11 minute read
TOP NEWS P 03
by whereabouts
News Desk
Advertisement
Kerala Tourism Minister P A Mohamed Riyas assured the stake-holders that the government will unveil various projects focusing on the revival of the vital sector ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic, including special marketing campaigns. The Minister P A Mohamed Riyas was addressing a virtual meeting of representatives from various associations of Kerala Tourism and Hospitality sector including KTM and CII. The meeting was convened to elicit suggestions for revival of the industry that has been hit badly by the pandemic and work out plans for an impressive comeback.
While addressing the stakeholders, the Minister said that the government will closely work together with the industry with the aim of doubling the tourists' arrival by 2025, and hoped that 2022 will be turn out to be a ‘Covid-19 Free Tourism Year’. "The government will implement all possible measures to ease the current problems being faced by the industry. Special marketing campaigns will be conducted once the second wave of Covid-19 recedes," said the Minister.
The participants explained to the Minister how the pandemic had resulted in a severe setback for the entrepreneurs and all others engaged in the sector. They noted that unlike any other state, Kerala Government had provided total support and encouragement to the industry during the crisis. The Minister told them that the urgent task will be promoting internal tourism and the arrivals from other states. "Apart from completing the present projects on a time-bound manner, two new heritage projects focusing on Ponnani and Aranmula will be planned and implemented quickly," he added. "The roads to tourism centres will be developed and more tourism circuits will be formed by connecting destinations. Through the socially-committed Responsible Tourism, the benefits of tourism sector will be made available to more people. The government's goal is to support the kind of tourism that brings benefits to entrepreneurs, tourists and local community alike," the Minister pointed out. Rani George, IAS, Principal Secretary, Tourism, V.R. Krishna Teja, IAS, Director, Tourism, and Biju BS, Dy. Director (Mktg) were also present.
P A Mohamed Riyas
Tourism Minister Kerala
U. S. to resume student visa appointments for July & August
News Desk
Student visas remain a top priority for the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in India. The Embassy is making every attempt to facilitate student travel in time for the fall semester. As such, on June 14, 2021 U.S. Embassy and Consulates in India will open limited July and August student visa appointments at posts across India. Students beginning a new program with a program start date on or after August 1 may travel to the United States up to 30 days prior to the program start date and do not need to submit a request for a national interest exception. Continuing students may also resume their programs on or after August 1, and travel 30 days before their program resumption date. We are unable to approve expedite requests for Fall 2021 students with scheduled appointments in July or August. If your appointment date may result in a potentially late start, please reach out to your school to discuss options. KEY POINTS:
US embassy intends to start intensive two months of interviews starting July 1st . Tens of thousands of interview slots would be available starting Monday, 14th June. Keep a close eye on the website to book your appointment. You need RTPCR test before 72 hours of flying. Currently, there is no need to quarantine.
Type of vaccination currently depends entirely on individual schools. They might accept it or might ask you to get vaccinated once you reach campus.
KTM collaborates with Kerala Tourism to vaccinate stakeholders
News Desk
Kerala Travel Mart Society (KTM) is organizing a Covid Vaccination Drive in collaboration with the Kerala Tourism Department, to give priority to those who are working in the tourism sector. The aim is to make Kerala the first 100% tourism vaccinated state in India by providing complete vaccination to those working in the tourism sector and other tourism associates.
To reach this goal Tourism Department has introduced priority vaccination for the age group of 18-44 years and has appointed nodal officers to carry out this task. In addition to this, district-wise KTM members have been appointed as liaison officers to assist nodal officers with this initiative. Baby Mathew Somatheeram has informed that KTM has launched a help desk to create more awareness. He requested that all members of the tourism sector to utilize this opportunity and get vaccinated. This will help our industry to prepare for the safe re-opening of the tourism sector in Kerala and restart our businesses soon.
