How to plan a responsible whale-watching tour

Already valued at an estimated $185 billion, the worldwide ecotourism segment is expected to exceed $374 billion in global impact within the decade.

Last month I traveled by train from London to Berlin and back.

​Radiating vitality from its natty north to its stylish southern heel, there are plenty of reasons Italy attracts a remarkable range of traveller types. Given its fabulous food, sun-soaked coastline, picture-perfect panoramas, and all those extraordinary ancient sites, it’s no wonder Italy sparks a desire to return. There’s simply too much to see — and fall in love with — during a single trip, and planning a stay in Italy can be overwhelming.

In 2015, website Booking.com, the world’s largest online travel agency (OTA), released its first ever Sustainable Travel Report. 62% of respondents said they planned a trip staying in sustainable accommodations within the next 12 months. By 2021 this number had skyrocketed to 81%. The 2021 numbers, garnered from surveying 29,000 travelers, also showed that a substantial majority of global travelers (87%) want to travel sustainably and 61% said the pandemic had made them want to travel more sustainably in the future. The most common answer to the question of “What sustainable travel means?” was staying in eco-friendly or green accommodations, yet half (49%) still didn’t think there were enough sustainable lodging options.

There are certain things that passengers have come to expect while traveling by plane: long security lines, a small treat after takeoff (if you're lucky), and seats that face forward. 

Get ready for a 30-mile drive that will take you thousands of years back in time. Starting in Killala, on the River Moy estuary, grab your morning cuppa in The Kiosk Café on Market Street, before exploring the fifth-century Round Tower, a 75ft limestone icon, which you might expect Rapunzel’s hair to tumble down from at any minute. Note the doorway set 11 feet above ground — access ladders would have been pulled inside to protect against marauders.

Summer 2023 is turning out to be one of the wildest for tourists on record. 

At this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, cruise giant Carnival Corporation introduced “the world’s first interactive guest experience platform capable of transforming vacation travel into a highly personalized and elevated level of customized service for millions of guests.”

United CEO Oscar Munoz began this morning’s investor call by acknowledging the company’s subpar operational and financial performance, and then proceeded to outline plans to increase his airline’s profit margins to levels achieved by American, Delta, and Southwest.

The Zika virus continues to spread and is drastically affecting countries throughout Central and South America, as well as Mexico. At a press conference today, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that there is now a “public health emergency of international concern” over the clusters of microcephaly in Brazil and the suspected (although not scientifically proven) link to microcephaly and birth defects. It’s important to note that this is not a declaration for the actual Zika virus. WHO also stated that “there should be no restrictions on travel or trade with countries, areas and/or territories with Zika virus transmission.”

United’s forcible ejection of a paying passenger from flight UA3411 earlier this month was a perfect storm of bad decisions, both leading up to the incident and in its subsequent handling by company chief Oscar Munoz. The airline’s image, less than sterling to begin with, was deeply tarnished.

When Kevin Maloney started to plan his trip to Iceland, a friend mentioned a new service called ViaHero. “I knew there was a lot to see in Iceland and I had a short period of time. I didn’t want to spend a lot of personal time doing the research,” Maloney says. “My goal was to have an expert map it out for me.”