ISLAMABAD: A day after the government announced to repatriate students from the Chinese city of Wuhan, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez on Saturday confirmed that a special flight of the national flag carrier will bring back the stranded nationals on May 18. According to Hafeez, some 250 students will be brought back on the first flight which will land in Islamabad. The schedule for three more flights will be announced next week, he added. The announcement was earlier made by Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistani Syed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari on Twitter. “I’m very happy for…
Author: holidayweekly
AMSTERDAM: Missing restaurants while social distancing? You’re not alone. One restaurant in the Netherlands, though, has found a solution. [huge_it_slider id=”542″] Mediamatic ETEN, a restaurant in Amsterdam, is offering a four-course vegetarian menu for diners, served to guests while they sit in their own personal quarantine greenhouses. Right now, the trial service is only being offered to family and friends of staff, and all upcoming reservations are sold out, according to the restaurant’s website. Still, as many places begin to loosen restrictions on social distancing, this type of greenhouse dining could take off. “It’s super cozy, it’s really cozy, it’s…
During the Labor Day holiday that ran from May 1 to May 5, China recorded 115 million tourist trips domestically, bringing in tourism revenue of 47.56 billion yuan ($6.79 billion), according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. That’s a 59.58% drop from the 117.67 billion yuan recorded for last year’s Labor Day holiday, which was one day shorter, running from May 1 to May 4, according to figures disclosed by the ministry. Last year, the country recorded 195 million visits. Shanghai, Sichuan province’s capital Chengdu and Sanya city on Hainan Island were among the three most popular destinations, according…
AMSTERDAM: Carnival Corp. won’t be bringing any of its cruise ships to Alaska this season. That’s following Wednesday’s announcement that its subsidiaries Princess Cruises and Holland America Line have canceled all remaining Alaska voyages for 2020. Carnival Cruise Line also canceled its brand of cruises earlier this week. The absence of Carnival-owned cruise lines removes the largest industry player from Alaska this year. Nearly 80% of sailings to Alaska for the 2020 season have been called off, according to Tourism Management Best Practices, a Juneau-based trade group. That’s a loss of 955,574 cruise passengers to the state, the group said.…
LAHORE: To honour the brave services of front-line police personnel safeguarding Lahore by putting their own well-being at risk during the Covid-19 outbreak, Hashoo Group has launched an initiative to benefit them by providing Sehr and Iftar meals at their checkpoints during the Holy Month of Ramadan. This was agreed in a meeting held between the Superintendent of Police, Civil Lines Division Mr. Dost Muhammad and the Hotel Manager Pearl-Continental Hotel Lahore Mr. Hussain Abbas on Wednesday, May 6th , 2020. Under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, Hashoo Group is going to provide daily Sehr and Iftar meals to…
LONDON: Heathrow Airport is trialling large-scale temperature checks at departure gates for passengers heading to countries where this is a requirement. However, boss John Holland-Kaye told a meeting of MPs that airports are waiting for the Government to say what common standards airports should adopt to allow airlines to resume more frequent services. He told the Transport Select Committee that if the only solution was to put in place social distancing measures until a vaccine is found in ’12 to 18 months’, tens of thousands of jobs will be lost. “We cannot afford to wait that long to get flying…
ISLAMABAD: These may be uncertain times for the travel industry but that hasn’t deterred Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) from making Amadeus its mainstay long-term partner in travel distribution. Given the unprecedented challenge that the travel industry is facing, never before has distribution strategy and reach been more important for an airline. That’s why Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has reached a landmark agreement in distribution with Amadeus, giving PIA full access to Amadeus’ global travel seller network. Through this new agreement, Amadeus-connected agencies will now be able to book PIA’s full suite of domestic and international inventory through the Amadeus Travel…
LONDON: A stern warning that the future of Gatwick Airport could be under threat has gone out following a new round of job cuts in the airline industry. Airline Virgin Atlantic announced on May 5, that it was cutting more than 3,000 jobs and was pulling out of Gatwick because of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. British Airways has already announced 12,000 job cuts and now the union Unite has said the latest moves ‘threaten the future of Gatwick Airport.’ A Unite spokesman said: “The loss of 3,150 jobs across the Virgin airline and holiday businesses is another devastating…
WASHINGTON: US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin has cast doubt on the US lifting international travel restrictions affecting the UK, the rest of Europe and Asia later this year. Mnuchin said it was ‘too hard to tell’ if international travel would resume this year, adding: “I hope down the road it is our priority is opening up the domestic economy.” Americans should focus on domestic travel as the country starts returning to normal, he said. A US State Department advisory is still in effect asking all Americans to avoid all international travel. “For business people that need to travel, there will…
DUBAI: The postponement of Expo 2020 Dubai is set to be approved by the Bureau International des Expositions, with the change of dates having already surpassed the required two-thirds threshold. [huge_it_slider id=”541″] Following a request from authorities in the United Arab Emirates to postpone the event in April, the international body put the matter to a vote. The result has been expected toward the end of this month. However, it appears support for the move is widespread. Expo 2020 Dubai now appears set to take place from October 1st, 2021, running for six months to March 31st, 2022. Organisers at…