Skift Take India's curtailment of e-visas had been an impediment to grow inbound tourism in the country. Now only if the resumption of e-visas would be followed by increasing air connectivity between the two countries. Amrita Ghosh India has restored e-visa services for the nationals of Saudi Arabia wanting to visit the country with immediate effect, the Embassy of … [Read more...]
Mexico President to Visitors: We’re Safer Than U.S.
Skift Take Although President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador vehemently argues his country is safe for foreign visitors, the country's authorities need to do more than damage control to ease the concerns of travelers worried about their safety. Rashaad Jorden Mexico’s president said on Monday his country is safer than the United States, pushing back against U.S. … [Read more...]
Travel Isn’t Ready for the Return of Chinese Tourists
Skift Take Today’s edition of Skift’s daily podcast looks at outbound Chinese travel, the boom in hospitality hiring, and Travelport’s purchase of Deem. Rashaad Jorden Good morning from Skift. It’s Monday, March 13. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today. Listen Now 🎧 Subscribe Apple … [Read more...]
Skift India Daily: Google Search Pages for Darjeeling Hotels Hacked by Fraudsters
Skift Take The fast-paced growth of online travel bookings makes the tourism industry a ripe target for cybercriminals. Stakeholders must therefore deploy strategies and tools to guard the sector against data breaches and malicious attacks. Amrita Ghosh The Google pages of many hotels — including premier properties — in the Himalayan hill towns of Darjeeling and … [Read more...]
Understanding the Tourism Landscape in 2023
Skift Take This week Skift reported from ITB Berlin, as well as released a podcast about the JetBlue-Spirit merger, and new research about hotel industry performance in 2023. Skift First Things Skift’s Global Tourism Reporter Dawit Habtemariam spent the week in Germany where he reported from the packed floors of ITB Berlin’s many, many exhibition halls. He sat … [Read more...]
Global Tourism Industry Woefully Unprepared for Return of Chinese Travelers
Skift Take While China rushes to travel internationally again, the global tourism industry hasn't been keeping up with its demand and new tastes. Dawit Habtemariam While Chinese travel demand accelerates to pre-pandemic levels, the global tourism industry is still not fully ready to service it, according to some panelists this week at an ITB Berlin session titled … [Read more...]
Ukraine’s Tourism Chief Reflects on the War’s Impact
Skift Take Today’s edition of Skift’s daily podcast looks at hotel industry recovery, resilience of Ukrainian tourism, and a hotel boom in the Middle East. Rashaad Jorden Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, March 10. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today. Listen Now 🎧 Subscribe Apple … [Read more...]
Skift India Daily: Indian Carriers Grab a Lion’s Share of Overseas Air Travel
Skift Take Realizing the potential of travel coming to and from India, airlines in the country are also making sure that they create enough capacity to match the demand. Amrita Ghosh Indian carriers have occupied a lion’s share of international air traffic, which is more than pre-Covid times, as per data released by India’s aviation watchdog Directorate General of … [Read more...]
Ukraine’s Tourism Chief Reflects on Resilience After a Year of War
It’s been over a year since Russia invaded Ukraine. The war has had ripple effects on the global tourism economy. Ukraine and its tourism sector have suffered immensely in lives, infrastructure and more, but after a year into the conflict, they are seeing some bright spots. While international travel remains closed, Ukraine is seeing a gradual recovery in domestic travel, especially in its … [Read more...]
Gen Z Travelers Are Unimpressed by Sustainability Pitches
Skift Take Today’s edition of Skift’s daily podcast looks at tourism sustainability, Cathay Pacific’s healthy return, and holograms in hotels. Rashaad Jorden Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, March 9. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today. Listen Now 🎧 Subscribe Apple … [Read more...]
Skift India Daily: Agoda CEO Says Indian Outbound Travel to Outpace Many Countries
Skift Take With Indian airlines placing big bets on aircraft orders and deploying higher capacities on international routes, the global travel industry seems to be sitting up and taking note of the India outbound travel market's potential. Amrita Ghosh India could rank among the top three markets for outbound travel in the coming years, according to Omri … [Read more...]
Japan Sees Return of Tourists Lift Consumer Sentiment
Skift Take Japan's economy still has a long way to go to fully recover from the pandemic. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel for businesses heavily reliant on tourism — especially with the country poised to see the large-scale return of Chinese tourists. Rashaad Jorden Japan’s service-sector sentiment rebounded in February for the first time in four … [Read more...]
Tourism’s Sustainability Pitch Needs to Be More Subtle for Gen Z
Skift Take Gen Zers don't care what tourism businesses say about their sustainability efforts. They just want to see it in their day-to-day experience. Dawit Habtemariam Tourism businesses that talk about how sustainable they are won’t win points with Generation Z travelers. In fact, they run the risk of pushing them away, said Etienne Matichard, director of sales … [Read more...]
Booking Holdings’ 6 Brands, Explained
Booking Holdings is one of the largest travel brands in the world, with business in hotels and other, accommodations, flights, holiday price comparison, car rental, travel extras, and restaurant bookings. With a market cap of $91 billion in mid-March, Booking Holdings is one of the world’s leading online travel providers, generating a staggering $17.1 billion in revenue last year, as well as $3 … [Read more...]
U.S. Plans to Lift Covid Testing for Travelers From China
Skift Take The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to end mandatory Covid-19 tests for travelers from China this Friday. It will, however, continue to monitor flights from the country by keeping its Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance program active. Selene Brophy The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is set to end on … [Read more...]
Middle East Set to Be One of the Fastest-Growing Airline Markets
Despite a sluggish international travel market, the pace of recovery in the Middle East aviation market accelerated throughout 2022 and is expected to take off over the next 10 years with the region’s share of the global fleet set to expand. In its “Global Fleet and MRO Market Forecast 2023-2033,” global management consulting firm Oliver Wyman noted that the Middle East remains among the … [Read more...]
Asia Presents Even Steeper Challenges for Female Travel Leaders Today
Skift Take Asia's failure to tackle the issues preventing women from occupying more high ranking travel positions is just one of the reasons the continent is still struggling to make a complete recovery. Liz Ortiguera Attracting and developing talent is arguably the most critical factor needed for the travel industry to make a complete recovery. Although women … [Read more...]
Skift India Daily: Indians Turn to Metasearch Engines for Travel Bookings
Editor’s Note: Happy Holi, everyone! We will not be publishing our newsletter on Wednesday, March 8, as our India team will be celebrating the Indian festival of colors — Holi. Metasearch engines have emerged as the leading channel for travel bookings post-Covid, according to a travel trends report by Adara, a travel martech and data exchange platform. India-headquartered travel tech firm … [Read more...]
Busting Myths About Deglobalization and What It Means For Travel
Skift Take Parag Khanna believes we’re in the early post-Covid phase of a five to 10-year process, where our passports will matter less than our credentials. Read a recap here of his recent talk with Skift CEO Rafat Ali. Sherry Sun Parag Khanna is an author, geopolitical scientist and founder of Climate Alpha, an AI-powered analytics platform forecasting asset values … [Read more...]
Skift India Daily: U.S.-India Visa Backlog Gets Urgent Help From U.S. Consulate
Editor’s Note: Good morning, India! We are pleased to launch Skift’s India Travel Daily today. While we have continued to grow our coverage of travel coming in and from India, this newsletter is a testament to the faith that we have in the India market and its potential to be one of the biggest tourism markets in the world. World Travel and Tourism Council’s Economic Impact Research mentioned … [Read more...]