Going to Qatar Airways and searching for DXB or AUH there are no airports foind. After Qatar Airways was forced to cancel all flights from Doha to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the airline has been looking for ways to increas frequency elsewhere in the Gulf region to allow passengers to connect to their extensive global network. Yesterday Qatar Airways announced that it will add two additional daily frequencies to Muscat, Oman’s largest city and capital, commencing 10 April and 15 June. The...
Many loyal and hard-working Air Seychelles staff are now finding themselves entering the country’s “unemployed list” after years of dedicated service to the National Airline. These young Seychellois have little option but to abandon their chosen careers in the field. Most of those being laid off are looking to the tourism trade for alternative employment. With the present freeze on construction of large hotels following the carrying capacity study on the islands, it may be...
Thank you to the amazing men and women of the NYFD who extinguished a fire in a residential apartment at @TrumpTower. The @FDNY and @NYPD are truly some of the most incredible people anywhere. This is a tweet by Eric Trump on Saturday. The FDNY said that six firefighters suffered injuries. Over 44 units and about 190 firefighters responded to a fire on the 50th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York. A 67-year-old male, identified as Todd Brassner, was found “unconscious and...
According to San Bruno, California, Police Chief Ed Barberini, the suspected shooter at YouTube headquarters was found dead with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. San Francisco General Hospital confirmed that it had received 3 wounded people: A 36-year-old man in critical condition, a 32-year-old woman in serious condition, and a 27-year-old woman in fair condition. A YouTube employee said people were trying to get out of the building “as fast as they could.”...
Surprisingly Skytrax thinks the staff service at the New Spirit of Africa, Ethiopian Airlines is great. I respectfully and strongly disagree. I have some advice, please don’t ever try to call the Ethiopian Airlines reservation call center. After thinking customer service could not get any worse from what I had experienced in Berlin last month after Eurowings, German Airlines, owned by Lufthansa lost my suitcase checked with United Airlines in Honolulu, there is another Star...
Swoop, Canada’s ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC), has confirmed it will charge travelers to use the bathroom when they hit the skies on June 20. “When our initial network was announced in February, some reporters asked if our unbundled a la carte model would see travelers being charged to use the lavatory, and that got us to thinking,” said Steven Greenway, Swoop President, who joined the company earlier this month. “There are costs associated with offering onboard...
So often it happens completely innocently, unknowingly, unintentionally. An item catches your eye – a unique memento of a place visited, the perfect keepsake to take home as an enduring reminder of a magical time of travel. The purpose of travel might have been a holiday marking a milestone, an adventure dreamt of half way across the world, or perhaps simply some needed quiet time somewhere close-by with one loved. It may be a reminder of a business trip that finally brought to life an...
The CEO of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) Karikoga Kaseke earlier this month attended the ITB travel trade show in Berlin. He attended together with the new Zimbabwe Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industries Hon. Priscah Mupfumira. His message in Berlin was Zimbabwe is open for tourism and investments. At the same time, he was full of hate towards the former and still very respected minister of tourism Walter Mzembi. The ZTA CEO was full of hate was the...
Abdulla Ghiyas, President of the Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (MATATO) – one of the most active NGOs in the Maldives dedicated to fostering and promoting the sub industry of local travel agents, is today named as the 2018 PATA Face of the Future. This is the most prestigious honour open to young tourism professionals in the Asia Pacific region. Dr Mario Hardy, CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), said, “I would like to congratulate Abdulla...
Hotelbeds Group has today announced the sale of its Destination Management division to TUI, the world´s leading tourism group, as a continuation of Hotelbeds Group’s strategic focus on its bedbank core. TUI will acquire for an enterprise value of €110 million all of the assets of Hotelbeds Group´s Destination Management division, which represents the Group´s incoming services offering and is made up of three main global brands: Destination Services, Intercruises...
The strategies disclosed at the recent Alitalia Global Travel Partner Conference in Roma, Italy, aim to achieve the best air connections for its passengers, regardless of what will be the outcome of the sale. More than 350 operators and travel agents from all over the world were invited to Rome by Alitaia to ilustrate the company’s product innovations and development strategies, with a significant claim: “The future is looking up.” Read the full article at aviation.travel...