OTOAI waives off annual membership fee for FY 2021 – 2022
News Desk
Keeping in mind the prevailing tough times where the tourism sector has been one of the worst hits, the Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI) has waived off the annual membership fee for the financial year 2021 – 22. The association had reduced the fees by 50% for the financial year 2020 – 2021. The move is a testament of the fact that the association recognises and empathises with the challenges being faced by the outbound tour operators in India today. Riaz Munshi, President, OTOAI said, "This is not the time to make money or fill up
Riaz Munshi
President OTOAI
reserves. We understand the plight of our fellow industry colleagues and this gesture is our way of showing our solidarity to them.” While elaborating on the impact of Covid-19 on the Outbound sector Munshi said: “The outbound from India has been severely affected and it will indeed take a while before things go back to normal. The second wave has hit all businesses, especially tourism severely and different entry laws / requirements by different countries has made outbound travel very challenging.” “I would also like to urge people in the travel fraternity to get themselves vaccinated at the earliest possible so that whenever tourism opens, our customers do not hesitate reaching out to us and it will also send out a positive message to the world," concludes Munshi.
different. The tourism industry in India is one of the worst hit and when it felt the light at the end of the tunnel earlier this year, the current Covid wave put us again on back foot.
“We at NIMA strongly believe, only the Strong Resilience of our members and other fellow colleagues in trade will help in bringing the glory again to our industry as and when this pandemic ends,” added Bhagat. Network of Indian MICE Agents (NIMA) is a conglomeration of MICE operators from various parts of the country who work together for the growth and betterment of the industry. Established in 2014, NIMA is only ‘not for profit’ network dedicated for the benefit of MICE operators in India and it doesn’t charge any membership fees from its members. Currently it has over 150 members out of which more than 30% are from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
News Desk
Network of Indian MICE Agents (NIMA) has elected the new Executive Team for 2021-22 term during its 7th Foundation Day celebrated on May 25th, 2021. Jagdeep Bhagat of Vee Bee Tours & Travels, New Delhi has been re-elected as the National Coordinator of NIMA whereas Gajesh Girdhar of Paryatan Muzaffarnagar has been elected as the Chairman Emeritus. National Coordination of NIMA Jagdeep Bhagat feels that the association rededicate and reiterate its mission to keep on providing value to the members and work towards betterment of Indian MICE industry. The newly elected team will continue working to fulfill NIMA's Vision 2025. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the tourism industry worldwide collapsed and in India, it’s no
The 59th Airline Passenger Joint Council of IATA (APJC) was held virtually and attended by the airline representatives and agency representatives of TAAI & TAFI. Jyoti Mayal – President TAAI was unanimously selected to Chair the meeting. The agency representatives took up all the important points of concern and have made recommendations through APJC to PAPGJC / PSG which shall be taken up at PAconf also. TAAI was represented by Vice President – Jay Bhatia, Hon. Secretary General – Bettaiah Lokesh, Hon. Treasurer – Shreeram Patel and UFTAA President & Past President – TAAI, Sunil Kumar Rumalla.
Ixigo launches real time COVID-19 vaccine slot finder
To increase the chances of getting a vaccination appointment, ixigo has launched 'Vaccine Slot Finder' tool on its flights & trains app displaying real-time slot availability from the CoWIN website.
This tool can be easily accessed in the 'What's New' section on the app by tapping on the 'Find vaccine slots' option. One can select their area pin code or the district along with the age group and specify the dose they qualify for. If a slot is available, they will be redirected to the coWIN website to book the appointment. In case of unavailability of a slot, users get an option to select 'notify me when slots are available'. Rajnish Kumar, CTO & Director, Ixigo said, "With this initiative we want to support the government's efforts in accelerating mass vaccinations by providing our users seamless access to vaccine slots."
IATO appoints Co-chairmen in various states, targets more membership
News Desk
Indian Association of Tour Operators’ Executive Committee had reviewed and restructured the Regional and State Chapters recently to expand its wings and strengthen membership base in states and UT’s such as Uttarakhand, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Dadra, Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu. In continuation, the Association has further expanded its wings by appointing Co-Chairman and In-charge in various States and Union Territories.
