Greece formally opened to visitors on Saturday, kicking off a summer season it hopes will resurrect its vital tourism industry battered by the coronavirus pandemic. After months of lockdown restrictions, Greece also opened its museums this week, including the Acropolis museum, home to renowned sculptures from Greek antiquity. Passengers arriving from Germany and Switzerland stand with their luggage outside the terminal of the Heraklion airport, as the country's tourism season officially opens, on the island of Crete, Greece, May 15, 2021. REUTERS/Stefanos Rapanis "I feel really alive and good because it has been such a hard and long year because of COVID," said Victoria Sanchez, a 22-year-old student on holiday from the Czech Republic. "I feel again alive," she said, as she st...
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Cruise operator Royal Caribbean is cancelling a new line that had been scheduled to run from Israel to Greece and Cyprus from next month, citing regional security concerns. FILE PHOTO: Royal Caribbean International's cruise ship 'Allure of the Seas' enters its new home port in Fort Lauderdale as seen from nearby Hollywood, Florida. REUTERS/Joe Skipper The sailings out of Haifa port would have been the first for Royal Caribbean's new ship "Odyssey of the Seas" and were intended to exploit a travel corridor being set up among the three countries for travellers vaccinated against COVID-19. "Due to the unrest in Israel and region, Odyssey has not been able to complete the preparations required," the company said late on Saturday in what appeared to be a reference to fighting over Gaz...
Read MoreHotels and boarding houses may reopen as of May 24 in Czech Republic. Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlicek said journalists after a cabinet meeting that he will submit a proposal to the government next week so that they can reopen without capacity limits. The government has been relaxing the economic restrictions based on six packages and on the number of new Covid-19 infections per 100,000 in the past seven days, which was 102 on last Sunday. Under the package number four, which was on the agenda in meeting, facilities and services including hotels and boarding houses might resume operations as of next Monday. A 25 percent capacity limit has been set for hotels and boarding houses. The condition was criticized by entrepreneurs, which is why the government decided to postpone the...
Read MoreItaly will scrap mandatory quarantine from Sunday for visitors from the European Union, Britain and Israel who test negative for COVID-19, the government said on Friday as it looks to give summer tourism a boost. With vaccine roll-outs picking up pace in the EU, more countries are looking to ease travel curbs and restrictions on the hospitality sector to help it recover from the pandemic. “We have been waiting for this move for a long time and it anticipates a Europe-wide travel pass,” Tourism Minister Massimo Garavaglia. FILE PHOTO: Italian tourists visit the leaning tower of Pisa as it reopens to the public, following the ease of restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Pisa, Italy, May 1, 2021. REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini The EU plans to star...
Read MoreIn a small fishing town in Morocco’s south, wedged between the Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara, a group of idealistic young surfers are teaching local children to brave the crashing waves. A day’s drive from the cities of northern Morocco, and on the fringe of the world’s greatest desert, the group has set up a beachfront cafe where young people can gather, learn and have fun in the sleepy port of Tarfaya. “We have a deal here. Everyone who leaves Tarfaya has to come back and do something for the town,” said Salim Maatoug, a wiry 26-year-old who worked as a tour guide in Marrakesh. Students surf during a free surfing lesson in front of La Casa del Mar, in Tarfaya, Morocco, April 14, 2021. REUTERS/Imane Djamil More than a hundred local children - boys and girls - have attended th...
Read MoreThe Chardham Yatra will have a lacklustre opening for the second consecutive year due to COVID-19 pandemic as the portals of Yamunotri and Gangotri will open on Friday and Saturday respectively without any pilgrims in attendance. Located in Uttarakhand's Garhwal region, all the four temples also called Chardham, have been kept out of bounds for devotees as a precautionary measure in view of the surge in COVID-19 cases. Not more than 25 people each, including priests, teerth purohits and district administration officials, will attend the opening ceremonies at Yamunotri and Gangotri which will be low-key affairs, Gangotri Mandir Samiti official Rajesh Semwal said. Last year also they had reopened after their closure in winters only so that the priests could conduct regular pray...
Read MoreThe Union Cabinet has approved transfer of 1500 square metres of land belonging to Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) at Mussoorie to the State Government of Uttarakhand for their infrastructure project, namely, 'Aerial Passenger Ropeway System' between Dehradun and Mussoorie. The proposed Ropeway is a mono-cable ropeway of 5580 meters length under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode between Purkul Gaon, Dehradun (Lower Terminal Station) and Library, Mussoorie (Upper Terminal Station) being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs.285 crore with a carrying capacity of 1000 persons per hour per direction. FILE PHOTO: Ropeway at Kempty Falls in Mussoorie This will considerably reduce the traffic flow on road route from Dehradun to Mussoorie. A travel time of more than an hour (almos...
Read MoreHoliday company TUI Group expects a strong 2021 summer season and will operate 75% of pre-pandemic capacity, with rising levels of vaccinations set to fuel last-minute bookings, it said on Wednesday. The pandemic has hammered TUI, the world’s biggest holiday group, and while it sunk to a 1.3 billion euro ($1.6 billion) loss for the six months to the end of March, it said that the worst was behind it as European resorts start to reopen. FILE PHOTO: TUI logo is seen at the TUI travel center following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Britain, July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Carl Recine New bookings have doubled since April, with customers from Germany and Belgium driving demand for holidays after winter lockdowns, and the group expects UK bookings to ca...
Read MoreA subspecies of the Himalayan red fox was spotted at Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand at a height of 3,000 metres, officials said on Wednesday. The variety, known as Vulpes Vulpes griffithi, was seen in Bhujani and Khaliya Top areas of Munsiyari at an elevation of 3,000 metres, some 500 metres below the altitude, where its habitat is located, for the first time in recent years, said Surendra Panwar, president of Monal NGO that has been working towards the protection of upper range Himalayan animals for around 10 years. FILE PHOTO: A Himalayan Red Fox in Kumaon region of Uttarakhand "We have seen at least eight subspecies of the red fox at such an elevation in the Himalayan region after following it fruitlessly for two years," he said. Asked about the reasons behind the increased vis...
Read MoreBritons rush to book trips to Portugal ahead of up-in-the-air summer season
The mailbox of a well-known hotel in the heart of Lisbon was bombarded with queries as soon as Britain announced it was including the country on its travel “green list” this summer. Manuel Pinto, Mundial Hotel director, is over the moon that British holidaymakers, who are essential to Portugal’s tourism industry, will be able to return after a five-month travel ban, providing a much-needed boost to the struggling sector. A woman takes photos in Cais das Colunas amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Lisbon, Portugal, May 11, 2021. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes “I was delighted, not only on a personal level but for our country,” Pinto said, standing in Mundial’s rooftop bar, adding that British visitors had already booked around 4,000 room nights at the hotel this year. Port...
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