Impacting Travel tips

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Carnival Paradise crew members saving stranded sailors. (Photo Credit: Carnival Cruise Line Media)

As travelers continue booking summer vacations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a new Heat and Health Initiative to protect Americans from heat exposure.

Update: April 15, 2024, at 9:00 PM ET 

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) is encouraging the hospitality industry to support the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act today with an industry-wide Tax Day of Action to prompt the Senate to support the bill. 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) admitted in a court filing that marijuana and cannabis legalization by states does indeed attract tourism.

As Americans prepare to witness the total solar eclipse on April 8, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a warning that the event could impact air travel at airports located in the path of totality.

Iceland has declared a state of emergency and started evacuating tourists from impacted regions following another volcanic eruption over the weekend.

Civil unrest in Haiti has forced the Royal Caribbean Group to cancel all plans to visit its private destination in Labadee.

With measles making a global comeback - cases increased 79 percent in 2023 - the CDC is issuing new guidelines for those planning to travel abroad.“Many international destinations are reporting increased numbers of cases of measles,” says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, adding: “The majority of measles cases imported into the United States occur in unvaccinated U.S. residents who become infected during international travel.”In particular, the CDC website says Americans who intend to visit other countries should consult with a doctor six weeks prior if there’s any question about whether they’ve had the measles vaccine. Travelers are at risk of contracting measles if they've not been fully vaccinated two weeks ahead of traveling abroad, says the agency's travel advisory.“All international travelers should be fully vaccinated against measles with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, including an early dose for infants 6–11 months, according to CDC’s measles vaccination recommendations for international travel.In another notable update, Russia and Malaysia have been added to the CDC’s map of 46 countries that are experiencing a significant uptick in measles cases. Some of the additional countries where health officials have reported large measles outbreaks include Afghanistan, Armenia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Qatar, Saudia Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. To view the full list of countries experiencing a significant measles outbreak, visit the CDC website.And if you do travel abroad and develop any of the following symptoms, the CDC recommends seeking medical care:

Travel chaos is on the horizon for Germany as airport and rail workers there have announced a new round of walk-outs.

February was a relatively quiet month in terms of travel advisory updates from the U.S. State Department.

The World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) Hotel Sustainability Basics program has reached a milestone number of hotels joining the initiative, with over 1,700 hotels verified across 70 countries. 

Online travel agency Booking Holdings revealed lower expectations for the first quarter and full year of 2024 as travel demand in the United States begins to normalize following a post-pandemic surge.

Update: February 13, 2024, at 9:10 a.m. ET

President Joe Biden released a tweet from his official X account (formerly known as Twitter) on February 5, sharing how “It’s time all airlines offered fee-free family seating.” 

The volcano on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula is causing more trouble for the residents of the nearby town, Grindavík, as well as the country’s popular tourist hotspot, the Blue Lagoon. 

Experts believe the stinky seaweed known as sargassum that impacted several popular Mexican tourism destinations in recent years could return as early as February.

The U.S. Travel Association is praising President Joe Biden's administration this winter after the U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security moved to extend the visa interview waiver authority for low-risk applicants ahead of its previous December 31 expiration.The decision comes one month after the organization sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas urging both agencies to extend the visa interview waiver authority, which gives consular officers the discretion to waive in-person interviews for certain low-risk nonimmigrant visa applications.These eligible applicants have previously visited the U.S. and are still subject to the same strenuous background checks and screening that all nonimmigrants receive.

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The number of women and young professionals employed by the travel and tourism industry has soared in recent years.