A TikTok Ban Would Disrupt Tourism Marketing

While Baltimore is home to its fair share of world-class museums and historic landmarks, this storied Maryland city is also home to one of the east coast’s most stellar seafood scenes—a fact that local restaurateur Chef Jasmine Norton knows all too well. A Charm City native, Chef Norton’s deep affinity for the world of gastronomy has led to appearances on the Food Network’s Guy’s Grocery Games and Chopped, while 2024 saw a particularly exciting development with the grand debut of her first brick-and-mortar restaurant The Urban Oyster. Officially opened in February, this polished venue serves as the first Black woman-owned oyster bar in the nation, with a wide array of savory seafood dishes all gracing the menu.

TikTokers are striving to "normalize" flying in economy, fighting back against influencers who make out that first or business class is the only way to travel.

One would-be passenger pretended to pack his carry-on bag with tools, in case he needed to make an in-flight repair. Someone else compared the mere act of boarding a commercial flight to the harebrained, death-defying stunts featured on “Jackass.”

Marriott’s journey in India began 25 years ago. The company today boasts of over 100 hotels, with another 79 in construction. 

The 42nd Thailand Tourism Festival is scheduled to take place from 28 March to 1 April 2024 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre (QSNCC) in Bangkok. Organised by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the event is set to present a plethora of distinctive tourism offerings with an emphasis on soft power and subculture. This year also marks the second time the event is holding a ‘Zero Waste to Landfills’ initiative in alignment with the push towards more sustainable and net zero tourism. The event is expected to attract 150,000 visitors and generate 20 million reaches.

American tourism to Egypt has been slow to recover since the war between Israel and Hamas started in October. That’s what Egypt Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Issa told Skift this month at ITB Berlin, the travel trade show.

Spain is proposing a short-haul flight ban for routes where a train journey is possible under 2.5 hours. It's a similar proposal to the one that France has enshrined in law. As many EU countries try to reach ambitious 2050 climate targets, many are making similar moves to discourage flying and encourage train travel.

Southwest is among the major airlines that have started to clamp down on passengers with excess baggage, The Wall Street Journal reported.Now that the changes are taking force, perhaps the time is up for the many TikTokkers and frequent fliers who have played fast and loose with the rules.

Travel marketers are going to redirect resources meant for TikTok toward Instagram, YouTube and other marketing channels if the U.S. bans TikTok. How do we know that? Several state tourism offices have already done so after deleting their TikTok accounts.

In one 5-second TikTok from Booking.com, a woman who planned a marriage proposal on an upcoming trip faints when she learns her partner has broken up with her.

The global post-lockdown travel boom has continued year after year with no slowdown in sight, but even by these standards Thailand’s capital is ultra-popular. Bangkok has never been hotter, and last year made travel industry headlines when a Mastercard report named it the most visited city in the world for 2023. This is a distinction a few places claim, and the numbers often conflict, but there’s no doubt that Bangkok is near the top of all cities on earth in popularity, is getting more U.S. travelers than ever, and is both a destination in its own right, the gateway to the rest of Thailand, and a major gateway to the entire Pacific Rim. When I visited the Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel before the pandemic, I loved it. But when I returned at the end of 2023, it was even better.

Six online travel agencies received warning letters from Indonesia’s ministry of communication and information asking the companies to immediately register as ‘Private Scope Electronic System Operators (PSE),’ classifying them as internet businesses.