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Spain announces to scrap ‘Golden Visa’ program

As per the latest development, Spain is all set to do away with its popular ‘golden visa’ program. For your information, it’s the scheme that helped foreign investors gain residency by investing €500,000 in property. This announcement was made by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday. The decision comes as Spain aims to tackle the rampant speculation plaguing many of its cities. During a visit near Seville, Sanchez declared, "We will eliminate the so-called golden visa program, which grants residency in exchange for a €500,000 property investment." The move, slated for approval at Tuesday's cabinet meeting, aims to combat speculative property investments hindering access to housing for numerous young individuals and families. Introduced in 2013 during economic struggles to attract foreign capital, the scheme grants non-EU investors a three-year work and residency permit in return for investing at least €500,000 in property or a Spanish company. Sanchez highlighted that currently, a vast majority of these visas are linked to property investments, heavily concentrated in major cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga, Alicante, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands. The Prime Minister further emphasised the intense housing market pressures in these regions, making it exceedingly challenging for residents who live, work, and contribute taxes to find adequate housing. If reports are to go by, in response to escalating housing crises, several southern European countries have also gone ahead to either tighten rules or discontinue similar visa schemes that were established during the financial crisis. Portugal terminated its golden visa program in February 2023, which had significantly inflated housing prices, while Greece recently heightened regulations, increasing the required investment to as much as €800,000. Reports add that criticism surrounding such visa programs has grown, with many denouncing them as a ‘European disgrace,’ arguing that residency permits should not be granted solely based on wealth. In 2019, Brussels urged member states to crack down on these schemes, warning of their potential to facilitate corruption and money laundering, particularly benefiting affluent Chinese and Russian investors. The move to abolish Spain's golden visa program reflects a broader European effort to address the social and economic ramifications of such schemes.

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Vistara trims operations, airfares surge! Here are some of the routes seeing higher fares amid travel season

The aviation industry is about to meet with the peak summer travel season and the ticket prices have already started hitting the higher end. This comes as Vistara has announced to scale down its operations to 25-30 flights per day, making up 10% of its operational capacity. This too is pushing the ticket prices higher and higher. According to an Indian Express report, the travel industry insiders have said that fares on major routes like Delhi-Goa, Delhi-Kochi, Delhi-Jammu, and Delhi-Srinagar have increased by around 20-25%. Increasing airfares amid travel season Seeing the decision taken by Vistara and its effect on the ticket prices, Yatra Online’s Bharatt Malik said there has been a “significant surge” in the ticket prices on some of the major domestic routes where Vistara has a strong foothold. He said, “We have observed a significant surge in fares, with prices skyrocketing by approximately 20-25 per cent across key routes such as Delhi-Goa, Delhi-Kochi, Delhi-Jammu, and Delhi-Srinagar.” According to Bharatt Malik, Senior Vice President, Air and Hotel Business at Yatra Online, a “significant surge” has been witnessed in airfares on some of the major domestic routes where the airline has a strong presence. “We have observed a significant surge in fares, with prices skyrocketing by approximately 20-25 per cent across key routes such as Delhi-Goa, Delhi-Kochi, Delhi-Jammu, and Delhi-Srinagar,” Malik said. According to an executive from another travel agency, although the Vistara flight cancellations might only be a temporary occurrence lasting a few months, any brief disruption contributes to the strain on the capacity-limited Indian aviation system, which has been striving to meet the surge in travel demand since the conclusion of the Covid-19 pandemic. In such circumstances, it’s inevitable that airfares will rise. They said that over 70 aircraft of IndiGo are grounded due to engine-related issues and supply chain problems along with 50 Go First planes sitting idle. “There are visible capacity constraints and the airlines seem helpless at this stage. On the other hand, demand growth is not letting up, leading to a skewed demand-supply scenario,” they added. What did Vistara say about scaling down its operations? Releasing a statement on Sunday, Vistara said, “We are carefully scaling back our operations by around 25-30 flights per day, i.e. roughly 10% of the capacity we were operating.” The airline added that the reduction will take its operations to the level it had at the end of February 2024. This will give it “much-needed resilience and buffer in the rosters”, the airline added. “In line with what we had said earlier, with this all the changes for the month of April 2024 have been done and the situation has already gotten better with our on-time performance improving for the last few days. Looking ahead, we are hopeful of stable operations for the rest of the month and beyond,” it further said.

