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Greece to restart tourism June 15, international flights July 1

ATHENS: Greece will restart its tourism season on June 15 in a key boost to the economy after the virus lockdown, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday, adding that international flights would resume on July 1. “The tourism period begins June 15, when seasonal hotels can reopen, and direct international flights to our tourist destinations will gradually begin July 1,” Mitsotakis said in a televised address. With Greece suffering fewer than 170 COVID-19 deaths over two months into the pandemic, Mitsotakis said the country’s prompt response to the virus would be a “passport of safety, credibility and health” to attract visitors. “We will win the economy war just as we won the health battle,” Mitsotakis said. Tourism Minister Harry Theocharis said a list of nations resuming flights to Greece would be announced by the end of May, noting that Athens would focus on reviving a travel front “from the Balkans to the Baltic.” Bulgarians and northern Europeans including Germans will be among the first visitors, the minister said, in addition to Israelis and Cypriots. Incoming travelers will not be required to undergo virus testing or quarantine, but sample tests will be carried out in tourist areas, the minister said. Theocharis added that 600 beds would be specifically set aside for coronavirus care on Greek islands. The country, which is still recovering from a decade-long debt crisis, badly needs tourism income that directly and indirectly accounts for over a fifth of its economy. According to the tourism ministry, Greece last year had 33 million visitors and tourism revenue of 19 billion euros ($21 billion). To increase Greece’s appeal, tax on all transport will be reduced to 13 percent from the current 24 percent for the coming five months, the prime minister said.The Greek finance ministry earlier on Wednesday noted that without support measures for businesses, the country could face an economic contraction of up to 13 percent this year.

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Europe thinks of ways to welcome people safely

Sunbathing on a packed beach is off the cards this summer, as the future of European travel is set to adapt to some changes. Countries across Europe are trying to figure out ways to entice tourists to come back despite coronavirus remaining a threat. Europe was at one point the epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak, with more than 1.3 million cases and 156,000 recorded deaths across the continent. But in places where tourism accounts for much of the economy, officials are considering changes to how hotels, resorts and nightclubs can operate under the world's new way of life. Here are some of the countries making new tourism rules... Cyprus The Mediterranean island of Cyprus is considering asking tourists to take a COVID-19 test prior to their arrival. Travellers could also be asked to disinfect their luggage and reception desks may be put behind screens, while cleaning staff could be dressed in full protective gear. The island's deputy minister for tourism, Savvas Perdios, said south Cyprus will look to bring tourists from nearby countries that have controlled the virus well, including Greece, Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Portugal Southern European tourist hotspot Portugal will likely award hotels a "Clean&Safe" seal to help tourists safely choose accommodation. The seal will indicate that the establishment, be it a hotel, restaurant or other venue, has enacted recommended hygiene and safety procedures to protect against the virus. Other changes being adopted include hotel guests not being able to check in to their rooms until 24 hours after the last occupant has checked out, allowing time for thorough cleaning and airing of the space. Some hotel guests may get exclusive use of their own sunbed and buffets are unlikely to be offered, though room service is expected to thrive. And on the beach, sunbathers will be told to stay 1.5 metres apart with umbrellas at least three metres apart. There will also be new signs and an app using a traffic light system of red, yellow and green indicating which beaches are full, partly full, or have few people. Paddle boats and water slides will be completely prohibited. The Portuguese government said hotels intend to start opening from 1 June, but discos will be the last places to open. Greece Direct flights to Greece from the UK are due to resume on 1 June, with some domestic flights and ferries operating. Travel to Evia and Crete from the mainland will be permitted, while all other islands are restricted, and all arrivals must self-isolate for 14 days. Tourists will be expected to wear masks in shops and on public transport and taxis will only take two people at a time. Large gatherings such as sporting events and festivals are unlikely to return this summer. Spain Hard-hit Spain will likely have to wait until late June to welcome holidaymakers back, despite having a tourism-dependent economy. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is preparing to ask parliament to extend a state of emergency until 27 June, with the strict lockdown measures so far helping to limit infections and COVID-19 related deaths, which stand at 27,709. Spain has made some changes, lifting a ban on direct flights and ships from Italy which have been imposed since 11 March. However tourism restrictions and a 14-day quarantine for inbound travellers remain in place. Italy Once the active centre of the European coronavirus outbreak, Italians are slowly regaining their freedom and have enjoyed being able to sit down at a café or restaurant, shop in all retail stores, and attend church this week. However, travel restrictions remain firmly in place and they will not be able to travel outside their regions except for work or other strict necessities until next month as lockdown rules are slowly eased. International travel to Italy will be possible from 3 June, with EU visitors allowed in with no requirement to self-isolate. People can also start moving freely across the country's regions on the same day. France Emergency measures in France are currently set to be in place until at least 24 July, with the government banning non-essential trips and requiring overseas visitors to self-isolate. Talks are ongoing to negotiate how the border crossing between the UK and France would work to ensure the spread of COVID-19 is contained. Borders with Switzerland and Germany are due to reopen from 15 June, but no date has been announced for borders reopening to non-essential travel by UK nationals.

