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About India Outbound Magazine

India Outbound is India’s only B2B travel media platform, that encompasses a print magazine, a website, an online TV channel and dynamic social media platforms, entirely dedicated to the promotion of foreign destinations and products in India. India Outbound is a niche platform not just for tourism destinations and products to promote themselves to the Indian travel industry, but also for decision makers to build/change their strategy in a context where the Indian outbound market is not only growing but changing with new dynamics. India Outbound brings to you the latest trends of the market with in depth analysis.

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Turkey launches Healthy Tourism Certification Programme

Turkey’s ministry of culture and tourism has initiated a ‘Healthy Tourism Certification Programme’, in cooperation with major stakeholders, covering a broad range of measures towards transportation, accommodation, health condition of employees of the facilities and passengers. This certificate, granted by international certification institutions, will document the fulfilment of a high level of health and hygiene requirements at airline companies, airports and other transportation, accommodation and food & beverage facilities. “Turkey has been role model for the world during COVID-19 with its well-established health system and treatment methods that have been taken. This certificate programme will demonstrate that Turkey will take a pioneering role in terms of setting the direction for the normalisation of tourism.”

Ras Al Khaimah Tourism introduces further safety measures as pools and beaches re-open

The Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) is working with hospitality partners to safely welcome tourists back to the Emirate as restrictions are gradually eased, and hotel pools and beaches become accessible to the visitors. To ensure the wellbeing and safety of visitors and employees, the authority has asked hotel partners to ensure they adhere strictly to government and public health guidelines and comply with all social distancing advisories.

To ensure guests have confidence in their stay, RAKTDA has already introduced a dedicated certification process – the RAK ‘Stay Safe’ Hotel Certification – whereby hotels are required to fulfil a detailed set of measures to attain the certification. The certification assesses all the measures in place across all areas of the hotels including reception and concierge areas, guest rooms, restrooms, restaurants and lounges, pools, beaches, spas, fitness areas, kid clubs and retail spaces. “To help reassure our guests, colleagues and residents, we have also introduced the RAK ‘Stay Safe’ Hotel Certification, once awarded, hotels can use to demonstrate their adoption of all the measures in place to protect everyone’s wellbeing. We know that many people are looking forward to what we’ve termed a ‘shortcation’ or longer holiday and our aim is give them the confidence that they can comfortably enjoy their time in Ras Al Khaimah,” says Raki Phillips, CEO of RAKTDA.

Lufthansa takes to skies again with more flights across destinations

German carrier Lufthansa is adding numerous leisure and summer destinations to its flight schedules starting from June, as well as more long-haul destinations in the pipeline. With over 106 destinations in Germany and Europe and more than 20 intercontinental destinations, the range of flights on offer for all travellers will be expanded by the end of June. By the end of June, the Lufthansa Group airlines plan to offer around 1,800 weekly roundtrips to more than 130 destinations worldwide. ‘‘With the June flight schedule, we are making an important contribution to the revitalisation of the aviation infrastructure. It is an essential part of the German and European economic power. People want to and can travel again, whether on holiday or for business reasons. That's why we will continue to expand our offer step by step in the coming months and connect Europe with each other and Europe with the world,’’ says Harry Hohmeister, member of the executive board of German Lufthansa AG. In the first half of June, the flight schedule also includes 19 long-haul destinations, fourteen more than in May. In total, Lufthansa, Swiss and Eurowings will thus be offering more than 70 weekly frequencies overseas until mid-June, almost four times as many as in May. Further resumption of Lufthansa long-haul flights is planned for the second half of June. Lufthansa's long-haul resumption of flights from Frankfurt in detail (subject to possible travel restrictions): Toronto, Mexico City, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Tel Aviv, Riyadh, Bahrain, Johannesburg, Dubai and Mumbai. The destinations Newark/New York, Chicago, Sao Paulo, Tokyo and Bangkok will continue to be offered.

"I am quite proud of our decision to have Mumbai as one of the first destinations for increasing our long-haul services. It reflects the robust demand for flights to and from India, even in these unprecedented times. While we fully understand and respect the Indian government’s final call as to when this can take place, resuming flights to Mumbai, underlines our confidence in how the Indian Government is handling the pandemic crisis. With Germany and Switzerland also leading the way by flattening the curve in Europe, reopening this route will increase economic cooperation between our countries again,” remarks George Ettiyil, senior director sales, South Asia, Lufthansa Group.


India Outbound is a publication of Media India Group