While elaborating on the development IATO’s President Rajiv Mehra said: “With the step taken by the Executive Committee, IATO has touched almost all corners of the country, and we hope to see more tourism stake holders to join the Association who will be able to promote these places with more vigour with the help of tour operators from metro cities.” According to the latest development, Rajasthan
Rajiv Mehra
President IATO
being the large state with strong membership base was considered to have a Co-chairman and appointed Mahendra Singh of Holidays N Vacations, Jaipur to look after the various developments across the state. Keeping in view the importance of Varanasi as a big tourist attraction both for international and domestic tourists Bhuvanendra Vikram Singh of Prime Value Tours has been given this responsibility. Sikkim being a prime tourist destination needed a CoChairman. Keeping in view the distance between North Bengal and Sikkim Namgyal P Sherpa of Namgyal Treks & Tours, Gangtok has been appointed as Co-chairman to assist Chairman of Sikkim and North Bengal Chapter who is based in Siliguri, Darjeeling. Mohamed Jadwet has been appointed as Co-Chairman in Andaman & Nicobar to assist the Chairman based in Chennai. Besides the above, two State In-charge have been appointed in Manipur and Tripura to assist Chairman of IATO North East Chapter. H. Radhakrishna Sharma of Seven Sisters Holidays and Soumen Dutta of Hindustan Tour & Travels have been appointed State In-Charge of Manipur and Tripura respectively.
KTS seeks rehabilitation package for tourism & hospitality sector
News Desk
Karnataka Tourism Society – the representatives for all tourism and hospitality sector in the state has appealed to the Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa for a rehabilitation package for the stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality sector of the state who have been affected by the second wave of Covid-19. The Society has also submitted a memorandum to Tourism Minister C P Yogeshwar, Tourism Secretary Pankaj Kumar Pandey and Sindhu B Rupesh, Director, Tourism Department. “The COVID-19 second wave – coincidentally which commenced exactly after one year of the first wave, has hit our sector once again, with a vengeance and in the process derailed the entire sector putting great stress on the stake holders who barely managed to overcome the situation of the COVID crisis. Data of COVID II suggests that the present plight of the sector is far more severe with almost irreversible damage when compared to COVID I regime,” said S. Shayam Raju, President, Karnataka Tourism Society. Tourism and hospitality is the sector that has seen the worst impact of COVID-19 with a negative growth of 73 percent during the period April - December 2020 compared to the same period last year. Also, this is the sector that couldn't enter into the recovery phase since the eruption of COVID-19. As per a study report by McKinsey published in October 2020, recovery of the tourism sector to 2019 level may kick start as late as 2024.
KEY POINTS
Deferment of payment of
Property Tax for 2021-22. Deferment of payment of
Excise License Fee. Exemption/Waivers in
Electricity Bills. To waive off the demand charges from April to
September 2021. Energy charges payable on actual consumption basis only. Exemption from payment of
Vehicle Quarterly Road Tax.
Seven thousands travel agents enrolls for Yas Expert programme
News Desk
Experience Hub, the trade and promotion arm of Yas Island Abu Dhabi, has enrolled more than 7,000 travel agents into its distinguished 'Yas Expert' programme - a destination training and certification program for travel professionals and agents. Among the 7,000 enrolled, more than 5,000 travel agents have already received certification and been recognised as a Yas Expert, joining an elite team of specialists with enhanced knowledge of the destination and all it has to offer.
Throughout the pandemic period, Experience Hub has been virtually engaging with travel trade in key source markets including UK, Russia, China, India and GCC, and training them online to assure continuous product knowledge in preparation for gradual market re-openings. Liam Findlay, General Manager, Experience Hub said: "Experience Hub continues to show its commitment to global partners by refining and enhancing its valuable trade programmes such as Yas Expert. Our top priority through the travel slowdown has been to support our industry and evaluate how we can improve our offering ready for the travel rebound. We look forward to helping more agents globally to become Yas Experts and showcase a destination like nowhere else.”