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Railways to introduce 200 non-AC trains from 1 June

New Delhi: The Ministry of Railways on Tuesday said it will introduce 200 non air-conditioned (AC) trains from 1 June. This will be in addition to the Shramik Special trains and 30 special trains flagged off earlier this month. Tickets for these trains can only be booked online, the ministry said, adding that bookings for such trains will begin soon. "Trains will be non-AC. No tickets will be sold at any railway station and prospective travellers should not come to the railway station to buy tickets," an official statement said. All passenger train services across the country were suspended due to the imposition of a nationwide lockdown. Last week, the ministry said it plans to restart train operations in a graded manner after a gap of nearly two months. On 11 May, it launched 30 special AC trains to and from New Delhi. The national transporter has already ferried more than 21.5 lakh migrant workers to their home states through Shramik Special trains since May 1. Indian Railways also plans to double the number of Shramik trains to bring more relief to migrants stuck at various cities and their workplaces, an official statement said.

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Kerala could be most valuable destination post COVID

Especially after the 2018 floods, Kerala Tourism seemed to have acquired, to use a pop culture analogy, the imposing aura of a superhero who made short work of cosmic dangers thrown at him by supernatural forces. There was first the deadly Nipah outbreak in 2018, and soon after, the devastating deluge. The tourism sector in Kerala but netted revenues of Rs 36,528 crore in 2018-19, an increase of Rs 2,874 crore from 2017-18. In 2019, the floods struck once again, with almost the same intensity. But after the second deluge, the tourism sector in Kerala posted a growth of 17.2 per cent, the highest in a quarter century. By the end of 2019, revenues swelled to Rs 45,000 crore. Adversity, it looked, was some kind of a magic potion for the sector. Rat-like menace But in just the blink of an eye, an industry that was gathering itself into a mighty force that could not be touched by the worst calamities was felled by an invisible microscopic virus. Like a rat, Sars-CoV-2 ate into the wires of the very engine of tourism growth: travel. With all means of travel taken off the air, rails and roads, the tourism sector, its destinations and attractions, has been left to rot and rust. A fallen civilisation, in the first stages of ruin, now spreads the whole of Kerala. Unofficial estimates peg the losses accumulated between February and April at over Rs 15,000 crore. Official figures say that over 15 lakh people are either directly or indirectly dependant on the sector for their livelihoods. Near eternal travel ban “It was tourism that COVID-19 had impacted first, and the sector will be the worst and the longest hit,” said Jose Dominic, the CEO of CGH Earth, a chain of popular experience hotels. “It has literally pushed tourism off the cliff,” the patriarch of CGH Earth said. E M Najeeb, the founder and chairman of Air Travel Enterprises, one of India's biggest tour operators, too said tourism would be the last to stand up after the COVID-19 threat receded. “From where will travellers come and where do we travel to? All our main source markets and the places we prefer to go on a vacation – Britain, America, Germany, France, Spain, the Middle East and South East Asia – have been affected,” Najeeb said. Travel within the national boundaries is also fraught with risk. “Kerala might be safe but this cannot be said of other states. And just because we are safe does not mean we can allow people from other states to visit Kerala,” the ATE chairman said. Forced hibernation, for how long For the moment, tourism will have to be put on hold in the interests of safety. Jose Dominic said according to very generous estimates, the sector would begin to stir by the end of 2020. “However, realistically speaking we expect the sector to liven up only by December 2021,” Dominic said. The managing director of Tourism India Publications and Tourism Advisory Board member K V Ravishankar said it took two years for tourism to rebound in China, Thailand and Indonesia after the Sars outbreak in 2002. Conditional wanderlust But even the bounce back will depend on a number of variables. “Travel is a basic human instinct, as basic as a child crawling out of her cradle. But COVID is all set to re-shape this instinct,” said K C Chandrahasan, the managing director of Kerala Travels Interserve, one of the oldest and reputed tour operators in India. The economic uncertainty triggered by COVID is one factor that could alter the nature of travel. “With salary cuts and the withdrawal of