Tag Archives: coronavirus

Lufthansa reduced flight schedules of its passenger airlines for the period from March 29 to April 24, to curtail the spread of the coronavirus. For all passenger airlines in the Group, a total of 23,000 flights will be cancelled. The flight cancellations will be implemented successively in the booking systems, and affected passengers will be informed of the changes and rebooking options. Further cancellations are expected in the coming weeks. Flight schedule adjustments for the period after April 25 will be made at a later date. The capacity adjustments mainly affect Europe, Asia and the Middle East. In the cancellations, care will be taken to ensure that all destinations on all continents can be reached with a Lufthansa Group airline via the hubs of Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna and Brussels.

Riyadh Travel Fair 2020 has been postponed from March 26-28, 2020 to September 1-3, 2020 in line with precautionary measures due to the international rapid spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). The ongoing coronavirus crisis hit Saudi Arabia earlier this week with the first case of an infected individual recorded. Saudi authorities were quick to act, quarantining 70 people who were in contact with that individual. Many other precautionary measures have also been taken by the Saudi authorities prior to this and continue to be implemented. After consultation with government authorities, partners and travel industry experts around the world, a difficult decision was made to postpone the Riyadh Travel Fair until beginning of September 2020. Bander Al Gryni, General Manager ASAS Exhibitions – organiser of the Riyadh Travel Fair (RTF), said, “We are planning to make the 2020 September edition the biggest event to date, with an increase in both the number of exhibitors and visitors. We expect around 275 exhibitors representing more than 50 countries to take part, with more than 50 national and regional pavilions to share the floor. Once opening our doors, we are planning for more than 30,000 visitors over the three-day period.”

The Ministry of Tourism, in coordination with relevant health authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has announced the following regulations: Temporary suspension on issuing tourism visas to tourists from countries with significant coronavirus risk areas: China, Italy, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Kazakhstan; Temporary suspension on processing tourism visas previously issued to the citizens from the above-mentioned countries; Temporary suspension on issuing or processing tourism visas for anyone who have visited high risk areas within the past 14 days; Continued issuing of electronic and on arrival tourist visas for citizens from other permitted countries; Tourism visa holders will not be permitted to visit Makkah and Al Madina. The Ministry of Tourism stated that such measures are taken to provide the utmost protection to citizens, residents and tourists visiting Saudi Arabia. This is in line with the recommendations of relevant health authorities concerned with applying the highest precautionary standards, and taking proactive preventive measures to avoid the entrance and spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) in Saudi Arabia. The Ministry of Tourism announced that these measures are temporary and are being constantly monitored by relevant authorities.