Travel industry should see boost in 2019 When asked about travel plans for 2019, 20 percent of respondents plan on traveling more for business than in 2018 and 24 percent said they would be traveling more for leisure. More than 290 people participated in the survey conducted by The GO Group, LLC. These results were slightly lower than those from the same survey conducted last year in which 27 percent of respondents stated they planned on traveling more frequently for business and 33 percent...
is Seychelles Tourism in trouble? The Seychelles Government has revived an old policy called Vertical Integration that had been shelved and are imposing limitations on the growth possibility of local businesses. The tourism trade is calling this exercise as ‘clipping the wings’ of the tourism sector. Tourism remains the pillar of the Seychelles economy and only the tourism trade are targeted by this new regulation. One affected party has already lodged a challenge to the regulation...
Why is Yucatan different and safer than most Mexican Tourism Hot Spots? Michelle Fridman Hirsch, the minister of tourism for the Mexican State of Yucatan sat down with eTN at the World Travel Market and gave some inside on the Secret of Success for Yucatan as a travel and tourism destination. Fridman Hirsch loves Yucatan and everything good happening in regards to travel and tourism for her State gets her excited. Just this week the minister tweeted: We won Yucatan! She meant the...
China is working hard getting global influence and lead the world through the China belt and Road Initiative. Tourism is a major part of it. Tonga has signed up to China’s Belt and Road initiative and has received a reprieve from Beijing on the timing of debt payments shortly before an onerous schedule to repay loans was due to start. Lopeti Senituli, political adviser to Tongan Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva, told Reuters by email Sunday that Tonga had signed a Belt and Road...
Mountain gorilla population in Africa had achieved a significant growth as an indication of positive to efforts by conservationists to save them from total extinction, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had said. Only found in Africa and listed in “Red List” of threatened species, the mountain gorilla population had grown from 680 individuals in 2008 to over 1,000 individuals, the highest figure ever recorded for the subspecies of the Eastern Gorilla, IUCN...
The main attraction in 2020 in Muscat, Oman, will be a new production of Rigoletto by G. Verdi with the direction of Franco Zeffirelli to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the reign of the Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said and the decennial of the seasons of the Royal Opera House Muscat (ROHM). The news was revealed at a press conference held in the residence of Maestro Zeffirelli in Rome, co-participant S.E. Rawya Saud Al Busaidi, Minister of Higher Education of Oman and Chairman of the Board...
by Dr. Elinor Garely, editor in chief of wines.travel The Hospitality Industry is an In Your Face Business No matter where we are seated on a plane, a bus, a train or a ship, the part of ourselves that everyone gets to see is our face. Whether you have determined that your only obligation to your face is to keep it clean, or at the other end of the spectrum – spend thousands of dollars and countless hours creating a “perfect” face, it is the harshest of realities that “doing face” and doing it...
Shimao Quarry Hotel After almost 10 years of construction, Shanghai has unveiled to the public its ‘earthscraper’ hotel built vertically along the precipice of an underground, water-filled quarry. Costing 2 billion yuan ($287.9 million) to complete, the 88-meter-deep hotel is located in the Songjiang district. The Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland, also known as Shimao Quarry Hotel, has cliff-view rooms that allow guests to stare into the abyss. Prices for the suites range from...
Brazilian passenger jet pilot converts to Islam 18,000 feet above Saudi Arabia A Brazilian pilot is making headlines in the Arab world after he reportedly took a brief break from guiding the plane to convert to Islam as he flew a passenger jet above Saudi Arabia.[embedded content] Captain Amalo, a Brazilian pilot for an unidentified airline, was filmed reciting the Shahada, an Islamic creed accepting the religion, in tandem with a colleague as they operated the controls of an aircraft...
Police officers gathered by the water’s edge, while others were aboard a rubber dinghy A huge unexploded World War Two bomb was discovered in London’s Hyde Park, prompting an evacuation of the area. Specialist officers were called to the scene close to Serpentine Road where they recovered an “inert WW2 bomb.” Both the north and south bank of the Serpentine, a lake within Hyde Park close to Kensington Palace was closed due to “the discovery of suspected WW2...
