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About India Outbound Magazine

India Outbound, a brand of Media India Group, 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.

UAE lifts travel ban from India from Aug 5 only for the residence visa holders

As per the latest announcements, UAE has allowed fully vaccinated residence visa holders from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Nigeria and Uganda, as well as transit passengers to fly in from August 5. The move comes as a little respite for the Indian migrant workers employed in the UAE.

The National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) of UAE says travel will resume for transit passengers from countries from where flights had been previously suspended, provided that the traveller’s final destination is accepted and as long as they submit Covid-negative reports taken at least 72 hours prior to departure. Visitors would have to submit an online request to the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship to obtain the necessary approvals as well as submit a Covid-negative report conducted not later than 48 hours from the time of departure, provided that the tests are from accredited laboratories and bear a QR Code. The vaccination certificates would also have to be certified by the concerned authorities in the country. The order states that, "the country’s airports will allocate special lounges for transit passengers."

However, medical personnel working in the country, including doctors, nurses, technicians from the vaccinated and unvaccinated, and those working in the educational sector in the country who teach in universities, colleges, schools and institutes from the vaccinated and unvaccinated categories would be allowed to enter. Students studying in the country, humanitarian cases who hold valid residency and workers in federal and local government agencies, and those would be completing treatment in the country, whether they are vaccinated or not, would also be allowed to enter.

IndiGo to become the first Indian airline to launch IATA Travel Pass

Indian carrier IndiGo has partnered with International Air Transport Association (IATA) to become the first Indian airline to launch a pilot for IATA Travel Pass to help passengers easily and securely manage their travel in line with any government requirements for Covid-19 testing or vaccine information.

IATA Travel Pass is a mobile app that helps travellers to store and manage their verified certifications for Covid-19 tests or vaccines. It is more secure and efficient than current paper processes used to manage health requirements. This is important given the potentially enormous scale of testing or vaccine verifications that will need to be securely managed.

The pass will enable IndiGo passengers to create a ‘digital passport’ to verify their pre-travel test or vaccination status to meet the SOPs of the destination. The passengers will be able to share the test and vaccination certificates with authorities as well as airlines to facilitate travel. The app will also enable passengers to manage and save all their travel documentation digitally and seamlessly throughout the travel experience.

“We are proud to partner with IATA to become the country’s first airline to take this step towards enabling customers with a travel pass mobile app. This initiative is a significant step to prepare for a new normal, especially with regards to international travel. Today, most countries have implemented protocols for travellers across the globe and this IATA Travel Pass will simplify and digitise the requisite passenger information for respective countries. We are certain that our collaboration with IATA on this innovation will prove to be a stepping-stone towards international air travel recovery, while providing a hassle-free experience to our customers,” said Ronojoy Dutta, chief executive officer, IndiGo.

The platform will also enable authorised labs and test centres to securely send test results or vaccination certificates to passengers. The global registry, operated by IATA, will manage, and allow the secure flow of necessary information amongst all stakeholders and to provide a seamless passenger experience.

'Maitri Bus Sewa' between India and Nepal may resume soon

The cross-border Maitri Bus Sewa services from Delhi to Nepal may resume though no date has been fixed yet. The international bus service was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic in March last year, an official of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) told a news agency. The official said that DTC has planned to send recommendations for this purpose to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and if approved, the services will restart soon.

“DTC is doing its part to restart bus services but as they were suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so to restart the services, DTC would need to have the final consent from the MEA. Once the approval comes, there would be no delay from DTC's side. We are planning to resume bus services but the final decision would be taken only after the MEA's consent is received,” the official said.

He further said that the air-conditioned Volvo buses with 2x2 sitting arrangements which operate between Delhi and Kathmandu are private buses, which the DTC hires from the same bus service which operates between New Delhi and Lahore. The Delhi-Kathmandu bus is a trans-boundary bus service connecting the capital cities of both the nations. Launched in 2014, the service operated by DTC starts from the Ambedkar Stadium bus terminal in Delhi and ends at the bus stand in Kathmandu located near the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu. The 1,250 km long journey is covered in 30 hours. It travels via Agra (by Yamuna Expressway), Firozabad, Kanpur, Lucknow and Gorakhpur in India. This is a direct bus service without any stop and it crosses the Sunauli border where customs checks are carried out. Similarly, in Nepal's jurisdiction, the bus follows a route via Tilottama, Rupandehi, Kawasoti, Narayangadh and finally to Kathmandu.

While DTC runs the bus service from the Indian side, the Federation of Nepalese National Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE) operates the service in Nepal under the supervision of the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport. Since its beginning, the buses have frequently carried pilgrims, tourists, foreign delegates and the general public from both the nations.

Arslantepe Mound of Turkey added to UNESCO world heritage list

The Arslantepe Mound, an 8000-year-old archaeological mound has been inscribed on UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites positioning Turkey as a destination with a record number of recognitions for its 19 heritage sites. The announcement was done during the recently held extended 44th UNESCO world heritage committee online session in Fuzhou, China.

According to a statement by Turkey's ministry of culture and tourism, Arslantepe Mound is one of Turkey’s “earliest religious and civil sites.”

“The archaeological site of Arslantepe is located in south-eastern Turkey on the Malatya plain, five kilometres from the city centre and 15 km from the Euphrates River. Malatya is merely a one-hour flight from Istanbul. It is a four-hectare and 30-metre high archaeological mound dominating the plain and formed by the superimposition of settlements for millennia from at least the sixth millennium BCE to the late Roman period,” UNESCO said.


India Outbound is a publication of Media India Group