Blackstone Sells Stake in Travel Tech Company IBS Software For $450 Million Blackstone Sells Stake in Travel Tech Company IBS Software For $450 Million

Airports ramped up security measures to help police hunt for an escaped terror suspect yesterday, sparking chaos for UK travellers.

Travels and Textiles in Central Asia Textiles expert Chris Aslan explores a crossroads of history where ‘fortunes were made and lost through shimmering silks, life-giving felts and gossamer cottons’. Most travellers know of the Silk Road, but older still are the Wool Road and Cotton Road, whose tightly woven stories Aslan seeks to untangle. 

The city of Oxford revolves around its university, England’s most prestigious alongside Cambridge. Because teaching started in the city in the 11th century, Oxford is filled with historic colleges, many hundreds of years old, and all incredibly beautiful in their architecture. Visitors to the city can walk the cobblestone streets that weave around the colleges, libraries, churches, and museums, and even take tours of the colleges’ lecture halls, chapels, and dining halls. But a day trip isn’t enough to get a good feel for Oxford. Even if the city is only 50 minutes away by train from London, you need to stay in a hotel in Oxford, England, for and take the time to fully explore this one-of-a-kind city.

Is there a better month to feel a surge of travel spirit than September? As the summer holiday crush eases, Europe gets back to business and harvest time brings a bevy of the continent’s stellar produce to restaurant tables, from young wines to olives, Greek figs, British apples, Spanish almonds and so much more.

I’m a 68-year-old solo traveler who was on a tour of Sicily in June 2022, when I fell getting off a bus, breaking multiple ribs, vertebrae and a pelvic bone. I had purchased the RoundTrip Choice plan from Seven Corners Travel Insurance, so I called, expecting they would help coordinate my medical care with Italian-speaking doctors. But they told me to seek help on my own, save the receipts and file a claim when I got home. Our tour guide was an angel, arranging drivers to take me back and forth to the hospital and even interpreting by speakerphone with doctors. Days later I got a doctor to fill out a form (which I had to Google Translate for him) saying I could travel home, as long as I was in a reclining position. My family chipped in to buy a business-class seat for the return flight, a day-and-night trip from Palermo to Munich to New York to Jacksonville. Seven Corners finally paid $5,772 for my bills and missed trip, but refused to reimburse me for most of my business-class fare. Far worse, I believe they failed to provide me the assistance they promised, essentially leaving me to fend for myself and leaving me unable to communicate with hospital staff. I have registered complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the state insurance agencies of Florida and Indiana (where Seven Corners is based), but I’ve gotten nowhere. Can you help?

Euromonitor’s report: 80% of travelers ready to pay 10% more for sustainable features despite living costs. 41% willing to pay 30% extra for adventure, eco-tourism. Europe leads Sustainable Travel Index 2023, Sweden tops, Uruguay enters top 20.

This program has placed more than 600,000 seats on sale for city break destinations throughout Europe, marking a capacity growth of 10% in comparison to the Winter 23/24 season.

Secret Food Tours, a global food tours company located in over 60 cities, is hedging its expansion and growth through niche acquisitions and partnerships.

Mastercard is planning to make a minority investment in Conferma Pay, a fintech company acquired earlier this year by Sabre Corporation.

India-headquartered travel tech firm RateGain Travel Technologies is acquiring Adara, a Silicon Valley-based firm in travel martech and predictive consumer intelligence. The cost: a mere $16.1 million, according to RateGain’s filing on the Indian stock market, which puts Adara, long troubled with management and competition issues for the last few years, out of its misery.

Cendyn, a software company that offers customer relationship management, digital marketing, and operations tools to hotels, has hired a new chief executive. 

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.