The U.S. Finally Has a Senior-Level Position for Tourism

Marriott International announced 13 deal signings in Turkey comprising over 2,000 rooms.

Labor Day is behind us, which means it’s time to unpack the cozy sweaters, warm mittens, and oversized scarves and start plotting out those leaf-peeping adventures. But before you book, you may want to hear about AccuWeather’s fall foliage forecast because it’s listing some rather surprising must-see destinations for this season's leaves.

With the pandemic now over, what’s the future of tourism? What does the decline of full-time office employees mean for tourism and business travel? Why hasn’t U.S. solved its visa delay mess? We’ll discuss these topics with the executives of NYC Tourism+Conventions, U.S. Travel Association, Visit Britain, Intrepid Travel and others on-stage at the Skift Global Forum in New York on September 26-28. 

UNWTO will work with the Municipality of Thassos in Greece to help the island rebuild its tourism sector in an inclusive way.

Between 1850 and 1852, a mighty, squat stone fort rose from a low-lying island in the Milford Haven Waterway in Wales. Originally proposed by Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to King Henry VIII, more than 300 years earlier, Stack Rock Fort—about 800 yards off the coast—was built to protect the Royal Dockyard at Pembroke Dock from attack by sea. It had a 30-foot tower, walls nine feet and nine inches thick, and housed three large cannons and one smaller one. A few years later casemates were added, and by 1870, the fort got a major makeover, inspired by the threat of Napoleon III. A new battery was added, able to hold up to 175 soldiers and five officers. Most of the fort’s useful life was spent undergoing upgrades, and it only really saw active use during World War I. In 1929 it was finally decommissioned, disarmed, and scoured for useful materials. Since then, the lonely three-story fort has sat vacant but for crashing waves, nesting gulls, and opportunistic plants.

In her role as Senior Vice President (SVP) at CIBT, Maura Geertsma will leverage these skills to enhance client relationships and contribute to strategic advancement.

In just the past few days, there have been two key moves that ease restrictions for travel from China to the U.S. Tourism officials have been clear that the lifting of these restrictions is critical to a full recovery –though key hurdles remain. On Thursday, China lifted pandemic-era group tour restrictions for the U.S. and other key markets. Before the lift, Chinese travel agencies were banned from selling outbound group or package travel to the U.S.

Over 200 leading companies are attending the Skift Aviation Forum this week at the historic Statler Hotel in Downtown Dallas on November 16. This includes companies like Southwest Airlines, Air Canada, American Airlines, and Sun Country, just to name a few. 

Big banks are making a bold statement in travel and will increasingly become the first place — at the top of the proverbial trip-planning funnel — where customers look to book their trips.

Chris Nassetta, CEO of Hilton and incoming national chair of the U.S. Travel Association, called on Wednesday for U.S. government officials to cut visa wait times that he said were hurting the country’s domestic travel sector and U.S. federal revenues.

Gullah Geechee communities are turning tourism into an empowering force that can help keep them in control of their ancestral lands and stories while preserving and sharing their unique heritage.

Having battled political instability and economic crisis, a resilient tourism industry in Sri Lanka now waits for the government to do its bit to communicate to the world that the country is open to tourists.