Airlines applaud US-UK post-Brexit Open Skies agreement Airlines for America (A4A) today applauded the new Open Skies air service agreement reached between the governments of the United States and United Kingdom that will ensure continued operation of vital transatlantic routes. Both governments’ tireless efforts to conclude this new agreement provides the legal framework for the 20 million passengers and more than 900,000 tons of cargo flown between the two countries annually...
Queensland Tourism and Events is inviting qualified PR and Marketing organizations to submit their offer for the Third-Party Representation of TEQ in North America (Canada and the United States). The agency will share in TEQ’s vision to add value to the Queensland tourism industry by promoting the Australian State as the Best Address on Earth. A Queensland Tourism and Events representative will be required to work with key trade, airlines, media, and tourism industry partners to undertake...
For 51 days tourists that booked Sheraton Waikiki, Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Westin Moana Surfrider, Sheraton Princess Kaiulani and Sheraton Maui, had to clean their own rooms or make their own beds or self-service in hotel restaurants. Complaints about lack of hotel service from this strike resulted for a North Carolina couple to file a lawsuit, saying that strike-related lack of services ruined their honeymoon. The owner of these Marriott hotels in Hawaii is Kyo-ya. Visitor arrival numbers...
UNITE HERE Local 5 and Kyo-ya have reached a tentative agreement on a new union contract. “We’re grateful for the solidarity of our fellow union members and the support of the entire community,” UNITE HERE Local 5 President Gemma Weinstein said today. “The new agreement meets the needs of our employees and Kyo-ya,” said the management of Kyo-ya. “We look forward to welcoming them back and look forward to more years of working together to successfully provide...
An uptick in international visitation to Canada in 2017 and a further 1.8 percent hike in the first three-quarters of this year – including a whopping 47 percent increase from Mexico, thanks to a removal on visa requirements – has meant there was a lot to celebrate as the Travel Industry Association of Canada (TIAC) kicked off its annual conference in Gatineau, Quebec, this morning. But, said TIAC President Charlotte Bell, there is much left to do. “Don’t forget...
2018 airline ancillary revenue estimate represents a 312% increase from 2010 figure IdeaWorksCompany and CarTrawler project airline ancillary revenue will reach $92.9 billion worldwide in 2018. The CarTrawler Worldwide Estimate of Ancillary Revenue represents a 312% increase from the 2010 figure of $22.6 billion, which was the first annual ancillary revenue estimate. Earlier this year, CarTrawler and IdeaWorksCompany reported the ancillary revenue disclosed by 73 airlines for 2017. These...
Tour operators in Tanzania are losing hope over the government’s delay to enforce the import duty exemptions on tourist vehicles as the clock ticks towards the onset of the high tourism season. During the 2018/19-budget session, Parliament amended the fifth schedule of the East African Community Customs Management Act 2004 in order to provide import duty exemption on various types of motor vehicles for transportation of tourists. Expectations were high that licensed tour...
The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), the region’s tourism development agency, is soon to publish a Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Guide for the region’s tourism sector as part of its objective to foster a culture of preparedness in destination management. The publication, which targets tourism businesses and policymakers, will help guide the tourism sector’s preparedness, response and recovery from the multiplicity of hazards that impact and/or potentially threaten the...
In 2020 every Chinese tourist allowed to travel abroad will be a loyal follower of the Chinese communist party. Currently 11.14 million people from flights and 4.25 million from taking high-speed train trips, because of the way they think or behave. Millions of more Chinese visitors currently seen Hawaii, Thailand, London, Paris or anywhere else in the world will no longer be able to travel. They won’t be able to buy airline tickets, travel on trains or even own pets. The new social...
Crimea was one of Ukraine’s favorite beach holiday destination until Russia invaded it and took it over – with the support of many of Crimea residents. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Crimea remained to be a popular tourist destination for Ukrainians, but even more so for Russians visitors. Passports for Ukrainians to visit this seaside resort are not mandatory. The Black Sea region (Ukraine, Russia) has also been a hot spot of escalations between the two...
