The United Kingdom is poised for a tourism boom in 2023, a welcome development for a country that has struggled to make a complete recovery from the pandemic. And VisitBritain CEO Patricia Yates has big plans to boost visitor numbers even more, especially outside of popular destinations like London and Oxford. Skift spoke to Yates during her recent visit to New York City. Yates, who previously … [Read more...]
How to Get Ready for the Return of the Chinese Traveler
Skift Take On Wednesday, we published a deep dive into Chinese outbound tourism. See highlights from the report and catch up on travel news headlines from the entire week. Jason Clampet First Things On Wednesday, we published a deep dive into Chinese outbound tourism by Asia Editor Peden Doma Bhutia. The spark of the story came from a discussion she had in … [Read more...]
Rome Is Investing Big on a Redo Ahead of Major Events
Skift Take "Faded glory" is not what any destination wants to hear about itself. The Eternal City is looking to upgrade infrastructure and spiff itself up to become an ever bigger draw on the world stage. It starts with a $14 billion plan. Tom Lowry Romans hope that an alignment of the stars will halt a generations-long decay of the Eternal City that is as beautiful … [Read more...]
Morocco Unveils $580 Million Plan to Boost Tourism
Skift Take Morocco saw its tourism revenue surge in 2022, and its government believes further investment in the sector will be the catalyst for another boom — especially with the country poised to grow in popularity with remote workers. Rashaad Jorden Morocco plans to spend 6.1 billion dirhams ($580 million) up to 2026 to develop its tourism sector in order to … [Read more...]
Cambodia Relocates Angkor Wat Communities in Controversial Tourism Touch-Up
Skift Take Cultural sites like Angkor Wat must be preserved, but that shouldn't come at the cost of local livelihoods. Destinations shouldn't treat the two as if they are in conflict. Dawit Habtemariam Cambodia is upending the lives of thousands of people to preserve the temple complex Angkor Wat and improve its visitor experience. Locals that have built businesses … [Read more...]
Asia-Pacific Gets a Boost From China’s Reopening
Skift Take Today’s edition of Skift’s daily podcast looks at travel industry recovery in Asia, CitizenM’s sustainability investment, and successful innovations in travel. Rashaad Jorden Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, March 17. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today. Listen Now 🎧 Subscribe Apple … [Read more...]
Skift India Daily: Airport-Like Design Is Coming to Kerala’s Thrissur Railway Station
Skift Take Besides inking big ticket deals to accelerate the pace of different projects, Indian Railways now wants to satisfy the aspirations and demands of the modern commuter. Amrita Ghosh In line with its modernization drive, the Indian Railways has confirmed it will redevelop Thrissur railway station — in the south Indian state of Kerala — with airport-like … [Read more...]
Asia Pacific Overtakes Europe in Recovery: New Skift Travel Health Index
Skift Take The Asia Pacific region, aided by the reopening of China and the Lunar New Year is on the path to rapid recovery. While China gets ready to travel again, the global tourism industry needs to catch up with the growing demand. Saniya Zanpure Source: skift.com … [Read more...]
Why Sri Lanka Needs to Tell the World It’s Open for Tourism
Having battled political instability and economic crisis, a resilient tourism industry in Sri Lanka now waits for the government to do its bit to communicate to the world that the country is open to tourists. But not exactly in the critical manner that was deployed by Sri Lankan Tourism Minister Harin Fernando at the recent ITB Berlin conference, where he called Maldives “boring,” … [Read more...]
London Worries It’s Losing Luxury Shopping Tourists to Milan and Paris
London’s luxury retailers fear the city is losing its pull as a shopping destination, with tourists from the United States, China and the Gulf flocking instead to Paris and Milan where tax breaks still offer a way to cut the cost of their purchases. With finance minister Jeremy Hunt set to present the government’s budget statement on Wednesday, the industry wants him to reinstate sales-tax-free … [Read more...]
Skift India Daily: India Must Cut Back on Business Travel to Reduce Emissions
Skift Take It's time we spoke about the responsibility of Indian corporations towards sustainable travel. Amrita Ghosh Indian companies have failed to set targets to reduce corporate travel emissions, according to an annual report by campaign group Transport & Environment. Globally, only 50 companies out of 322 have set targets to reduce business travel, with … [Read more...]
ChatGPT Is Not a Priority Yet in Destination Marketing’s Spend
Skift Take Tourism board executives think ChatGPT is impressive, but they haven't seen solid evidence of its real-world application in destination marketing so far to make a sizeable investment. Dawit Habtemariam Destination marketing executives say they are taking a wait-and-see approach to ChatGPT. Some executives speaking last week at the ITB Berlin tourism … [Read more...]
South Africa’s Tourism Industry Confronts Worsening Electricity Outage Crisis
South Africa’s power crisis has gone from bad to worse, as ongoing blackouts since 2007 are now a daily occurrence, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. So how do you promote tourism with widespread blackouts? The country’s tourism sector, worth and estimated $27.4 billion pre-Covid, is pushing towards full recovery, but with the ongoing energy crisis doing it no favors. … [Read more...]
The New Chinese Traveler
Skift Take Today’s edition of Skift’s daily podcast looks at what Chinese travelers want now, how augmented reality can improve historical sites, and what American Airlines pilots expect from negotiations. Skift Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, March 15. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today. Listen Now 🎧 … [Read more...]
The Emergence of a New Chinese Traveler
For more than two decades, outbound travel from China was a major rising catalyst for global travel, an economic engine spurred by the emerging middle class in the country of 1.4 billion people. Chinese travel could be felt from Vancouver to Dubai to Singapore with destinations becoming reliant on the steady stream of easily spending tourists. Accounting for almost one-fifth of global tourism … [Read more...]
Russia Is Now Dubai’s No. 2 Source Market
Dubai welcomed 1.47 million overnight visitors in January as Russia went on to be the second largest tourism source market for the emirate. Registering a 63 percent increase over 2022, for the emirate, 115,000 Russians visited Dubai for tourism. The highest number of international guests were from India at 186,000, while the third-biggest source market was Saudi Arabia with 98,000 visitors. Skift … [Read more...]
Skift India Daily: India’s Push on ‘Greenfield’ Airports
Skift Take The greenfield airports would not just connect smaller cities to the rest of the country, but would also help popularize tourism to off-beat destinations. Amrita Ghosh As India plans to increase connectivity to the rest of the country, the government has approved 21 greenfield airports in smaller cities. A total of 11 such airports are operational so far, … [Read more...]
Augmented Reality Could Bring New Life to History Tourism
Skift Take History is a unique asset for every destination, but often one that doesn't elicit a lot of excitement from travelers, especially as they continue to trend toward unique travel experiences. Augmented reality and virtual reality could be an unlock for destinations that want to leverage more of their rich pasts. Dawit Habtemariam Destinations and attractions … [Read more...]
New Zealand’s Tourism Recovery Gets Lift From Independent Travelers Not on Tours
Skift Take Demand has been much higher than anticipated, with New Zealand appealing to free spirits from the U.S. and neighboring Australia in particular. Matthew Parsons When cruises started taking bookings at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, Australians Eunice and John Rowley quickly made plans for their first ever visit to New Zealand. “We heard on the 9 o’clock … [Read more...]
China Welcomes Back Foreigners as it Resumes Visa Applications for All
Skift Take With news of the removal of the last Covid-induced border restriction, the travel industry in China would now be waiting for restoration of flight capacity to make the most of the pent-up demand. Peden Doma Bhutia China said that it will reopen its borders to foreign tourists for the first time in the three years since the outbreak of the Covid-19 … [Read more...]