pandemic – Page 11 – आवारा मुसाफिर

Thailand’s tuk tuks, tour buses and boats marooned at Lunar New Year

February 11, 2021694 Views

Parked in rows with many gathering dust and cobwebs, hundreds of “tuk tuk” motorised rickshaws, tour buses and boats lie silent across the Thai capital of Bangkok, after suffering a twin blow from the coronavirus pandemic and a lack of foreign tourists. Celebrations of the Lunar New Year, which begins on Friday, normally bring a spike in spending and travel among Thais and an influx of visitors from China and elsewhere in Asia. Tuk-tuks that are used to transport tourists around the city are seen idle due to travel bans and border closures from the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in a parking lot in downtown Bangkok, Thailand February 3, 2021. REUTERS/Jorge Silva But the pandemic has upended Thai transport businesses, leaving many drivers and owners struggling to ...

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Staycations soar as Europe’s summer abroad cancelled

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February 11, 20211126 Views

Up until late January Terry O’Toole was fielding a trickle of enquiries from Irish holidaymakers happy to settle for another summer at home in one of the cottages he manages in the scenic west coast region of Connemara. But when a government minister said on radio that it was very unlikely Irish people will be able to go on foreign holidays this summer, “the trickle became a torrent”. Skis are seen in the Romme alpine ski resort near Borlange, Sweden February 6, 2021. REUTERS/Simon Johnson From Connemara cottages to Berlin houseboats, Sweden’s ski slopes to UK activity parks, holiday accommodation is being snapped up by cautious domestic tourists already resigned to another staycation summer, amid fears of foreign travel bans and quarantines. Availability is very tight, said O...

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Beating the blues on the Blue Trail

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February 9, 20211200 Views

Desperate to escape the pandemic lockdown, thousands of Hungarians have flocked to the country’s famous National Blue Trail to savour the calm, open air of the woods. Meandering for about 700 miles from Hungary’s western border with Austria to the northeast, the Blue Trail originated in 1938 and was recognized as Europe’s first long-distance trail. Tibor Miklosi and his family hike on National Blue Trail along the Pilis Mountains, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, near Pilisszentlaszlo, Hungary, February 6, 2021. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo It was featured by National Geographic in 2020 among the best trips to take in the world. While in previous years between 6,000 and 8,000 people bought the Trail’s booklet to collect stamps proving they had hiked various secti...

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Australia’s Blue Mountains hit by Lunar New Year slump in Asian visitors

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February 9, 2021571 Views

Sparse handfuls of people stand at railings to gaze at plunging rocks and shimmering waterfalls amid the verdant vegetation of Australia’s Blue Mountains, presenting a stark contrast with the throngs usually drawn to the attraction every year. The operator of the world’s steepest railway and glass floored cable cars says its nature park is nearly empty as Australia’s border closures over the coronavirus will keep out the annual influx of Lunar New Year tourists this year. People look at the Blue Mountains from the Echo Point lookout in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia, February 2, 2021. REUTERS/Stefica Nicole Bikes “Normally, Chinese New Year we would be absolutely bustling with all our delightful visitors from across Asia,” said Anthea Hammon, the chief executive o...

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Will a vaccine passport bring back the normalcy to travel!

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February 5, 2021400 Views

Governments and developers around the world are exploring the potential use of “vaccine passports” as a way of reopening the economy by identifying those protected against the coronavirus. Those developing the technologies however, say such tools come with consequences such as potentially excluding whole groups from social participation, and are urging lawmakers to think seriously about how they are used. The travel and entertainment industries, which have struggled to operate at a profit while imposing social distancing regulations, are particularly interested in a way of swiftly checking who has protection. Man holding a passport with COVID-19 sign stamped onto a white paper, immunity passport or risk-free certificate concept, recovered Coronavirus COVID19 patients being issued...

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WTTC asks to focus on high-risk ‘travellers’ instead of ‘countries’

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February 5, 2021329 Views

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has called for governments to abandon the concept of ‘high-risk countries’ and instead focus on how individual ‘high-risk travellers’ are treated at borders. WTTC, which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, is urging governments around the world to shift their focus from whole countries, towards individual travellers. Instead, WTTC says governments around the world should redefine their whole approach to risk assessment, to revive international business and leisure travel. Combined with a common international consensus on the metrics used to assess risk and a laser-like focus on a cost-effective, comprehensive, and rapid departure and arrival testing scheme for all travellers, could pave the way forward for t...

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Cruise operators hope to save summer season

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February 4, 2021302 Views

Greek cruise lines hope a swifter vaccination rollout and the government’s proposed vaccine certificates scheme can help get ships out of the docks where they have been idling empty for the past year and back to sea for the vital summer season. With international travel now at a near-standstill, saving at least part of the summer season will be vital, said George Koumpenas, Chief Operating Officer for Celestyal Cruises, a medium-sized operator that offers trips to the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean. Celestyal’s ships have been docked at the cruise terminal of Piraeus port in Athens since February last year and while it has sent crews home, daily maintenance fees just to keep the vessels operational run to 15,000 euros ($18,016.50). “It’s crucial for the company to get its v...

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SITA launches health protect, a secure way for airlines to share health information

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February 4, 20211055 Views

The proven solution seamlessly integrates with multiple travel pass schemes (such as AOK, CommonPass, IATA, SimplyGo) SITA has announced the launch of Health Protect – an industry solution, to help airlines, airports, governments, and passengers safely and securely share information on health tests or vaccinations needed during travel. Successful trials have already been undertaken with travelers to the United Arab Emirates, and soon to start at Milan Malpensa Airport. For many countries, economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic relies heavily on travel and tourism. As governments globally seek a way to resume safe and secure travel in the wake of COVID-19, the ability for passengers to share vital health information such as PCR test results or vaccination history with au...

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2020 Worst year in history for air travel demand

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February 3, 2021420 Views

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced full-year global passenger traffic results for 2020 showing that demand (revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) fell by 65.9% compared to the full year of 2019, by far the sharpest traffic decline in aviation history. Furthermore, forward bookings have been falling sharply since late December. Similarly, data for global air freight markets show that demand for air cargo decreased by 10.6% in 2020, compared to 2019. This was the largest drop in year-on-year demand since IATA started to monitor cargo performance in 1990, outpacing the 6% fall in global trade in goods. International passenger demand in 2020 was 75.6% below 2019 levels. Capacity, (measured in available seat kilometers or ASKs) declined 68.1% and load factor fe...

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Phuket plans private vaccination drive, aims October reopening for tourists

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February 3, 2021901 Views

Thailand’s resort island of Phuket is planning private coronavirus vaccinations for 250,000 residents in the hope the government will allow it to fully reopen to foreign tourists by October and save its battered economy, industry officials said. “The people of Phuket are losing hope,” Phuket Tourism Association President, Bhummikitti Ruktaengam said, adding that the island’s economy was at its lowest point in recent history. About 10.5 million of the nearly 40 million foreign visitors to Thailand in 2019 visited Phuket. The Southeast Asian nation had only 6.7 million arrivals nationwide last year due to its coronavirus border closures. Foreign tourism revenue in Phuket dropped 78% to 87.5 million baht ($2.92 million) in 2020 with 2.1 million arrivals. !function(e...