Airports Council International (ACI) World and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have jointly issued a paper laying out a pathway for restarting the aviation industry – Safely Restarting Aviation – ACI and IATA Joint Approach. They have called on governments to ensure new measures introduced for airports and airlines in the wake of COVID-19 are consistent across the world. Any restrictions put in place should be supported by scientific evidence, they added. ACI and IATA are both central members the COVID-19 Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART) being led by the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Angela Gittens, Director General, ACI World, said during a webinar conducted by CAPA India on May 29, 2020, that, “Airports and airlines have come together with ICAO and the wider aviation industry to address the biggest challenge ever faced by commercial aviation in restarting a global industry while continuing to halt the spread of COVID-19. There is currently no single measure that could mitigate all the risks of restarting air travel but we believe a globally-consistent, outcome-based approach represents the most effective way of balancing risk mitigation with the need to unlock economies and to enable travel.” The joint approach proposes a layered approach of measures across the entire passenger journey to minimise the risk of transmission of COVID-19 at airports and onboard aircraft, and to prevent aviation becoming a meaningful source of international re-infection. Such measures should be globally consistent and subject to continued review, improvement, and removal when no longer required, to ensure an even recovery.

In order to understand the pulse of the industry amidst these unprecedented times, HVS ANAROCK conducted an anonymous online survey with Hotel General Managers (GMs) in the last week of April 2020. The survey revealed that despite expecting low occupancies, over 71% of the GMs will not discount their rates by more than 20%. Over 42% GMs believe that occupancy would be close to or higher than 50%, while 46% of the GMs believe that occupancy will remain below 40%. The survey revealed that most GMs expect demand to pick up by Q4 2020.

Goa Tourism will be focusing on improving their infrastructure as they wait for things to come back to normal, reveals Nikhil Desai, MD, Goa Tourism Development Corporation. “In the coming year, we will focus on domestic market and further consolidate our presence in weddings, M!CE, adventure and leisure tourism. We are also using this time to ramp up our tourism infrastructure to world-class standards and focusing on introduction of new services and products. We are also focusing on completion of Swadesh Darshan projects sanctioned by the MOT. We are looking forward for sanction of financial assistance by MOT for development of UNESCO World Heritage site at old goa under PRASHAD scheme. We are also undertaking work for development of hinterland circuit in North Goa under Swadesh Darshan scheme. So, while we wait for things to come back to normal, we have doubled our efforts on improving the tourism infrastructure,” he said.

Tim Clark, President, Emirates, has said that the UAE flagship carrier could take around four years to resume flying to its entire network. The airline has grounded passenger flights owing to the Coronavirus pandemic and has only operated a few flights since then. “I think probably by the year 2022/23, 2023/24 we will see things coming back to some degree of normality and Emirates will be operating its network as it was and hopefully as successfully as it was,” Clark said in an interview at ATM Virtual 2020. Clark further added that the airline can activate its fleet within 48 hours if they must, but he feels domestic and international flights will start looking up only fort quarter 2021 once global inoculation starts. He doesn’t expect corporate or business travel will go down.

Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has written again to the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Finance, regarding concerns of the industry and urging for a stimulus package and schemes of the Government, which was not included in the package announced by the Ministry of Finance. Jyoti Mayal, President, TAAI, also revealed that they have asked MoCA to make an aviation task force which includes the travel agent community, so that they can be put their issues and ideas at the forefront.

Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State (I/C), Tourism & Culture, Govt. of India, has said that they will be releasing new post-lockdown protocols for accommodation units, so that the clients can feel confident about travelling as well as overall safety. “Our objective is to revive demand as soon as possible. One way we can do this is to help overcome the fear of health while travelling. The ministry will soon be releasing new post-lockdown protocols for accommodation units to give confidence to clients to travel and stay safely. We are also coming out with a set of recommendations for different segments—travel agents, tour operators, transport operators, and facilitators/guides,” he shared in an interview to Hindustan Times.

Network of Indian M!CE Agents (NIMA) will not be creating its own state chapters, but instead would partner with other local trade bodies and associations in every state and promote M!CE tourism with them. Jagdeep Bhagat, National Coordinator,  NIMA and CEO of Vee Bee Tours & Travels, said, “Instead of creating state chapters for our association, we will be partnering with the local state associations. The local state bodies are already there and our core objective is to develop the state. Hence, whatever NIMA resources are there, towards skill development, education, branding, and technology advancement, we will be drafting, analysing, conceptualising all these efforts, which are required for the M!CE sector to grow within the state. We will be doing this collectively with the local state tourism associations. Of course, we will join hands with like-minded associations, and those who believe in our philosophy to do good work in the field of M!CE. We have already partnered with couple of state associations and we are in discussion with others too. By the time the whole lockdown is cleared, we will be up and running in at least 10-12 states. This way we will work for the benefit of MICE sector in the states and ultimately it will grow M!CE within the country.”

Global Panorama Showcase (GPS) will be held virtually across the world this year. GPS Virtual will be held at a global stage in July or August, instead of physically going to different Tier II, III cities because of the COVID-19 crisis. Harmandeep Singh Anand, MD, GPS, revealed that the event will be attended by around 10,000 people and that it will be an annual feature apart from the physical event, which will be further fine-tuned. “We have developed the technology to host the virtual event. In fact, we already had the tool in place. There will be around 200 exhibitors, which would come from India and across the world. The prices will be competitive and GPS members would also be benefit,” he shared.

Cross Hotels & Resorts concludes its webinar with an overwhelming attendance of around 850 people. The hospitality brand showcased 24 hotels in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Also, the brand is offering prices, much lower than the online prices, as a gesture to support the industry. Ms. Yui, Director, Cross Hotels & Resorts, along with Ms. May, Cluster Manager, Cross Hotels & Resorts from Thailand addressed the webinar and shared information on the brand and its various properties.

Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Civil Aviation, has announced that domestic civil aviation operations will resume from 25th May and it would happen in a phased and calibrated manner. The passengers would have to follow strict social distancing, while airports across the country are working towards maintaining optimum 6 feet distance and minimum touch points for passengers. In a tweet, he said, “Domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from Monday 25th May 2020. All airports & Air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from 25th May. SOPs for passenger movement are also being issued by MoCA.”