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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. These trends, India Outbound analyse and predict them.

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Ras Al Khaimah launches ‘STAY SAFE’ hotel certification

Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) is working closely with the Emirate’s Public Service Department (PSD), to create a certification programme aimed at the Emirate’s hospitality providers. The certification process will be determined by a series of measures targeted at the various hotel departments and an official assessment, once in the recovery phase of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Deemed as the RAK ‘Stay Safe’ Hotel Certification, the effort aims to boost confidence and rebuild trust in the destination's tourism once the necessary travel restrictions are lifted. Measures will include a full sterilisation programme, conducted alongside the PSD, currently implementing the National Sterilisation Program in the Emirate, as well as training on appropriate guest interactions, employee engagement, elevated property hygiene standards, and operational procedures to be actioned in the recovery phase.

“Achievement of the certification will result in the hotels being endorsed by the relevant authorities, thereby supporting the public’s confidence in their offerings," said Raki Phillips, the CEO of RAKTDA.

Hotels in the Emirate are already planning ahead, ensuring action is underway and documented, to clean and sanitise the properties to welcome the guests. The authority’s four-step road to recovery places initial focus on the domestic market, followed by the GCC and wider Middle East, to then be extended to Europe and Asia with India playing a major role in sending tourists. According to RAKTDA sources, footfall from India last year was up by 10.5 pc in comparison to 2018.

Egypt Tourism estimates USD 5 billion loss this year

The Egyptian tourism industry is expected to lose USD 5 billion in tourism revenues this year as the country reels from the effects of deadly pandemic. It was expected that the tourist industry in Egypt would make USD 16 billion in 2020 but the new report says it could barely reach USD 11 billion.

As part of measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, Egypt has halted all international air traffic and implemented a night-time curfew across the country and has shut down all major tourist hotspots.

The Egyptian tourism industry had just started its recovery after being deadly hit by the 2011 uprising. In 2016 tourist numbers plunged to 5.4 million from 14.7 million in 2010. According to available data, 126,000 Indian tourists visited Egypt in 2018, compared to 60,000 in 2014.

Oktoberfest, the biggest folk festival of the world gets cancelled

Yet another famous event has fallen victim to the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday, the German officials from the Bavarian province announced that this year's Oktoberfest has been cancelled which was scheduled to take place from September 19 through October 4.

The annual event in the Bavarian capital of Munich is world's largest beer and folk festival, attracting more than six million visitors each year.

"The risk is quite simply too high," stated a Bavarian minister while Munich's mayor described the cancellation as a "bitter pill" for the city but said that officials had no other choice.

The annual Oktoberfest is a boon for Munich's breweries and hospitality and tourism industry. In 2019 the fair generated more than 1.2 billion Euros in economic impact for the city as visitors drank more than 9 million litres of beer during last year's event. This isn't the first time the 210-year-old festival has been cancelled. Other pandemics have previously prompted the organisers to do away with the event, including a cholera outbreak in 1854 and the World War II among others.

Very recently, as the Indian millennials started to travel abroad in large numbers with a good amount of disposable money in hand, they also started searching for experiential travel, and Oktoberfest became one of the trending choices among them.


India Outbound is a publication of Media India Group