MANGALURU: While Indians who returned for holidays or other exigencies are now scrambling at options to return back to work or save their jobs, the limited options available are burning a hole in their pockets.
In a tweet, UAE’s National Emergency and Crisis Management Authority on Tuesday said that people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and holding valid UAE residency permits will be allowed into the UAE from August 5, the ordeal of expats may be over.
The most popular and only option available is 'quarantine package' that involves travelling to another country which is under the Green list of UAE, quarantine for 14 days and then head back to the UAE.
However, the options don’t come cheap. It is 10-15 times costlier than one way ticket and there's no guarantee that by the time they finish their quarantine, rules don’t change barring entry into the UAE.
As of now, the available options include chartered flights from Indian to UAE via Tashkent (Uzbekistan) or Armenia and individual packages via Male (Maldives) and Doha.
All these options cost a minimum of Rs 1.30 lakh for double occupancy stay at the quarantined county or upwards of Rs 1.70 lakh for single occupancy in a three-star or similar hotel.
Sources in the travel industry say the quarantine packages started mid-May and are continuing even now. Though they do not have the exact numbers, travel agents here estimate that about 700-800 persons have travelled to the UAE exercising these above options.
William D’Souza, managing director of Globe Travels says the only quarantine package available directly from Mangaluru is Doha, which costs upwards of Rs 2 lakh on double occupancy rates for a single person.
Eulalia D’Souza of Lia Tours and Travels says while charted flight options start from Bengaluru, Kochi and New Delhi, only Doha is from Mangaluru and Maldives is from Bengaluru.
The cost of the package includes all meals (packed lunch/ dinner), since the person cannot go outside, cost of Visa and other charges, airport transfers plus RT-PCR test costs.