A successful Air Seychelles airline may be in trouble in 2018, even though in May of 2016 Air Seychelles has been a profitable company for the fourth consecutive year, this in spite of challenges and what has been termed as turbulence in the aviation jargon. On Monday it’s expected 96 devoted Air Seychelles Cabin Crew are to be made redundant and they will be joined by another 70 odd staff members from other departments. Letters of redundancy are expected to be issued on Monday. The...
Tourism to Bulgaria is big and the reason Burgas and Varna airport. The secret is FRAPORT. Ulrich Heppe is the Chief Executive Officer of FRAPORT Twin Star Airport Management in Varna, Bulgaria. eTN publisher Juergen Steinmetz caught up with Mr. Heppe and the head of communication for FRAPORT Mr. Robert Payne at the recent ITB trade show in Berlin. There is a fascinating success story for Bulgarian Tourism. it’s the creative work by FRAPORT and their two airports in Burgas and Varna. They...
by Dr. Elinor Garely, special to eturbonews Priority List Traveling to Africa requires a commitment. There is no quick way to reach the continent, and there is no quick way to transit from one city to the other or from one country to the other. Advance planning is a necessity, and this includes time management and a confirmed detailed itinerary. Africa is not easily accessible for many travelers. The scarcity of public transportation and infrequent airline schedules makes FIT travel...
Earlier this week Yolando Perdomo submitted her farewell letter to UNWTO Affiliated members. The circumstances about her leaving are speculated about. As it has become a routine and a challenge for transparency, UNWTO is not responding to media requests by eTN. Yolanda has experience in both the public and private sectors and is an expert in tourism destination promotion and distribution. She has been Vice-Counselor for Tourism for the Government of the Canary Islands and Managing Director of...
A two-year campaign which united civil society organizations, researchers, and industry leaders resulted in a landmark achievement today as the President of Brazil, Michel Temer, published today in the National Federal Registry two decrees establishing the Marine Protected Areas of São Pedro & São Paulo and Trindade & Martim Vaz archipelagos, bringing the country´s MPA coverage to approximately 25% of its jurisdictional waters. No-take zones will cover 11,691,798...
After three years flat, prices travellers paid for overnight accommodation rose 2 per cent globally in 2017, according to the latest Hotel Price Index™ (HPI™) from Hotels.com™. In a year where cryptocurrencies flooded the market, hashtags took over the red carpet and political debate turned well, political, the needle has also moved for travellers, with a two-point rise in the global Index to 116, the closet it’s been to the 2007 peak of 118. Every regional Index, except...
If you searched for a hotel online and selected Choice Hotels, Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental, Marriott and Wyndham, you may have been caught into a web of conspiracy to defraud hotel guests booking these hotels. Searching for a hotel on Google, Bing or on websites operated by booking companies like Expedia may have caused for you to pay more for your hotel room. There is a chance to get your money back. A new class-action lawsuit has uncovered an antitrust scheme by major hotel chains...
Citizenships are for sale, this is no longer an open secret but a sad reality in almost every country. The Invest Caribbean Summit 2018 will be hosted by economic citizenship pioneers, St Kitts and Nevis, under the theme “Unity in the Age of Division, Emerging Trends of CIPs in an Uncertain World”, showcasing current practices within the growing industry, and what the future will hold for international stakeholders in an era of geopolitical turbulence. To be hosted at the five-star...
How safe is the Airbus A320 Neo? According to India’s and European aviation experts, they are not safe enough to fly. In the third alarming incident on Sunday in India’s domestic skies, yet another Airbus 320 neo aircraft was grounded due to a major engine snag. This brings the total number of similar instances of serious technical glitches to six in the past week alone, sending Indias domestic flights into a tailspin of heavy turbulence. European...
