them. This new circuit will also open new avenues of religious tourism in the state,” said Maharaj. In November last year, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had announced that the state government will be developing a Sita Mata circuit in Pauri Garhwal district to attract pilgrims and tourists from across the world. It is in this part of the Himalayas, according to Hindu tradition, Sita went inside the earth. It is believed that Goddess Sita went inside the earth in the Phalswari village of Pauri Garhwal district where a small Sita Mata temple stands to mark the event. The village is situated at a distance of 15 km from the Pauri town, which witnesses a Sita Mata fair every year for three days in the month of May.

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India grants three important relaxations for international travellers

The Indian government has announced three important relaxations for international travellers including allowing OCI card holders from US, UK, Germany and France to visit India, according to an official notification issued by the civil aviation ministry on Friday. India had earlier established air bubbles with the above four countries creating an air corridor for operation of limited flights between India and these countries. In the second important relaxation, the ministry has also given a nod to Indians holding any valid visa-- including for tourism-- issued by these four countries to travel to these destinations, provided there are no restrictions imposed on entry of Indian nationals holding a particular kind of visa, by authorities in these countries. The government has put the onus of checking, if such restrictions specific to each country exist, on the airlines operating to these destinations. “Any Indian national holding any type of valid visa of such countries may be permitted to travel to the country concerned provided there is no travel restriction for entry of Indian nationals in that country. It would be for the airlines concerned to ensure there is no travel restriction for Indian nationals to enter the country concerned with the particular visa category before issue of tickets/boarding pass to the Indian passenger,” the new order said. The third relaxation allows foreigners in the above four countries to travel to India for business, medical and employment purposes. The latest notification modifies the last guidelines issued on June 30 listing out conditions for international travel. International flights were suspended in March earlier this year after the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic. Government later allowed Air India and other careers to evacuate Indian citizens stuck abroad under the Vande Bharat mission. The relaxations were later expanded to include more categories of passengers, including from countries with which India signed agreements for creation of air bubbles. Regular international travel has not resumed yet. Earlier this month, the ministry of civil aviation extended restrictions on limited domestic flight operations and caps on air fares till November 24 in an order issued on July 24. Centre at present has allowed domestic flight operations to function at 45% of their total capacity.

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Portugal launches travel insurance for tourists

Portugal’s national tourism body Turismo de Portugal recently launched a new travel insurance for foreign tourists travelling to the country in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as a part of the ‘new normal.’ The insurance has been introduced with the aim of showcasing that the country is safe for travellers and covers a range of different expenses including medical, surgical, pharmaceutical, and hospital charges associated with coronavirus. It also covers additional expenses that that may occur from cancellation, interruption, or the extension of trips. According to reports, the insurance is valid for mainland Portugal and the autonomous regions of Madeira and Azores. It is also designed to work hand-in-hand with the Portugal Health Passport, which has made4 COVID-19 testing available to everyone visiting the country. Turismo de Portugal said in a latest press statement that the objective of the insurance is to guarantee that everyone who visits Portugal that they can travel around the country safely and with confidence. In a time when the Portuguese government is planning to ease the mandatory requirement of 14 days self-isolation for British citizens returning from vacationing in Portugal and considering the opening of a the long-awaited air-bridge with U.K., the travel insurance may prove to be beneficial in boosting traveller confidence. It may also successfully revive consumer confidence in Portugal’s tourism brand that has been harshly affected by the coronavirus pandemic and necessary lockdown. Rita Marques, Secretary of State for Tourism, Portugal said in a recent press statement that authorities have been in contact with the U.K., providing all of the information requested by the British government but are uncertain about when the decision will be revised. She informed that Portuguese authorities do not that quarantine is the real solution and looks forward to more testing options. She shared that the times when testing becomes impossible, travellers have to comply with the rules when they visit Portugal. She further added that the country believes that August and September will be strong months in terms of tourism and will also monitor how October and December goes. She also mentioned that the situation is under control at present. The Portugal Tourism Board mentioned that through initiatives and projects like the insurance, Portugal aims to consolidate its position as a safe destination that guarantees all the essential sanitary conditions for the enjoyment of the unique tourist experiences that it offers.

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