After Europe, New Opened Countries for Indian Travelers
As the Covid wave is fizzing out, new opened countries for Indian travelers are listed here.
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Current Vaccination Status in India
As per the ministry of health statistics, around 580 million doses of covid vaccine have been administered in India till now. Out of that, over 120 million Indians have been fully vaccinated, whereas around 430 million have received the first dose.
On one hand vaccine enthusiasm is on the rise in India, simultaneously there seems to be an immense increase in leisure travel plans. Tourist destinations too are opening up for fully vaccinated people who have valid negative RT-PCR reports.
Increase in Leisure Travel Enquiries
In a survey conducted by InterMiles on 11,500 people all across India, nearly 65 percent of respondents expressed interest in travel for leisure and adventure in 2021. While 54 percent of people showed interest in travel to meet family and friends. Other reasons to travel are relaxation, change of location, leaving behind the monotony of 2020 among others.
Vaccination and honeymoon are going hand in hand. CEO Caravan Holidays, Arpit Khare, stated, “Many people who got married amid the pandemic missed their honeymoon last year due to travel restrictions. After taking the doses of both the vaccines, most of the couples are inquiring about honeymoon packages in the Maldives. Around 90 percent of the inquiries right now are for the country of islands”.
CEO Ashapuri Holidays, Sujit Kotkar, said, “Safety and no unwanted restrictions are a priority for tourists now. Even though we plan holidays for them, they do their research thoroughly and call us for packages at different places in Singapore, France, and other places in Europe. Puneites are also looking to travel to Dubai for the upcoming expo, which is a great attraction for shopping enthusiasts. At the same time last year, we had little or almost no business exclusively for international packages. But now, we are getting around 50 inquiries a day.”
President & Country Head Thomas Cook Ltd, Rajeev Kale, said, “Vacation travel bookings have grown by over 90 percent especially for the Maldives and Europe when the first COVID wave subsided.”
Opened Countries for Indian Travelers
Earlier this month, 17 EU Member States recognized Covishield as a vaccine for ease of travel restrictions. Now it is being reported that a few more countries have eased travel restrictions for Indians, these include United Arab Emirates (UAE), Germany, Russia, Maldives, Egypt & Qatar. However, it is mandatory for travelers to be fully vaccinated by the WHO-recognized covid-19 vaccines.
Although India has extended the ban on international flights till 31st of August, 2021 while, commercial flights have been given permission to the states with which India has bilateral air bubble agreements such as Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, the Maldives, Nepal, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Ukraine, the UAE, the UK, Uzbekistan, and the US.
Favorite Domestic Destinations
In addition to international destinations, leisure travel and travel inquiries have been on rising for Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Kashmir, and Goa. For domestic travel, most of the state governments have made it mandatory for the tourists to have a full vaccination certificate or the RT-PCR negative report issued not earlier than 72 hours.