LGBT Travel and Tourism is big business in Taiwan. According to Gay Travel Asia, the island Province has one of the largest and the best gay scenes in Asia. There is, however, no reference to LGBT travel is visible on the Official Taiwan Tourism Website. A setback in LGBT law was set by Taiwanese voters and passed a referendum asking that marriage be restricted to one man and one woman. This was a shocking surprise by LGBT couples hoping their island will be the first place in Asia to let...
Tourists visiting Southern California and those visiting Mexico for the Thanksgiving weekend should be aware of this escalation at the U.S. Mexican border. Watching the situation at the busiest border crossing between the United States and Mexico between Tijuana / San Diego in California, the U.S. closes San Ysidro entry point between San Diego and Tijuana as migrant caravan approaches, tear gas was reportedly fired into the crowd. “Hearing that we are tear-gassing...
by Dr. Elinor Garely, editor in chief of wines.travel Get in Line. If you have even the slightest interest in your FACE and BODY – this is a show to add to your calendar. While geared toward the professional makeup artist, there are so many things that the consumer does not know about looking good and smelling even better. The Expo is truly a learning experience as it introduces pro-driven brands, services, celebrity artists, educators, beauty insiders and products that can be purchased at pro...
Kingdom of eSwatini Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini New prime minister of the Kingdom of eSwatini (formerly known as Swaziland) on Friday banned first class air travel for all top government officials as part of the campaign to control government spending. Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini, who took office a month ago, also announced that he will not buy a new car for himself but inherit the old one used by his predecessor as the economy battles slowing growth. “Following the current economic...
Low-cost airline Scoot is saying goodbye to the Hawaiian Islands effective June 2019. The airline made its inaugural flight from Singapore to Honolulu in early December of last year, but now the airline is saying the demand for this service has been low. Scoot is an arm of Singapore Airlines Group and was utilizing a 329-seat Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner for the Singapore-Honolulu route that was scheduled to fly 4 times a week. This was Scoot’s first service to the U.S. Over the next couple of...
Said one passenger who had booked the Pre-Christmas Cruise already in March and paid full amount for voyage in April 2018, “Worst Thanksgiving in history.” Last-minute cancellations of booked cruises for December on AIDAnova, the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) operated cruise ship in the world until December 19, left thousands of passengers frustrated and angry. AIDAnova is a cruise ship built by Meyer Werft GmbH in Papenburg, Germany, under contract...
India’s Defense Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, inaugurated the Sangai Festival, the annual mega event to promote the tourism industry in the state of Manipur. It is held at the Bheigyachandra Open Air Theatre (BOAT) at Hapta Kangcheibung in Imphal’s Palace Compound, the main venue of the festival that took place yesterday. The Festival is named after the State animal, Sangai, the brown-antlered deer, aka dancing deer, found only in the Manipur’s Bishnupur district...
President Ramaphosa of South Africa is a “Travel & Tourism job creation champion”, according to Gloria Guevara, President & CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). Speaking today at the inaugural WTTC Africa Leaders Forum in Stellenbosch, South Africa, which was hosted by Tourism South Africa, Guevara said: “In his State of the Nation address in February this year, President Ramaphosa not only mentioned the “incredible opportunities”...
by Dr. Elinor Garely, editor in chief of wines.travel A fabulous New York City party at Tao Downtown was recently presented by Tim Hentschel, CEO of HotelPlanner.com (a leading online provider of group hotel bookings and individual hotel reservations), in cooperation with Peter Stonham, Editorial Director, Landor Travel Publications. Together, these two executives organized an extraordinary awards events to recognize the efforts that US-based organizations put into providing group travelers...
by Dr. Elinor Garely, editor in chief of wines.travel Unpopular but True There are so many reasons to read Marion Nestle’s book, the Unsavory Truth, that it difficult to know where to begin. First of all, the author has the credentials that encourage readers to believe that what she is revealing is not fake news or propaganda. Nestle is the Paulette Goddard Professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health, emerita, at New York University, and Visiting Professor of nutritional sciences at...
