Covid-19 tips

Airbnb will be introducing a new cancellation policy on June 6 for weather-related events and government travel restrictions.

Forget high-rise hotels and all-inclusive beachfront resorts — the world's most popular hotel companies see a future in luxury tents.

After more than 140 years of incomplete construction, Barcelona's famous Sagrada Familia church is expected to be finished in 2026, per a report released by the church March 20.

The airline industry barely survived its last black swan event, the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, U.S. passenger numbers dropped by almost 95%. By June of that year, some 16,000 planes had been taken out of service.

From January to March, nearly every major U.S. airline raised fees on luggage.

About 100 Russians flew to North Korea on Friday for a private tour, becoming the first foreign group to visit the reclusive state following the Covid-19 pandemic in a landmark trip summed up by the Russian embassy as “Pyongyang opens its door.”

Russian tourists could be the first international travellers to visit North Korea since the country's borders closed in January 2020 amid the global COVD-19 lockdown.

North Korea will welcome its first foreign tourists since closing its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to news reports, a hint the isolated nation may be considering a revival of its small tourism industry amid growing tensions on the international stage.

EasyJet passengers who experienced canceled flights during the coronavirus pandemic were issued vouchers as an alternative to refunds, and the expiration date to redeem the vouchers is looming.

Want to know what’s on the minds of Americans and others around the world? Just study what they’re watching. Netflix recently released its first ever biannual viewing report which gives insights into what people across the globe are craving on their screens.

The specific approach to reducing CO₂ emissions in the long-term horizon will be published next year in the decarbonisation plan, which is currently being supplemented with planned investment actions and operational measures.

China will make it easier for American tourists to visit, simplifying the visa process for 2024.

In the U.S. state of California, the northern valley named Napa includes a wine scene under constant transformation. Establishments change ownership, new talent arrives and well known names depart. During 2023, for example, Rombauer Vineyards sold their brand (as well as many of their facilities and more than a square mile of vineyards—located not only in Napa Valley but at other northern California regions) to E&J Gallo’s Luxury Wine Group; Miljenko (Mike) Grgich, who crafted the iconic Chardonnay that brought fame to Chateau Montelena in the 1970’s, passed away; the Napa Valley Wine Train celebrated its 30th anniversary, while the Napa Valley Wine Trolley (a replica of a tram car from San Francisco) reopened at Castello di Amorosa after years of Covid-19 related closure. Also in 2023, the county approved the first ever proposed ‘micro-winery’ (Goel Estate Vineyards) with criteria that include that it not produce more than 5,000 gallons of wine per year and that the owners grow 75% of grapes used for fermentation onsite.

While COVID-19 shuttered many global destinations, Australia's borders remained closed longer than most, for nearly two years. During this time, the country's Blue Mountains, less than two hours northwest of Sydney, also experienced devastating bushfires that destroyed 2.5 million acres of the region's UNESCO-listed National Park. The fires were followed by two years of cataclysmal flooding that wiped out farms, roads, and riverbeds, and killed two successive wine harvests. Until recently, the region felt impenetrable.

It's a new year! (Or will be soon, depending on when you're reading this.) Which means another edition of the Gold List, Traveler's annual compendium of our editors' favorite hotels and cruises, our 30th time doing it. It's wild to think back to where the world was when we put out the first one I was involved with: Pete Buttigieg was about to win the Iowa caucuses, Japan still thought it would be hosting the Olympics that summer, and COVID-19 was just an alarming headline about a seemingly distant new virus.

And why event professionals should not aim to save the past.

In the year 2019, the diving tourism industry witnessed a growth of approximately 4.9% due to better and quicker air traveling, making previously remote areas accessible, easier traveling, increase in the number of paid holidays per person globally, increase in the outdoor activities among millennials in developing countries and other factors.

During the summit, the Saudi Crown Prince, who is the visionary behind the Saudi Vision 2030, addressed tourism ministers, industry professionals, and leaders.

We all appreciate the pilots who fly us safely to our destination. Some of us even clap for them on landing - much to the chagrin of fellow travellers.

For people with a travel bug, the months between spring 2021 and October 2023 posed an unprecedented opportunity.

Turning Seattle into an international gateway hub seems to have been a failed experiment for American Airlines.