perks becoming the norm, travel decisions will depend on what is left after meeting essential needs,” Chandrahasan said. There will be no money to be squandered and, therefore, destinations will henceforth be chosen with utmost care. Only unique experiences, like Ayurveda for instance, can bring back travellers asking for more, Chandrahasan said. COVID-induced behavioural change Already, the COVID-19 lockdown has taught people to adapt. Virtual meetings, made popular by apps like Zoom, have shown business executives across the world that they could get together easily at virtually no cost without even stepping out of their homes. “The MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) segment used to bring in huge revenues for Kerala. Now, they have realised that online meetings are almost as effective. Companies will now try to cut down on travel,” said K V Ravishankar, Tourism Advisory Board member. Flight fares would be the other decider. “Already the fares to Kerala are high. If it is jacked up even higher, it could spell trouble for Kerala,” he said. G Sudhiesh Kumar, patron of Kerala Hotel and Restaurants' Association (KHRA) and the managing director of Sea Face resort in Kovalam, predicts a “new normal” in the post-COVID phase. “The insistence on social distancing norms even in our kitchens may force us to cut staff. Pre-cooked food or microwave-heated food will become he norm,” Sudhiesh said. Zero income, full pay There are immediate survival concerns, too. More than 95 per cent of the 15,000-odd tourism entrepreneurs in Kerala are in the MSME (micro small and medium enterprises) sector. “Virtually all of them operate on loans. If there is no bailout package, I don't think it will be easy for them to hold out for long,” Ravishankar said. The burden of supporting jobs is also sitting heavy on the sector, like a brood of children on an undernourished mother. “The government has done a fantastic job to save lives and now it has to intervene to save livelihoods,” said Jose Dominic. “We had a series of Zoom meetings with the Planning Board and the Chief Minister. We have told them about the situation. The sector supports over 15 lakh people. March salaries have been paid but it does not look likely for April and the sector has to go through to at least October this year without any revenue,” he said. The labour department has asked the industry to keep paying wages. “But you only pay what you have. From zero you can only pay zero,” Jose Dominic said. Subsistence pay The industry has now proposed what is called “subsistence disbursements”, a basic income of Rs 9000 a month, so as to enable basic necessities like food for people dependent on tourism for livelihood. “The Chief Minister said the state did not have the resources to meet the requirement. But at least give us half,” Jose Dominic said. ATE's Najeeb said there was a point beyond which the sector cannot protect jobs. “If no subsistence or loan package is announced, there could be huge layoffs especially in the MSME sector,” Najeeb said. KHRA's Sudhiesh said it was by now clear that there will not be business as before. “Even otherwise, it is not looking good. Lot of payments we have to get from our buyers, some domestic, some international, is not coming. They are not willing to talk about money now. Now we have to keep paying the salaries and also maintain our properties, keep our walls and air-conditioners and furniture in order, at a fairly high cost,” Sudhiesh said. Time to go hyper-local It will take a while for the sun to shine on the tourism industry, but industry leaders are agreed on one thing: immediately after the locks are off, the best way to revive tourism is to become hyper local. “Now that going out and coming in are loaded with uncertainty, Kerala's tourism potential lies within itself as we have done a fantastic job in containing the spread of the virus,” Jose Dominic said. He called it “local immersive experiential travel”. “I am a man of Kochi and I would love to walk through the exotic Jew Town street, experience the Chinese fishing nets or go up to the Hill Palace in Thripunithura. I don't want to take any risk nor would I prefer to meet people coming in from dangerous zones,” Dominic said. Sudhiesh wants the government to promote local travel by increasing leave travel concession (LTC) for government staff. Kerala advantage This is but a stop-gap money spinner, a warming up before the skies open up. It is felt that as the fear of the virus gradually fades, the commendable way in which Kerala had handled COVID-19 will work to its advantage. “Safety from disease would be the new tourism mantra and here Kerala would score. Now, in tourism circles, it is said Vietnam and Kerala, both of which had reined in the virus quite effectively, are the two safest destinations in he world,” Najeeb said.