JTB Hawaii is one of the biggest inbound travel operator in Hawaii. The company may be in big trouble today after one of their Oli Oli Visitors Shuttle drivers was arrested for being intoxicated and after he killed a pedestrian while operating a shuttle with Japanese visitors on board. Many Japanese tourists use Oli Oli Shuttle for Waikiki and Honolulu transportation. Today was also another opportunity for Charley’s Taxi CEO Dale Evans to discuss public transport safety on PBS TV Honolulu...
Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett (L) paused for a photo with Carissa Leitner, Account Manager of Simple View, the company that developed the new JTB website, and Trudy Chin, Acting General Manager for Caribbean Airlines. The occasion was the official launch of the JTB’s new website at the ATL Automotive in Kingston yesterday. Jamaica’s Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, yesterday (November 14) officially launched the Jamaica Tourist Board’s (JTB) new and fully...
3 in 5 Americans boarded a plane without proper identification A large number of Americans are using unsanctioned IDs to pass through airport security and board flights, according to survey of 1,000 Americans conducted by Wakefield Research. Despite current security measures, 60 percent of Americans who have ever been to an airport report they have boarded a plane without proper identification. More than half (51 percent) passed through security using some form of ID that doesn’t include...
Collaboration, inclusion & diversity drive IMEX in Frankfurt 2019 “This show is amazing – going from country to country, hotel to hotel, all in the same space. I’m looking forward to being surprised!” Bianca La Placa from the World Environmental Education Congress Network sums up the energy and excitement of buyers at IMEX in Frankfurt earlier this year. The worldwide exhibition for incentive travel, meetings and events returns to Frankfurt from 21 – 23 May...
Imposter with walkie-talkie “clears” plane for take off at Buenos Aires airport A private pilot in Argentina made what appears to be the worst-advised prank ever when he set his walkie-talkie frequency to that used by the airport control tower and started giving instructions to an airliner. The incident happened on Sunday at the Jorge Newbery Airport in Buenos Aires. The man responsible, later identified as Fabián Norberto Penín, used a portable radio to interfere with...
Will British Airways become Spanish carrier? The company that owns British Airways is preparing for a possible no-deal Brexit as it looks to Madrid for help in holding onto its status as a European Union airline, according to a Spanish media report. IAG, the parent company of British Airways, has been in contact with Madrid since at least last month, El País newspaper reported on Saturday, citing Spanish government and EU sources. According to the newspaper, IAG is speaking to Madrid in...
First LGBT+ Tourism Summit to take place in Malta Excellent prospects for the travel industry: from 22 to 23 November 2018 in Malta the first LGBT+ Tourism Summit will discuss the opportunities and challenges offered by gay and lesbian travel. International experts will present the latest survey findings, information on current LGBT online marketing trends, illustrate how prospects for business in LGBT+ tourism are developing, and highlight examples of best practices. Discussion rounds will...
Visitors booked to California may want to think twice before leaving. The air quality is so dangerous that even the government-run warning site collapsed due to web-traffic. The response when checking current air quality is: Sorry, But This Web Page Does Not Exist. Firefighters are true heroes in California trying to get fires under control, dozens of people are dead, but a slower threat of death may already in progress due to air pollution. This may be a time authorities are worried...
The People’s Republic of China travellers, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), are the world’s top tourism spenders, accounted for almost $260 billion in 2017 alone. This is coupled with phenomenal growth in Chinese outbound tourism globally. A growing part of that spend is now happening in Africa, reinvigorated by relaxed visa rules, increased interest in the continent’s cultural and historical sites, and initiatives that seek to appeal to...
The Hon. Mr. Edmund Bartlett is not just any Minister of Tourism. He has been standing out from the crowd and took action after natural disasters hit the Caribbean two years ago by establishing a global tourism resilience center in Jamaica. This will be opened in January 2019. Working tirelessly to bring this to the world of tourism, he recognized in a conversation with eTN the importance of Africa and the connection between Africa and Jamaica. Most Jamaicans are of African ancestry. Minister...