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Summer travel: The routes with fewer—and more—flights

Last May, when GoFirst suddenly filed for voluntary bankruptcy - the domestic travel market went into a disarray, especially the tours which saw people being stuck in places like Srinagar and passengers who were booked but found themselves in a quandary. Almost a year later, the number of daily departures has not increased significantly in Indian skies - even as airlines have inducted multiple aircraft. This is largely because of additional groundings for IndiGo, taking away more capacity from the market. Data shared by Ciricum, an aviation analytics company, exclusively for this publication shows that the market has changed significantly on multiple routes. One significant aspect that the market has seen is the shift of all flights from Old Rajkot airport to Hirasar Airport and Goa Dabolim seeing its capacity reduced in favour of the new Mopa airport. The Mumbai - Delhi route will see 46 additional departures while the return will see 39 more departures. This is followed by 38 additional departures between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, per week (36 additional departures from Ahmedabad to Mumbai). The Bengaluru - Trivandrum sector sees an increase of 35 weekly flights, led by doubly daily flights each, introduced by Air India Express and Vistara and the addition of a daily flight by IndiGo. The Kolkata - Bagdogra - Kolkata route sees an increase of 32 weekly flights over previous year. This is led by SpiceJet and AIX Connect - which has traditionally been stronger at Bagdogra and has been guarding its fort against IndiGo. Goa - the power of two airports Goa has traditionally not been a summer destination due its hot and humid climate. However, the state - with its power of two airports is seeing exceptional growth in flights. MIA, Mopa, North Goa will see 306 weekly flights, while last year it saw only 194. Dabolim Airport will see 418 weekly departures, down from 441 departures it saw last May. However, with the two airports serving the same area - together the will be a growth of 89 weekly departures. Over 32,000 seats are on offer each week between Delhi and Goa (both airports), while the short distance of Mumbai - Goa sees 30,000 seats on offer each way. Flights from Mumbai to Goa have seen the maximum shift from Dabolim to Mopa. Top 5 sectors where capacity shrunk The sectors which have seen capacity shrunk, are surprisingly not the ones where Go FIRST was strong. The topmost route is Bengaluru - Chennai, which has seen a drop of 35 weekly flights. This comes on the back of Akasa Air pulling out of that route, where it operated 28 weekly flights last May. This is followed by the Mumbai - Chennai market, which saw a drop of 30 weekly flights, again led by Akasa Air which vacated this market. In third place is the Hyderabad - Bengaluru market which is seeing a reduction of 26 flights a week between Bengaluru - Hyderabad and 24 flights a week less between Hyderabad and Bengaluru. The reduction here is led by AIX Connect. The Mumbai - Bengaluru - Mumbai sector comes in fourth while Delhi - Kolkata - Delhi comes in fifth, both seeing a drop of 17 weekly flights and 16 weekly flights respectively. The Mumbai - Bengaluru sector also saw Akasa Air withdraw while Go FIRST has a significant presence. What happened to Go FIRST’s routes? Go FIRST had a strong presence in Delhi - Leh, Delhi - Srinagar, Mumbai - Goa, Delhi - Pune and Delhi - Mumbai markets. These were the top 5 markets by frequencies for Go FIRST in the month leading up to the suspension of the airline. On the Delhi - Leh route, IndiGo has helped cover the capacity loss, while on the Delhi - Srinagar route IndiGo and Air India Express have added flights which are now more than the capacity which was in the market last year. All other routes have seen an increase in flights. Tail Note Interestingly, the loss of capacity is in the south, where Go FIRST did not have a strong presence. The loss of capacity is now recovered. However, the tourist demand remains high this year. In all probabilities, 2024 will record higher traffic than 2023. With the peak summer months ahead of us, the time to book tickets is fast ticking to avoid the last-minute fare hike.

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China reopens Mount Everest access to foreigners

For the first time since the pandemic, China is allowing foreign climbers to access Mount Everest via Tibet. Adrian Ballinger, who has summited Everest eight times, is one of the Western guides who prefers the Tibet route to the top of the world’s tallest mountain (from the north), as opposed to the more well-known Nepal route (from the south). This year, he will lead a group of climbers through his company, Alpenglow Expeditions. Rather than a tourism official or council in Beijing, all passes to use the Chinese route up the mountain, which is known in China as Qomolangma, are distributed by the China Tibet Mountaineering Association (CTMA). There is also no official announcement released by the Chinese government notifying the public that passes will be given out. As a result, says Ballinger, the best way for a non-Chinese climber to know that the Tibet side of Everest will be open is when the CTMA sends out a price list for the season. These lists include the costs of yaks (which carry gear up and down the mountain), local guides, translators and transport from Tibet’s capital of Lhasa to Everest Base Camp. Foreigners who obtain tourist visas to China must get an additional, separate permit for Tibet, which is a semi-autonomous region. The CTMA assists with this for climbers. There are a maximum of 300 permits available annually for non-Chinese climbers. The window to climb Everest is small – usually between late April and mid-May. Ballinger’s team will arrive in China on April 25 after pre-acclimatizing at home to save time. Competition at the top of the world While Nepal has the more famous and more photographed path to the peak of Everest, the greater number of visitors correlates to more trash, more erosion and more human waste. However, this wasn’t always the case. “Climbing from the Chinese side used to be more popular than climbing from the Nepali side. So from about 2000 to 2007, the Chinese side was the more popular side, and it was commonly understood that the reason it was more popular is because it was safer,” explains Ballinger. So what changed? In 2008, China hosted the Summer Olympics in Beijing. Before arriving in the capital, the Olympic Flame traveled to Everest, despite the fact that there were already groups of tourists ready to tackle the world’s highest peak. “Eight days before we all arrived on the mountain in 2008, they shut down the mountain for the entire season, and a lot of people lost a lot of money,” says Ballinger. “And because of that decision, the business shifted to the Nepali side in that year.” Now, with foreign climbers able to access Everest via the northern route through Tibet for the first time since 2020, that trend may slowly begin to reverse.