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Dubai, Mumbai top wish-list of most Indian travellers post COVID-19 crisis

MUMBAI: Even as travel is on pause amid COVID-19, Indian travel enthusiasts are making wish lists of places they would like to visit post the crisis, and financial capital of the country and Dubai have topped the chart as most sought-after domestic and international destinations, as per a survey. The top domestic destination for Indian travellers is Mumbai, followed by Goa, New Delhi, Lonavala and Bengaluru, a survey by digital travel company Booking.com said. For international destinations in Indian travellers wish-list includes Dubai as the top destination, followed by Ubud (Bali), Bangkok (Thailand), Istanbul (Turkey) and London (UK), it added. The survey is based on comparing wish-list data on Booking.com platform between March and April 2020. "These are unprecedented and challenging times in which safety remains the top priority. We also know that in such times, dreaming about experiencing the world again has immense power to fire our imaginations and keep spirits high. "It's amazing to see the array of different travel experiences our customers have been busy dreaming about while they wait for the opportunity to travel again. Building a wish list on Booking.com is an inspirational way for everyone to start dreaming about travel again," Booking.com Country Manager, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives, Ritu Mehrotra said. Meanwhile, while dreaming about a change in scenery and the opportunity to enjoy a stay experience outside of their own home, most Indians travellers would refer to stay in hotels followed by resorts, guest houses, apartments and villas. Hotels account for nearly 42 per cent of all properties wished by Indians over the last two months whereas resorts count for 18 per cent, which is more than the global average of 6 per cent, it said. When it comes to global travellers, New Delhi, Mumbai, Calangute (Goa), Jaipur and Bengaluru are the top five destinations in India that the most globetrotters have wished to visit during March and April 2020, it added.

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Health protocols to be priority in Bali tourism recovery strategy

The government is preparing a tourism recovery strategy after the sector was severely impacted by the emergency measures put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country. The Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister’s undersecretary, Ridwan Djamaluddin, said the government would soon establish a team to coordinate efforts to revive tourism alongside private companies and stakeholders. “We are currently formulating a strategy and raising funds to revive tourism. The ministry has proposed establishing a joint team to coordinate our efforts, as the government and private sector cannot work separately” he said during an online discussion held by Tourism Aware Citizens (Masata) on May 14. Tourism came to a virtual halt when the COVID-19 outbreak hit Indonesia in March. The situation worsened in the following months after the government imposed a partial lockdown to halt the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19. According to the latest data issued by Statistic Indonesia (BPS), foreign tourist arrivals fell 64.1 percent year-on-year (yoy) in March to 470,898 visitors, a level unseen since February 2009. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, however, believes tourism will rebound in 2021 with the government to prioritize it in its economic agenda, according to the Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko. “The President projected that there would be a tourism boom next year and the industry should be ready for it,” he said during the discussion. As part of the recovery program, the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry will launch online marketing campaigns and improve hygiene and safety standards in major tourist destinations to attract foreign tourists. “As part of the rebound strategy, we will deliver a message to the market that the safety and hygiene of our tourist destinations are in accordance with international standards. By doing so, we can spur confidence and maintain our credibility among potential visitors,” said the ministry's deputy head of resources and institutional affairs, Frans Teguh. In addition, Frans said the ministry also provided online training for tourism workers who wished to improve their skills and prepare themselves for shifts in consumer behavior. Local administrations are also preparing various strategies, with health, safety and hygiene protocols a priority. Bali’s deputy governor Tjokorda Oka Arta Ardhana said the province planned to establish “tourism clusters”, which would be exclusive tourist zones in which high-level health protocols would be implemented, so that tourists could be welcomed back without the risk of spreading COVID-19 to locals. “We don’t want to have a second wave of infections when we reopen. Therefore, we are currently discussing setting up tourism clusters around the island,” he said. Meanwhile, Belitung’s deputy regent Isyak Meirobie proposed offering tourism packages that would include a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for visitors who visited the island. “The tourists would have to take a swab test on their arrival to the island, which would be part of the tour package. If they’re found negative, they could roam freely on the island,” he said. A recent survey by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) confirmed the predicted change in traveler preferences, with health and safety becoming a major concern for future trips. The survey was conducted among 1,200 Chinese tourists, who made up the largest group of foreign visitors to the country before the pandemic. “The tourists surveyed hope that travel agencies and destinations take the necessary measures to ensure the health and safety of tourists during their travels,” the study read.

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