With Covid-19 cases on the wane, countries start relaxing travel norms

Travel firms pin hopes on a robust spring and summer season after two years of closure

With the number of cases receding, countries across the world have started relaxing restrictions on travel rules prompting hopes that there will be a recovery in global air travel this summer.

However, government sources said that India still hasn’t decided on the date of resumption of normal international flights and will take call in next two weeks. There could be gradual resumption with priorities given to countries which were first to recognise Indian vaccines.

In a latest move, UAE has issued new travel guidelines for international arriving passengers from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. As per the latest guidelines, UAE has waived off Rapid RT-PCR done at Indian Airports before travelling to Dubai.

Airline executives said that Dubai is the largest international destination to and from Indian airlines and a gradual relaxation of norms will help to boost valuable revenue from international traffic.

“Even in between pandemic, Dubai charters were always full and with highest yield. Relaxation of restrictions in UAE will be a big boost,” said an executive of an airline.

France also from today relaxed rules of arrival saying that passengers who have completed full doxes of vaccination will not face on arrival airport testing at the country.

Last week, Singapore signalled its intent to fully reopen the country to vaccinated foreigners by significantly relaxing entry requirements, extending its VTL (vaccinated travel lane) to more countries and tripling the number of VTL travellers allowed to enter the country.

Australia has started allowing tourists from Monday after nearly two years of sealing its borders, relying on high Covid-19 vaccination rates to live with the pandemic as infections decline.

Executives of Tourism Australia said that their survey shows that Indians will form a bulk of tourists who will be travelling to the nation after the relaxations. It is tying up with outbound tourism firms to give customised packages.

Tourism Australia will be collaborating with travel partners including MakeMyTrip, Pick Your Trail, Thomas Cook, SOTC, Kesari Tours, Kulin Kumar Holidays, Travel Tours, Veena World and airline partners including Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Air India and Qantas amongst others to encourage early bookings to Australia and influence Indian travellers to take an Australian holiday for the summer travel period.

“Our research has consistently shown that there is a huge pent-up demand for travel to Australia amongst Indian travellers. Through our campaign activities, engaging Public Relations (PR) and Advocacy initiatives, collaborations with Key Distribution Partners (KDPs) and airline partners, we are optimistic of converting this demand and seeing India return to growth in arrivals to Australia,” said Nishant Kashikar, Tourism Australia Country Manager – India.

The opening up of out bound tourism is giving hopes to travel firms whose prospects have been severely impacted by two years of lockdown. Many of these firm who were expecting to see a reboubnd this year were disappointed after a fresh spell of curves due to the spread of Omicron impacted travel plans.

“Due to the third wave, many countries had placed travel restrictions at multiple levels and halted international travel for almost everyone. However, we are confident to have another V-shaped recovery in the coming months as the number of cases is coming down along with a strong vaccination drive. The travel sentiments are still very positive and on a month on month basis we have seen a jump of around 30% in the international travel bookings,” said Nishant Pitti, CEO & Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip adding that Dubai, Maldives and Sri Lanka have been the most popular destinations in terms of booking.

Thomas Cook and SOTC Travel has come out with a buy one get one free offer for Indian and international destinations. The news of Dubai opening up comes at an opportune time right before Ramadan and with Expo 2020 Dubai being in its last month, it is the perfect time to plan their mini-cations instead of waiting until spring or summer breaks,” said Daniel D’Souza, President & Country Head, SOTC Travel.

As the world opens up, global airline body IATA has also urged the Indian government for “swift normalisation” of international flight operations and called for discontinuation of air travel bubbles.

India banned international flights almost two years ago on March 22, 2020. The Centre subsequently unveiled the Vande Bharat mission for Indians stranded across the world and started gradually permitting a limited number of commercial flights by entering into a bilateral “air bubble” arrangement with some countries.