12 things to know before going to Ecuador

For more than 25 years, Alberto Avila has been making careteros, or paper maché masks, perpetuating a tradition of Indigenous communities in Ecuador. Typically worn by tribal leaders, the masks are used widely in local festivities. As Avila explains, each mask is intended to reflect “what’s inside” its creator—his first took the form of a devil, a character he identified with at the time, but he’s tranquil, nowadays, and has made more playful versions lately.

Organised by IFEMA MADRID, the 44th edition of FITUR is set to take place from 24 to 28 January 2024 at Madrid’s trade fair centre. According to FITUR’s director, María Valcarce, the outlook for the next edition is looking bright and everything points to the trade fair expanding to occupy more than 140,000 m2 of space across 9 halls, bringing together more than 9,000 companies and over 150,000 professional visitors from the world tourism industry from 145 countries. It is also estimated that around 100,000 people will visit FITUR over the weekend. Figures that already placed FITUR at the forefront of the major international tourism fairs at the last edition.

Jamaica’s position as a leader in the global tourism industry has been further bolstered after the Caribbean nation secured the post of second vice chair of the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) Executive Council.

Having driven alone around Botswana and across most of southern Africa, I've learned a few things from traveling as a female. The most important lesson? Just go.

With a population of over 21 million people, Mexico City is a densely packed metropolis with Indigenous origins dating back to the 1300s, when it was called Tenochtitlan.

The Sunshine State has it all – luminous golden beaches, the Walt Disney World hustle and bustle, alligators sunbathing in the Everglades, roadside orange groves, and everything in between. 

I grew up in a Mexican household in the heart of American suburbia, one of those kids who spent their childhood ping-ponging across the border. Summers meant Mexico, splitting my time between the north and west, as comfortable on janky city buses as I was body surfing on white capped waves. Adulthood meant more of the same, but instead of summer months, it was entire years, and instead of the north and west, it was the south and east. 

With 333 islands making up this South Pacific dreamscape, it would take a lifetime to truly explore every corner of Fiji. For the past six years, I’ve been living in Fiji’s capital city of Suva and have made many travel mistakes and cultural snafus so you don’t have to. 

Vast and sparsely populated, Namibia is full of otherworldly desert landscapes and wildlife that has adapted to some of the harshest conditions on the planet.

I am originally from the UK and have been living in Morocco since 2018. There are things I wish I'd known before jumping headfirst into the seemingly lawless world of Moroccan taxis and bargaining in the souqs.

Floating in tropical waters off the southern tip of India, Sri Lanka is defined by its gentle Buddhist culture, friendly people and laid-back way of life, despite its troubled recent history.

Taiwanese culture is an intriguing tangle of traditional Chinese customs and Japanese sensibilities, permeated with island-wide free 4G and an insatiable commercial drive.