Vol. 11 | Issue 06 | April 2021 | Pages 28 | `50 Travel Trade Journal (TTJ) • Volume 11 • Issue 06 • April 2021 Team Sampan Editor & Publisher : Ravi Sharma Contributing Editor : Naveen Lal Consulting Editor : Rachita Sehgal Bureau Head (West) : Prashant Nayak Reporter : Sonika Bhandari Reporter : Aditya Vikram Singh Consulting Editor : Sonia Dutt Dear Friends, Sr. Designer : Subhash Chaudhary HTML Developer : Jitender Singh Shekhawat In this fight for survival in the pandemic, the travel and tourism sector started witnessing a slow and gradual recovery despite GM - Marketing : Sonika Bohra being compounded with stop-start cycles which hampered speedy recovery. The second round of COVID-19 which is now Bureau Head (East) : Partha Chatterjee prevalent in the entire country brings in more challenges and Manager PR : Ankit Dixit crisis for the sector. Cordinator (West) : Bharti Kalia Our resilience is being put to test once again, but we should Consultant (West) : Sameer Montario stay strong and be persistent in digging out new opportunities, Project Head Events : Rohan Rana encourage innovation, drive new business models, explore new Photographer : Parth Sharma niches/markets, and focus on new destinations. Asst. Manager Administration : Kuldeep Singh Meanwhile, everyone in the travel sector has to look forward to Accounts Manager : Priyesh Ranjan getting vaccinated to help build up more resistance and immunity Email: [email protected] against the virus. This will also help us do early business and can travel at ease when things get back to normal. Editorial and Marketing Office : Sampan Media Pvt. Ltd., B-7/114A, 3rd Floor, Safdarjung Enclave, Near Sukhmani Hospital, New TTJ April 2021 edition is a regular feature, along with Delhi – 110029 Ph: 9560264443, [email protected] highlighting some domestic and international destinations when All information in Travel Trade Journal (TTJ) is derived from sources we consider reliable. It is passed travel resumes. on to our readers without any responsibility on our part. Opinions / views expressed by third parties in abstract or in interviews are not necessarily shared by us. Material appearing in the magazine cannot So while you read on, please stay safe and well, get vaccinated, be reproduced in whole or in part(s) without prior permission. The publisher assumes no responsibility and don’t lose hope. for material lost or damaged in transit. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw or otherwise Editor’s Desk deal with all advertisements without explanation. All advertisements must comply with the Indian Happy Reading! 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Ravi Sharma [email protected] News You Can Use QuadLabs introduces first Sokos Hotels & Radisson Blu Finland ‘Health Travel E-pass’ in India opens office in India eam QuadLabs has introduced TresCare, an AI-Based okos Hotels & Radisson Blu Hotels, Finland (S-Group Hotels) has Health Tracking band and application, which generates entered into a strategic alliance with Lumi Safaris (Shah Lifestyle Tthe Digital Health E-pass based upon travel history, Sand Hospitality Ventures) by appointing them as the India Sales vaccination certificate, test reports & actual health vitals Representative for all of their properties based out of Finland, Tallinn, Estonia recorded from medical wearable devices. & St. Petersburg, Russia. This agreement facilitates Sokos Hotels to move It is a QR-based Health e-pass that will provide complete into one of the fastest-growing travel markets during the most challenging information on the current health status of a traveller to airports, period of the tourism industry. airlines, hotels & other service providers. The health status is “We are very confident that this partnership between Sokos Hotels & generated instantly based on different parameters showing the Radisson Blu Hotels, Finland & Lumi Safaris (Shah Lifestyle and Hospitality wellness of the individual. The system takes the readings based Ventures) is going to be very exciting and fruitful for both companies. In the upon the pattern of the proactive health vital graphs, vaccination last three years, the Nordic region has not only created its own niche target certificates (validated through ICMR), and the COVID-19 test audience but has also seen tremendous growth in arrivals. We also recently reports. The system provides health information in real-time bagged the award of being ‘One of the biggest hotel chains of NORDIC Region and will identify if the person traveling is safe or not, helping in 2020’. We are targeting India as one of the potential markets as we have a stopping of spreading of contagious diseases assuring a risk- huge inventory that can accommodate Leisure groups, MICE Movements free environment. and Destination weddings as well. We have designed different categories