Prof. Paul Williams An air turbulence forecasting algorithm co-developed by British researchers has helped make flying safer and smoother for up to 2.5 billion passenger journeys. Professor Paul Williams, from the University of Reading and the NERC National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), together with his team from the US, developed an algorithm to predict in-flight turbulence using gravity waves in the atmosphere. The algorithm has been used every day by the US National Weather Service...
Lion Air Boeing-737 Max 8 189 people died on the new Boeing 737 MAX when a Lion Air passenger jet crashed in the Java Sea on October 29 in Indonesia. Lion Air is an Indonesian budget airline. Questions are surfacing question the U.S. manufacturer, Boeing, if they shared enough information with regulators, airlines, and pilots about the systems on the latest version of its popular narrow-body plane. The most-hyped features of the 737 MAX compared with its predecessor, the 737NG, are more...
eTurboNews received a statement today from IATA’s Head of Corporate Communications, North America, Mr. Perry Flint, regarding an eTN article written by Mario Masciullo, eTN Italy correspondent, IATA-Associated Travel Agencies at the Breaking Point. Mr. Flint requested that we offer them the opportunity to respond, and eTN is pleased to extend the conversation and publish the reply here: IATA is committed to the Passenger Agency Program and to working with our travel agent partners at the...
Man ran over, killed by passenger jet on Moscow airport runway A man has been run over and killed by a plane at a Russian airport, while gruesome footage of the incident emerged online. It is unknown how the man managed to slip past tight security and get onto the tarmac undetected. The brutal death took place at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport on Tuesday evening. The jet, bound for Athens, was taking off when it ran over and killed a 25-year-old man. The plane did not stop...
The Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Foundation, Jacqueline Johnson, announced that the Board has welcomed Juergen T. Steinmetz, publisher of eTurboNews Group, as its newest member. Mr. Steinmetz, who is also Chairman of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) and acting Chairman of the African Tourism Board, will serve on the CTO Foundation Board for the 2018-2020 term. Juergen has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager...
People travel more, spend less The 2018 Global Traveler Report reveals that despite record numbers of air travelers, up from 415 million in 2012 to a projected 808 million this year, the size of the travel retail market is slowly shrinking. Global travel retail spending has dropped by $15 billion from $397 billion in 2016 to a projected $382 billion this year. The average traveling consumer is now spending $491 per trip, almost $170 less than in 2012, says the report. Bucking the trends in...
Latin America air travel set to double over next two decades Latin American air travel is expected to double in the next two decades thanks to anticipated growth of the region’s middle class from 350 million people to 520 million by 2037, and evolving airline business models making travel more accessible. Passenger traffic in the region has more than doubled since 2002 and is expected to continue growing over the next two decades — increasing from 0.4 trips per capita in 2017 to...
ECTAA and WTAAA not happy with IATA ECTAA (The European Travel Agents and Tour Operators Association) and WTAAA (World Travel Agents Associations Alliance) joined forces against IATA, accused it of having unilaterally changed the dynamics of bargaining between airlines and travel agencies. The joint note of the two organizations, in fact, lashes out against the 41st Passenger Agency Conference (held in Geneva on October 30 and 31) that would have given the green light to the process of...
Two years after its first presence in Milan and Rome, Goa Tourism has returned to Italy to present the latest developments in its territory to Milan tour operators and the press. The delegation of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) was led by Sheo Pratap Singh, IAS Secretary of PWD, Transport & Tourism for the Government of Goa; Gavin Dias, General Manager of Hotels, Marketing & Cruises for GTDC; and promoter Lloyd Monteiro, Managing Director of Purplive, a property of Alica...
“Tavinos” blends social aspect of hostels with style and technology Fujita Kanko Inc., a Japanese hospitality company headquartered in Tokyo, announced the launch of “Tavinos,” a new hotel brand aimed at adventure-seeking millennials and like-minded travelers from around the world. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), the number of international visitors to Japan has increased in recent years, hitting a record high in 2017. Fujita Kanko is adding...
