Locals in Spain's Canary Islands Rally to Limit Tourism

Tourists will no longer be allowed to book short-term rentals in large parts of Malaga, Spain, according to new rules introduced by the city council on Thursday.

Saying goodbye to a loved one just got more difficult at a small New Zealand airport.  The Dunedin Airport in the country’s southern end recently posted an advisory sign warning travelers not to hug for more than three minutes in the departure zone.  «Max hug time 3 minutes. For fonder farewells please use the car park,» the sign reads in the drop-off zone area.  The airport updated their drop-off policy in September 2024, in an effort to prevent traffic jams caused by lingering cars.  «We wanted to have a bit of fun with this,» Dunedin Airport CEO Daniel De Bono shared in an interview with a local radio station. «It's really about enabling enough space for others to have hugs.” The airport says that three minutes for a hug is plenty of time, and that a 20-second hug is the average length. The somewhat joking, but serious looking sign, has caused a social media conversation with travelers sounding off on the new advisory.  »How much is the fine if I hug longer??" one person shared on Reddit, with another person just commenting «Bruh.»

It was late August when I arrived at the outer limits of the Stockholm archipelago. Much of the Northern Hemisphere was still luxuriating in all-out summer splendor, but Sweden’s long summer days of nearly 24-hour sunlight had distinctly ended. I had traveled to the archipelago, an area covering 30,000 islands, islets, and granite skerries in the Baltic Sea, to immerse myself in the islands’ remote landscapes. I would be traveling along part of the Stockholm Archipelago Trail, a new 270-km hiking path (approximately 170 miles) that stretches across 22 islands off Sweden’s east coast, making it possible to venture deeper into the outer archipelago.

Wellington, New Zealand straddles one of the world’s great natural harbors. It's a vibrant capital city, gently nestled along the corrugated landscape that rises from the water to meet the 650-foot ridgelines of Matairangi (also known Mount Victoria). As stunning as it was to observe this scene from the Interislander ferry port, I had to wonder what I was doing here: I came to embark on a nearly two-week long Great Journeys New Zealand train trip. But this was where the adventure was to commence—aboard a 1350-passenger sea vessel, with nary a track nor train car in sight.

Oct 21, 2024 • 11 min read

Oct 21, 2024 • 8 min read

Manila, Philippines, is in a continuous state of flux, but Makati Central Square or MCS, dubbed “Manila’s most eccentric mall,” remains a constant. It’s a hodge-podge establishment strewn with shops selling cell phone accessories, children’s toys, guns, secondhand clothing, and crystals; located inside Little Tokyo—a neighborhood with a cluster of Japanese izakaya. It’s been an eccentric fixture in Makati City, Metro Manila’s central business district, since the 1980s.

Business class cabins on airlines around the world are evolving, becoming less of a seat in the sky and more of a design-centered small hotel room.

Oct 17, 2024 • 5 min read

Protesters in Spain staged massive demonstrations against overtourism this year that made headlines worldwide — especially after spraying tourists in Barcelona with water guns.

Psst. We’re going to let you in on a secret. Lake Tahoe doesn’t disappear after Labor Day… but the summer crowds do. That means less traffic, fewer hikers on the trails, and beaches you barely have to share. Campsites get easier to book, too, so you can marvel at the autumn hues reflecting on Big Blue on a spur-of-the-moment getaway.

Most destinations in Greece need more tourists, not fewer, said the country’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, on Tuesday at a conference titled “Reimagine Tourism in Greece,” hosted by the newspaper Kathimerini.