of Hotels in order to cater to different needs and likings of consumers,” informed TresCare application is a safe verified digital platform that the spokesperson from Sokos Hotels. stores an Individual or a corporate traveller’s Health information in an anonymous & encrypted format. Only the travellers have “The brands look forward establishing Sokos Hotels & Radisson Blu access to their information on their mobile. This can only be Finland in the India market,” said Jay Shah, Nina Nieminen, Commercial shared by the traveller by using a QR code to the relevant Vice President for S-Group in their joint statement. government authority. It also provides monitoring services to With 48 hotels in Finland, Tallinn, and St. Petersburg, Sokos Hotels is the medical response teams in large enterprises and government best-known hotel chain in Finland. They have three completely different hotel institutes. types: Original by Sokos, Break by Sokos Hotels, and Solo by Sokos Hotels. “We are very excited to launch India’s first Health E-Pass. On the other side, Radisson Blu has eight hotels in Finland: four in Helsinki This will help the industry to revive from the pandemic & open and one in Espoo, Turku, Tampere, and Oulu and they provide unparalleled the borders for traveller. Our next target is to bring acceptability service, comfort and style while creating meaningful and memorable of this e-pass with various airlines, airports, and hotels to make experiences. All Radisson Blu Hotels in Finland have been awarded Green travel easy and seamless,” said the CEO, Gaurav Chiripal. Key certificates. India restores e-visa for 156 countries he Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has restored the electronic visa (e-visa) facility for foreigners from 156 countries, who intend Tto visit India for business, conferences, and medical reasons, including in the case of medical attendants. E-visa for tourists is yet to be restored. Though the facility was available to 171 countries, after restrictions were announced in 2020, it has been restored only for 156 countries. China, the U.K., Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia are notable exclusions. In an order issued on March 30th, the MHA said that “e-Visa under the following categories viz. e-business visa, e-medical visa, e-medical attendant visa and e-conference visa has been restored with immediate effect.” The relaxation for foreign visitors comes in the wake of a deadly India had earlier relaxed visa restrictions on October 22, 2020, second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed 1.7 lakh enabling foreigners to come to India for business, conferences, lives so far. The number of persons infected with COVID-19 increased employment, education, research and medical purposes, after availing from 59,118 on March 25 to 2,00,739 on April 14. regular visas from missions and embassies abroad. www.traveltradejournal.com APRIL | 2021 3 In Focus Tourism in India to take another beating in the second wave of COVID-19 While outbound travel plans and inbound travel anticipation still look miles away, but domestic tourism surely and slowly had started picking up as lockdown norms were eased. Now, with the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, a second wave poses a greater threat and concerns to yet another round of summer holidays and beyond that. TTJ tries to find out some factors which will deter a tourist from taking that vacation. Prashant Nayak n normal times, summer is a season modes since March 25, 2020, restricting 1.3 conducive in a kind of panic situation, even that almost everyone in India waits billion people to travel with ease. For most if there is no requirement for a COVID-19 for all year long, and yet here we are Indians, after spending more than a year negative certificate to travel by Indian again, all locked up in our homes, under duress of the pandemic and distancing Railways. Also, there is always a risk of waiting for the deadly Coronavirus to socially, the urge to travel is getting stronger passenger trains getting stopped or curtailed, spare the human race. and stronger. Other than a break or a if infection numbers rise. For the travel and tourism industry in India, vacation, many want to travel to meet family Flexibility in date changes and last-minute Iwith several people having put their travel and friends, and many are still considering free cancellation policies are other important plans on hold and that it is solely relying on business or work travel in 2021. key factors when making travel decisions. domestic tourists in these difficult times, the Many tourists feel safe at travelling Many wary regular travellers who had made latest surge in new cases has pushed the in their personal cars and they can be a international or domestic travel plan back in sector into further crisis.