A US Customs and Border Patrol agent speaks with asylum seeker President Trump has signed an immigration order requiring asylum seekers to make their claim at their point of entry to the US, and barring illegal immigrants from requesting asylum. “We need people in our country but they have to come in legally and they have to have merit,” Trump told reporters on Friday, before departing for Paris. The order comes after weeks of Trump promising to crack down on illegal immigration, as...
Smoke billows from the scene of an explosion in Mogadishu, Somalia At least 17 people were killed when suicide attackers set off two car bombs at a hotel near the headquarters of Somalia’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in Mogadishu on Friday. “So far we have confirmed 17 civilians dead,” Ali Nur, a police officer in the city, said. “They were traveling in public vehicles at the scene when the blasts and gunfire occurred.” Guards at Hotel Sahafi and CID...
A new report from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the European Travel Commission (ETC) shows that outbound tourism from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – comprising six countries of the Arabian peninsula – has grown strongly in recent years, with international tourism expenditure surpassing USD 60 billion in 2017. ‘The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Outbound Travel Market’, a new report prepared by UNWTO and ETC with the support of Value Retail, examines...
Mr. Deepak R. Joshi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nepal Tourism Board, has been awarded the highest IIPT Champions in Challenge Award for 2018 from the International Institute for Peace Through Travel at the #ITCMS (International Travel Crisis Management Summit) in London, UK. The CEO was honored with the award for his continuous hard work and success in bouncing back and bringing tourism to the forefront in Nepal. His leadership during the nation’s crisis phase has been recognized...
The African Tourism Board (ATB) is reality and a list of distinguished tourism leaders joined together at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London as an initiative by the International Coalition of Tourism Partners to discuss this public-private sector body that will be supporting work by any organization furthering positive awareness for travel and tourism to benefit the African Tourism Industry. This includes the desire for ATB to be supportive of the works and efforts of the UNWTO...
Lion Air plane forced to abort takeoff after hitting lamp post A Lion Air passenger jet crashed into a lamp post just before taking off, causing a tear in its left wing. The incident happened just 10 days after another jet belonging to the low-cost carrier crashed with 189 people on board. In a new blow to the Indonesian budget airline, a Lion Air jet was due to take off from Bengkulu Airport on Wednesday night when it smashed into a lamp post. The plane – which was carrying 145...
Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, the Glass Pyramid The 2018 Women’s Forum Global Meeting will gather global leaders from society and the economic sector. It is considered to be the 3rd most notable international social and economic forum and highlights how all sectors need to be engaged for progress and to bridge divides and move towards more inclusive progress for all of humanity. Divisions are widening the gap – between people, countries, political parties, religions, and within...
Travel experts reveal the best and worst times to fly during Thanksgiving As people prepare to visit friends and family for Thanksgiving, the travel experts are revealing the best and worst times to fly during Thanksgiving based on crowds and the potential for flight disruptions. Below is data from 2017 to help inform travelers of what to expect in 2018: Most Popular Flight Routes 1. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) → San Francisco International Airport (SFO)2. San Francisco...
2019 European Capitals of Smart Tourism named The winners of the first edition of the European Capital of Smart Tourism competition were awarded today at a ceremony in Brussels, on the occasion of the European Tourism Day the largest annual meeting on European tourism. Pia Pakarinen, Helsinki’s Deputy Mayor, Alain Galliano, Vice-President of Lyon Métropole and Jean-Michel Daclin, President of ONLYLYON Tourism and Congress, received European Capitals of Smart Tourism 2019 trophies...
As the election concludes, our work only accelerates U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow issued the following statement on the election results: “As the election concludes, our work only accelerates: connecting with the roughly one-quarter of Congress that is new, to educate them on the $2.4 trillion economic impact and $77 billion trade surplus travel and tourism generate for this country, and the policy priorities that will make those numbers even greater. “We have...