A survey shows a record high number of Chinese respondents—more than 60%—who plan to travel in-depth in 2018. “In-depth travels” is a term used by travel websites in China to describe the type of trips that involve more unconventional journeys beyond the typical tourist experience. For the very first time, Africa moved up to first place as the top in-depth travel destination Chinese travelers hope to visit in 2018, dethroning the ever-popular Japan and Australia. Among...
by Dr. Elinor Garely, special to eTN The airline business is an industry that airline passengers, also known as consumers, love to hate. Because we cannot get along without it we are a captive audience. With airlines killing puppies and delivering pets to the wrong destination, beating passengers to a pulp when they refuse to respond to employee commands, forcing adult passengers into seats sized for pre-school children, stripping us of our identities as we are led like cattle onto and off the...
Another UN tourism related agency is under Chinese leadership. The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has reappointed Dr. Fang Liu of China by acclamation as Secretary General of the UN Specialized Agency for a second three-year term, beginning 1 August 2018. “It is my great honour to accept this re-appointment and to continue to drive the transformational changes I have begun across ICAO and its Regional Offices in order to make this a more streamlined and...
Kenya has just announced that they are not going to participate in future tourism travel fairs. With travel and tourism trade events increasing the industry may have tilted itself out since there are too many options and not enough buyers and staff to attend all of them. World Travel Market and ITB had expanded to new markets establishing new travel trade exhibitions making their traditional lead events in London or Berlin less important. According to Alain St. Ange Consulting, Kenya said...
by Dr. Elinor Garely, editor in chief of wines.travel There is only one country on the planet where you can legitimately make Tequila, and it is Mexico! Unlike vodka, gin, and rum that can be made anywhere, Tequila belongs to Mexico. The regions within Mexico where the product can be produced: Jalisco (includes the town of Tequila), 8 municipalities in Nayarit, 7 municipalities in Guanajuato, 30 municipalities in Michoacán, and 11 municipalities in Tamaulipas. Tequila has a Mexican DOC...
Nepal’s Prime Minister, K. P. Sharma Oli, today expanded his Cabinet and inducted 15 new ministers in his Council of Ministers, including the new Hon. Rabindra Adhikari as Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, who just returned from Europe to attend ITB and a Nepal road show in Warsaw. It was a proud CEO of the Nepal Tourism Board, Deepak R. Joshi, along with Shradha Shrestha, Manager of Brand Development and Corporate Partnership for the Nepal Tourism Board, who...
Silk Road Tourism had been Alla Peressolova. Alla has been the head of the UNWTO Silk Road program for 28 years. Without Alla, Silk Road Tourism wouldn’t have the brand name it has today. There seems to be a lot more to the story of UNWTO and Silk Road Tourism developing including a 180 Degree turn around in the long year Silk Road project – most likely under Chinese leadership. With almost 850 Billion Dollars invested by China in the Chinese part of Silk Road (not only...
Authorities in the Caribbean have warned the Kick ’Em Jenny (KeJ) underwater volcano could erupt within the next 24 hours. A 5km exclusion zone has been imposed by the government of Grenada. “We are monitoring the situation, which has been brought to our attention by the Seismic Research Centre (SRC) of the University of the West Indies in Trinidad,” Director of the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) Kerry Hinds said as cited by St Lucia Times. The alert level was raised...
Jon Borschow, chairman of the newly established Puerto Rico Destination Marketing Organization (“Corporación para la Promoción de Puerto Rico como Destino”), today announced that Brad Dean has been appointed as CEO of the new DMO, effective late April 2018, 2017. The private, not-for-profit DMO was created in March 2017 through bi-partisan legislation that provides a $25 million annual investment to manage all global marketing, sales and promotion of Puerto Rico in...
Peter Tarlow is a travel and tourism security expert and sent this report from Europe. Yesterday I left Croatia and entered Bosnia-Herzegovina. In one kilometer I traveled hundreds of cultural miles. Croatia is western European, Bosnia, although next door is another world. One of our destinations there was the “infamous” Bridge at Mostar, the site of much fighting between Croats and Muslims. The place is a great reminder of how little westerners...
