ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan International Airline (PIA) has reduced its special flights’ fares by 20 to 30 per cent, extending maximum relief to the nationals stranded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari told this to the virtual town hall meeting arranged by his ministry to redress the grievances ofUAE-based Pakistanis. “According to the new prices of PIA, the airfare for the flights operating from UAE to Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar has been reduced to 1,110 Dirham while the…
Author: holidayweekly
MADRID: The Global Tourism Crisis Committee has united behind the World Tourism Organization’s rallying cry for governments to “go beyond words” and begin taking decisive action to safeguard the millions of jobs under threat as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Crisis Committee was convened by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in response to COVID-19. With tourism among the worst affected of all major economic sectors, the United Nations specialized agency for tourism also warns of the social and development toll the economic impact might have. UNWTO is taking the lead in ensuring governments do all they can to…
WRITTEN BY CH. FAISAL MAHMOOD No Doubt, worldwide, this is a darkest time for the travel, tourism, aviation and hotel industry. As global tourist destinations, big or small remain closed and travel company operations continue to be wound down, the industry will increasingly look to the respective governments for bailout packages and its marketing functions to provide campaigns of hope or more simple communications to maintain their engagement with customers. As no one knows how long this global pandemic will last, operators should ere on the side of caution in their marketing communications and simply identify and engage with their…
WASHINGTON: Boeing plans to announce significant rollbacks in the production of the 787 Dreamliner along with a number of job cuts next week. This news comes as the global airline industry is in freefall and demand for new aircraft is at an all-time low. These production cuts will bring down monthly production to just a handful of aircraft. Boeing will cut the production of the 787 by roughly 50% percent, bringing down its 14 aircraft a month to figures in the single digits. This reduction is even lower than Boeing’s earlier planned production cuts to 10 aircraft a month. Boeing…
ANKARA: Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy launches initiative which is due to come into force when pandemic slows to ensure the safety of Turkey’s many tourist sites. Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has announced a new initiative to certify tourist attractions as ‘coronavirus-free’ when the ongoing pandemic dies down. Ersoy said the normalisation phase in Turkey could begin as early as the second week of May. He assured tourists and Turkish citizens alike that the government was carefully observing the situation. Industry representatives hope to see the tourism sector mobile by the end of the…
BEIJING: China’s hard-hit tourism sector is poised for a gradual recovery and the upcoming Labour Day holidays is expected to see a record number of over 80 million tourists as people try to return to normality after the recent Covid-19 lockdowns. The five-day holiday starting on May 1 will be the first “mini peak season” this year, according to a report by Trip.com Group, China’s largest online travel services provider. It expects double the number of travellers seen during the Ching Ming Festival earlier this month, which recorded 43 million tourists and 8 billion yuan in tourism revenue, according to…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airline (PIA) chief Arshad Malik on Saturday, April 25, wrote a letter to US Ambassador Paul Jones, requesting for help in repatriating citizens stuck in the United States. “We want to bring back Pakistanis stranded in the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic,” Malik said in a letter to the American ambassador. “Because of the pandemic, flights have been cancelled and we would like the American Embassy to help us out in this regard. The American Embassy can contact the relevant departments and help us in repatriating our citizens.” Pakistan has been gradually evacuating its nationals…
DUBAI: Emirates plans to operate passenger services to Frankfurt (April 25, 27, 29), Jakarta (April 26), Johannesburg (April 25), Lagos (April 26), London Heathrow (April 23, 24, 26, 28, 30), Madrid (April 29), Manila (April 24, 28, 30), and Tunis (April 30). These services will facilitate residents and visitors wishing to return home. Those who wish to travel to Johannesburg, Lagos, and Tunis must contact the respective embassy or consulate for these countries in the UAE. For all other flights, passengers can book directly on emirates.com (select the “one-way” option when booking), or via their travel agent. Only citizens of…
BANGKOK: New figures from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) suggest international visitor numbers to the region are likely to fall by 32 per cent year-on-year during to the coronavirus pandemic. Considering the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak, the volume of arrivals is now expected to reduce to fewer than 500 million this year. At this stage, growth is expected to resume in 2021, returning to forecast levels by 2023. Much of course, depends on how quickly and completely the Covid-19 pandemic is contained and controlled, PATA said in a statement. PATA Chief Executive, Mario Hardy, noted that: “This is…
MONTREAL: The global airport industry is expected to lose $76 billion in 2020 as the Covid-19 outbreak has resulted in an unprecedented and dramatic decline in air travel this year, said the Airports Council International (ACI), the trade association of the world’s airports. [huge_it_slider id=”539″] ACI World has highlighted the important role that the airport industry plays in fostering global economic prosperity in its newly published annual Airport Economics Report and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). “Our Economics Report and KPIs show the immense value a healthy and successful airport industry provides to the global economy and illustrates why assistance and…