Alaska Celebrates Statehood and Other Anniversaries

ALTOUR will be the first Atriis client to go live in March. The content will become widely available to all Atriis users during Q2 2024.

To address the main topics, the meeting will focus on health and wellness tourism, sustainability, the promotion of premium tourism in mountain areas, emerging tourism products and the training and recruitment of human talent. 

This year the shortest month was a day longer, meaning 24 more hours of hotel news you might have missed in February.

Just in case this comes off as harsh, let me preface this by saying that I love children. I have two boys of my own, and I’m having a hard time letting them be adults as they turn 24 and 20.

Online travel agency Booking Holdings revealed lower expectations for the first quarter and full year of 2024 as travel demand in the United States begins to normalize following a post-pandemic surge.

Southwest Airlines and Omni Hotels & Resorts are teaming up to offer a special "Solarbration" sweepstakes ahead of the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.The sweepstakes—which can be entered now through March 11—will reward two lucky winners with a prize package that includes air travel on a flight predicted to be in the direct path of the eclipse.The flight options include Southwest Flight 1252, which departs Dallas (Love Field) at 12:40 p.m. CT for Pittsburgh, and Southwest Flight 1721, which departs Austin at 12:55 p.m. CT for Indianapolis.Omni will do its part by putting the winners up in custom-designed guest rooms inspired by the celestial event. The special accommodations will be located at Omni Hotels in the departure cities of Dallas and Austin and the arrival cities of Pittsburgh and Indianapolis.In addition to roundtrip flights and accommodations for two nights, winners will receive exclusive solar eclipse viewing glasses and fun inflight experiences aboard their eclipse flights.

Milkshake Tourism is about to become a reality as Zaxby’s milkshakes return exclusively to Macon, Georgia, prompting the destination to launch its own shake-inspired tourism campaign. 

Yet another major U.S. airline is raising checked bag fees.

Holland America Line is elevating its award-winning Alaska Cruisetours in time for the 2024 season with room upgrades at McKinley Chalet Resort and a new, included tour in Dawson City, Yukon. Alaska Cruisetours combine an Alaska cruise with an overland tour to Denali, and Holland America Line is the only cruise line that extends those tours into the Yukon. Balconies will be added to 28 river-view rooms at McKinley Chalet Resort — Holland America Line’s hotel property at Denali National Park — upgrading them to the Denali Suite category. In addition, a new Deluxe category of non-balcony rooms with suite amenities is being introduced. For the excursions, guests on select Denali and Yukon Cruisetours will have a new “Klondike Gold Tour” that expands on the region’s famed gold rush experience. The tour visits the original discovery claim site that launched the gold rush and Gold Dredge 4.

Unlike many in the hospitality and tourism space, who spend their career working solely in one particular facet of the business, I have been fortunate and have been able to change verticals several times. At ICON Park, it was attractions and restaurants; at Universal Parks, it was resort hotels and theme parks; as a board member at the Grand Canyon Resort, I helped promote an area of extreme natural wonder.

Disneyland After Dark: Star Wars Nite. (Photo Credit: Disneyland Media)

Willie Walsh, the Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has given his support to the leadership of the Boeing Co.