Technology Can Overwhelm Drivers Instead Of Helping, Study Finds

International travelers heading to mainland China will no longer need to present a negative COVID-19 test before being permitted to enter, starting on Wednesday, August 30.

The half-year sales – up 47 percent from the previous year – includes reaching over 2.84 million overnight guests, with a 72 percent room occupancy rate – and 20 million Euros invested in sustainability.

Japan has been knocked off the top spot for the world’s most powerful passport for the first time in five years.

Rail travel is all the rage this summer and Portugal is getting on board with a new offer.

HotelTonight co-founder and CEO Sam Shank, who steered the hotel booking app even after it was acquired by Airbnb in 2019, recently announced he would be leaving the short-term rental giant. Shank wrote on his LinkedIn account that he would take some time before making plans for a future outside of the travel industry.

A new law that just passed in Spain related to the long reign of former dictator Francisco Franco will allow more Spanish descendants to apply for citizenship. This is useful for immigrants residing in the country. And for the diaspora, it could mean longer trips to Europe without need for a visa. 

Agency consortium GlobalStar Travel Management is expanding in Europe, after boosting its presence across North America and Asia.

Many travelers have been thinking of their wellness more holistically since the pandemic, according to surveys in seven countries commissioned by Hilton Hotels and released on Monday.

The Gulf region now has more than 170,000 hotel rooms under active development, which includes planning, final planning and under construction, according to research conducted at the end of September by STR, a hotel market intelligence and global benchmarking company. This active hotel development pipeline now equals 40 percent of the Gulf region’s existing hotel room inventory, a figure almost four times greater than the global average of 11 percent. The STR report estimates 135,560 existing rooms in Saudi Arabia with an active pipeline of 82,639 rooms, with total room inventory projected for 2030, at over 218,000 rooms. Similarly for the United Arab Emirates, the research currently tracks more than 202,000 existing rooms with an active pipeline of 48,910 rooms, a combined total of almost 251,000 rooms by 2030. “Interestingly, Ras Al Khaimah, is second only to Dubai, with 5,076 rooms in its pipeline, almost the same amount as Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Fujairah combined,” said Danielle Curtis, exhibition director of Arabian Travel Market. The research had been commissioned by Arabian Travel Market.

With fewer business travelers in the skies, Lufthansa is now allowing passengers to bid for an upgraded seat during a live auction.

The number of international visitors to the U.S. reached 4.6 million in November, up 61 percent year over year, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office. November’s volume represented 76 percent of pre-pandemic November 2019’s.

TUI’s winter bookings might have been lackluster, but early summer bookings for the world’s largest tour operator have picked up, as the company plans to focus on giving more flexibility to travelers in booking flights, hotels and activities individually, in addition to its wholesale packaged tours, to grow its customer base in underrepresented markets.