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8 states in India that are sizzling hot right now; travel with caution

During the summer months, several states in India experience sizzling hot temperatures due to their geographical location and climate. These states are known for their scorching summers, with temperatures often reaching extreme levels, making it essential for residents and travellers to take necessary precautions to beat the heat. Here are eight such states known for their intense summer heat: Rajasthan: Located in the northwest part of India, Rajasthan is known for its desert landscape and extreme temperatures during the summer months. Cities like Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Bikaner often record high temperatures well above 40 degrees Celsius. Uttar Pradesh: As one of the most populous states in India, Uttar Pradesh experiences scorching temperatures during the summer. Cities like Allahabad, Kanpur, and Lucknow frequently witness temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius during the peak summer months. Gujarat: Situated in western India, Gujarat experiences intense heat during the summer season. Cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vadodara often face temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius, exacerbated by dry and arid conditions. Madhya Pradesh: Central India's Madhya Pradesh experiences sweltering heat during the summer months. Cities like Bhopal, Gwalior, and Indore frequently record temperatures, accompanied by high humidity levels. Telangana: Located in southern India, Telangana witnesses blistering temperatures during the summer season. Cities like Hyderabad, Warangal, and Karimnagar often face temperatures surpassing 44 degrees Celsius, making it one of the hottest regions in the country during the summer months. Delhi: The national capital territory of Delhi experiences scorching summers with temperatures soaring to extreme levels. Delhi's urban heat island effect exacerbates the heat during the summer months. The city often faces temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. The combination of high temperatures and pollution levels can contribute to challenging conditions for residents and visitors alike. Haryana: Adjacent to Delhi, Haryana experiences similarly intense heat during the summer months. Cities like Gurugram, Faridabad, and Hisar often record high temperatures, with dry and dusty conditions prevailing. Andhra Pradesh: Andhra Pradesh experiences extremely hot summers. The coastal areas, including cities like Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, experience hot and humid conditions due to their proximity to the Bay of Bengal. Inland regions such as Kurnool, Guntur, and Tirupati, on the other hand, have a drier heat, which can be quite intense.

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5 compelling reasons to visit Sikkim in April

Sikkim, nestled in the lap of the Himalayas, beckons travelers with its enchanting beauty and diverse offerings throughout the year. However, April holds a special allure for those seeking to immerse themselves in the magic of this northeastern gem. From blooming rhododendrons to clear mountain vistas, here are five compelling reasons why Sikkim is a must-visit destination in April.Rhododendron bloomApril marks the beginning of the rhododendron season in Sikkim, transforming the hillsides into a kaleidoscope of colors. The region's forests burst into bloom with vibrant hues of red, pink, and white, creating a mesmerizing spectacle that is nothing short of breathtaking. Whether you're trekking through the wilderness or simply enjoying a leisurely stroll, the sight of these magnificent flowers in full bloom is a feast for the eyes and the soul. Majestic views of Mount KanchenjungaApril blesses Sikkim with clear skies, offering unobstructed views of the mighty Mount Kanchenjunga, the third-highest peak in the world. As the sun bathes the snow-capped summit in golden light, photographers and nature enthusiasts alike are treated to awe-inspiring vistas that are guaranteed to leave a lasting impression. Whether you're admiring the mountain from afar or embarking on a trek to its base, April provides the perfect conditions to witness the majestic beauty of Kanchenjunga in all its glory.Cultural celebrationsApril is a time of celebration in Sikkim, with various cultural festivals and events adding to the vibrancy of the region. From the joyous festivities of Baisakhi to the colorful rituals of Losar, visitors have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the rich tapestry of Sikkimese culture. Whether you're witnessing traditional dances, sampling local delicacies, or participating in age-old rituals, April offers a glimpse into the heart and soul of this captivating land. Wildlife encountersApril is a haven for wildlife enthusiasts, as Sikkim's diverse ecosystems come alive with activity. From rare bird species to elusive mammals, the region's flora and fauna are at their most vibrant during this time of year. Whether you're birdwatching in the lush forests or embarking on a safari in one of Sikkim's national parks, April provides ample opportunities to encounter the rich biodiversity that calls this Himalayan paradise home. Natural beautyIn April, Sikkim offers a sanctuary for those seeking peace and serenity amidst the beauty of nature. Whether you're meditating by a tranquil lake, exploring a secluded monastery, or simply soaking in the panoramic views from a hilltop retreat, April provides the perfect backdrop for relaxation and rejuvenation. Away from the hustle and bustle of city life, Sikkim's pristine landscapes offer a sanctuary for the soul, inviting visitors to slow down, unwind, and reconnect with the natural world.

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