Japan's iconic Mount Fuji is struggling with overtourism.
25.08.2023 - 13:45 / skift.com / Rashaad Jorden / Peden Doma Bhutia / Neil Jacobs
Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, April 21. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
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Environmental issues have seemingly become more important to travelers in recent years. However, travel companies worldwide have struggled to make their services greener. With that in mind, Associate Editor Rashaad Jorden looks at Skift’s coverage of environmental issues over several years ahead of Earth Day on Saturday.
Jorden notes tourism’s expanding carbon footprint is heightening the need to make travel more sustainable. Transport-related emissions from international tourism are projected to grow 25 percent by 2030 unless urgent action is taken. He reports the hotel industry has made progress in going greener, with a series of small steps, such as using artificial grass to conserve water and removing single-use plastic bottles from guest bathrooms.
However, the aviation industry has had little success in reducing its carbon footprint. A 2021 Skift Research report revealed the majority of airlines failed to reach their environmental efficiency targets. And while some airline executives support expanding carbon offsets to reduce emissions, Skift reported in 2022 that flyers were generally unwilling to pay extra to offset emissions from their flights.
Next, luxury hotel operator Six Senses is planning to add clubs as a new product alongside its hotels and resorts. Under a new brand called Six Senses Place, the company is also looking to create a membership service providing travelers access to those luxury- and wellness-themed clubs, reports Asia Editor Peden Doma Bhutia.
Six Senses CEO Neil Jacobs said the luxury brand aims to open its first club next year, which will likely be at London’s Whiteley Hotel. Bhutia writes that the clubs are unlikely to operate as standalone entities but will usually come attached to Six Senses hotels. Jacobs told her that the Six Senses Place brand would offer restaurants, bars, and wellness offerings.
Finally, Sedona, Arizona’s tourism bureau recently ended its partnership with the city. Why? The local government wouldn’t permit the bureau to restart destination marketing, writes Global Tourism Reporter Dawit Habtemariam.
Tension began two years ago when the Sedona City Council changed its contract with the tourism bureau, preventing it from spending money on destination marketing. Sedona saw a tourism surge coming out of the pandemic, with the city attracting 3.7 million visitors in 2021. Yet many residents were unhappy with how tourism had remade their town.
Habtemariam writes some local hotel owners and tourism businesses are unhappy with the city council’s decision. These local travel
Japan's iconic Mount Fuji is struggling with overtourism.
Twenty-two years ago, 19 terrorists commandeered four U.S. airliners. They crashed them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and an empty field in Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 Americans were killed.
For anyone heading to Indian Ocean beaches from colder climates, the region’s warm waters have an obvious appeal. But with sea levels rising faster here on average than in the Atlantic and Pacific, many of those beaches are at risk of being claimed by the tides — threatening the natural habitats and livelihoods of people living in coastal areas. This is a global problem, of course: sea levels worldwide have risen around 10cm in the past 30 years, with the rate increasing from 1.5mm a year through most of the 20th century to 3.9mm a year now. Projections for future sea level rises vary greatly, but when you’re in the Maldives, whose highest points rise to just over two metres above sea level, every centimetre counts.
Renowned across the globe for its stunning architecture and vibrant nightlife, New Orleans serves as one of the most unique travel destinations in all of the Lower 48—and as an added bonus, this storied city offers one of the most dazzling dining scenes in all of the Americas. Muffulettas, pralines, and po' boys are just a few of the iconic dishes with strong ties to The Big Easy, and for those wishing to explore the magic of New Orleans in culinary form, there’s a wealth of both iconic and under-the-radar venues to explore.
Choose Chicago today announced the launch of the Chicago Brew Pass, a new initiative to promote exploration of Chicago’s award-winning craft brewery scene. Through the Brew Pass, the first-ever digital pass of its kind in Chicago, locals and visitors can check in at breweries across the city and earn points that can be redeemed for fun, limited-edition prizes. Participants can use the Brew Pass to explore over 20 participating craft breweries at their own pace and start earning rewards one pint at a time!
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The book, by Roya Rahimi, Babak Taheri, and Dimitrios Buhalis, is an essential volume for anyone researching the sharing economy and wishing to learn more about and delve into the impact it has had and will have on the tourism industry and the wider tourism economy.
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Australia’s Flight Centre Travel Group has a few issues with airlines at the moment.
Twelve minutes. That’s all the time it took for the board of directors of Avianca, the second largest airline in Latin America, to set the fate of the carrier and begin a series of sweeping changes to the airline industry in the region.