Japan's biggest fish market adds spa and 65 restaurants in bid to attract more visitors

Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, February 28. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel.

Though her work on Saturday Night Live keeps her tethered to New York City, comedian Chloe Fineman can most often be found criss-crossing the country to film in Los Angeles or back to the Bay Area, where she grew up. Recently, for her campaign with Nütrl Vodka Seltzer, she got to see a new place: Mexico City. “First of all, my brain still can’t understand how it’s a three-hour flight from LA [and five hours from New York], so I could meet all my friends in the middle,” she says. “And it was the most beautiful city. We saw luchadores wrestling, and the food was unbelievable. Some of the best meals in my life were in Mexico City!”

WHEN I WAS growing up in Stockton, Calif., in the 1970s and ’80s, there were only two special-occasion restaurants acceptable to my family. They were both on the south side of the city, in the barrio. My Mexican-born liked Mi Ranchito, and for my dad it was Arroyo’s Cafe. No matter which one we went to, my order was always the same: rib steak ranchero with rice, refried beans and leaves of undressed iceberg lettuce wilted by soupy salsa. I’d pinch torn pieces of machine-pressed flour tortillas around the slices of steak and mix in all the sides. It was a celebratory meal if there ever was one.

The Swiss city of Lugano is an outlier, radically different in feeling from counterparts like Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, or Basel. It has a 19th-century feel, a measured pace, and traces of the Belle Epoque. Situated on Lake Lugano with tree-lined promenades and a backdrop of domed mountains, the views might have been lifted from an Art Nouveau poster.

A four-hour drive from Denver, the rural town of Granada, Colorado, is home to just 450 people—and, at the end of a bumpy dirt road, the now-empty barracks and haunting buildings of “Camp Amache.” Also known as the Granada Relocation Center, Amache was once an internment camp for nearly 10,000 Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed from their homes between 1942 and 1945. Now, after decades of preservation efforts by local volunteers, this site has officially become America's newest national park.

Spanish regulators levied a $530 million fine against Booking.com in the fourth quarter in a draft decision, Booking Holdings announced Thursday.

When the Ranch at Malibu opened in 2010 as a luxury health resort on 200 acres in California’s Santa Monica Mountains, its approach was somewhat radical: Guests signed up for a full week of group hikes, fitness classes, spa treatments, nutrition consults and communal, organic meals without caffeine, gluten, soy or dairy. The goal, says its founder Alex Glasscock, was “for people to mentally and physically reset and recharge.” On April 15, a second location, the Ranch at Hudson Valley, is scheduled to open near Tuxedo Park, N.Y., in a slate-and-stone lakefront mansion surrounded by state parks. Glasscock hopes the 25-room property, which he describes as “like a big, luxury dorm,” will facilitate connections between those who stay. Guests will do yoga under the ornate plaster ceiling of the former ballroom and, in Glasscock’s ideal world, come to dinner in their pajamas and robes. This new outpost offers a few additional treatments including colonics and energy healings — which incorporate techniques such as hypnosis and sound therapy. In winter, guests can sled or snowshoe, and in summer there’s paddleboarding on the lake. The Ranch has also relaxed a few of the restrictions: You can book three nights at the Hudson Valley property instead of the seven required in Malibu, and, in concession to the most common request of all, caffeine is no longer taboo — organic Nicaraguan coffee is served at breakfast in both locations.

Altree Developments, a Toronto-based, multi-generational, full-service development company is set to redefine luxury living in St. Maarten and today announces they have launched sales at their newest development, Vie L’Ven (life to life), a luxury resort and residences with 280 units, that is slated for completion in 2028. “Vie L’Ven seamlessly coalesces the influences of both French and Dutch cultures which are truly represented in this incomparable development through exceptional living, dining and wellness experiences,” says Zev Mandelbaum, founder of Altree. “Serving as a love letter to St. Maarten, Vie L’Ven encourages homeowners and guests to embrace living life to the fullest, while soaking in the island’s natural beauty and tranquility, where European culture blends effortlessly with Caribbean aptitude.”

Mountain lovers can experience the new must-visit winter destination as COTTON CLUB ANDERMATT throws open its doors offering guests luxurious comfort, winter sun, and an immersive experience in the clear, bright, Alpine glow – Switzerland’s coolest new location. The brainchild of Norwegian entrepreneurs Christian and Merete Marstrander, COTTON CLUB ANDERMATT brings the COTTON LIFESTYLE to life. Known for their passion for both snow and sand, the Marstranders have created a forward-thinking vision of hospitality that has now arrived in Andermatt. With world-class service, meticulous attention to detail, and a dedication to ensuring each guest feels the special effect of the Cotton Club lifestyle, they have transformed Andermatt into a winter destination like no other.

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.

Jamaica’s position as a leader in tourism resilience building has been further bolstered following the announcement that UN Tourism (formerly UNWTO) has forged a major partnership with the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC), which is being rebranded as the Global Tourism Resilience Centre (GTRC). It was also outlined that UN Tourism will continue to partner with Destination Jamaica in hosting the Global Tourism Resilience Day Conference moving forward. The announcements were made jointly by Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett and UN Tourism Secretary-General H.E. Zurab Pololikashvili as they marked the second annual observance of Global Tourism Resilience Day (February 17) at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

When my husband and I started toying with the idea of taking my teenagers on a whale-watching expedition cruise, we had no idea what to expect. While we’d cruised on several major cruise lines in the past, hopping on a 100-passenger ship run by National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions felt far different than anything we’d done before.