Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, September 7. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
25.08.2023 - 13:07 / skift.com / Rashaad Jorden / Adam Burke / Fred Dixon
Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, August 1. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
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Soccer’s World Cup is coming to North America in 2026, but it’s uncertain where the final of the tournament will be held. Three U.S. cities are jockeying to host the event’s most prestigious match, writes Global Tourism Reporter Dawit Habtemariam.
Habtemariam writes that Dallas, Los Angeles, and MetLife Stadium in New York City’s New Jersey suburbs are prime contenders to host the final. FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, is expected to announce in September which city will host the match. Travel executives from each city laid out reasons why their city should be chosen. NYC Tourism+Conventions CEO Fred Dixon cited New York City’s passion for soccer as one reason it should host the World Cup final.
Next, the lengthy visa processing times have inhibited U.S. destination marketers’ ability to attract tourists from crucial international markets, writes Global Tourism Reporter Habtemariam.
The average wait time for a U.S. embassy interview for a first-time visitor visa applicant in countries such as India, Brazil and China exceeds 400 days on average, according to the U.S. Travel Association. LA Tourism CEO Adam Burke said those long waits are the biggest issue facing the U.S. tourism industry. NYC Tourism+Conventions CEO Dixon said the city needs to attract travelers who need visas in order to boost tourism.
Habtemariam notes there are large numbers of travelers with valid visitor visas in many key tourism markets. Burke said there are roughly 5 million people in India with a valid 10-year visa, and Dixon stated there’s a good base of business coming from that segment of travelers. A 2023 Skift Megatrend examined the impact of visa processing delays on the travel industry’s recovery.
Finally, as international travel continues to recover from the pandemic, Associate Editor Rashaad Jorden turns to Ask Skift, our artificial intelligence chatbot, to find out what’s the world’s largest outbound travel market.
Ask Skift revealed the answer is India, which overtook China as the world’s most populous nation in April of this year. India’s travel industry has been boosted by a growing middle class increasingly eager to venture overseas. India generated Asia’s highest outbound travel volume for the first time in 2022. In addition, international leisure flight bookings from India have jumped 40% for trips between June and August, compared to last year, according to travel software company RateGain.
Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, September 7. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, September 6. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
Skift has looked into the hurdles that several major U.S. cities face in trying to boost tourism — San Francisco and Portland are just two examples.
In addition to booming tourism numbers worldwide, travelers this summer have experienced scorching temperatures. That blistering heat has made travel difficult and could potentially create chronic health problems.
In just the past few days, there have been two key moves that ease restrictions for travel from China to the U.S. Tourism officials have been clear that the lifting of these restrictions is critical to a full recovery –though key hurdles remain. On Thursday, China lifted pandemic-era group tour restrictions for the U.S. and other key markets. Before the lift, Chinese travel agencies were banned from selling outbound group or package travel to the U.S.
Good morning from Skift. It’s Monday, November 21. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
Steven Udvar-Házy, the co-founder and executive chairman of lessor Air Lease Corporation, believes the airline industry will likely see more consolidation, especially in Europe. Udvar-Házy said at the recent Skift Aviation Forum in Dallas that while he doubts the continent’s low-cost carriers will be involved in any mergers, he sees Italy’s ITA and TAP Air Portugal as takeover targets.
Sean Donohue, the CEO of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, has seen his airport make a significant rebound from the pandemic, becoming the world’s No. 2 in terms of passenger count.
Good morning from Skift. Somehow it’s already Friday, January 20. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, January 5, and here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, January 11, and here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
Skift has published hundreds of stories on funding for travel startups since our launch in 2012, featuring Airbnb and tours and activities provider GetYourGuide among other companies in some of those early articles. We took our coverage even further three years later with a weekly roundup of startups that had received or announced funding from investors.