Long tips

JetBlue Airways has finally made long overdue improvements to its loyalty program True Blue. The New York-based carrier announced on December 7 it’s expanding its elite Mosaic programs and creating a level of mileage accumulation named tiles that enables customers to obtain perks before reaching mosaic levels of flying.

Tour operators were decimated during the pandemic. If they wanted to survive, they had to figure out how to bring in more revenue and operate business more efficiently. 

Las Vegas Sands is pursuing a multi-billion flagship casino, entertainment and hospitality development following its agreement to purchase a long-term lease over the home to the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, opened in 1972 on Long Island in New York. This would be the company’s first entertainment project in the U.S. since it sold its Las Vegas properties last year.

New Mexico visitor spend jumped more than 30 percent in the past two years, with the state seeing a significant tourism boom partly because of the New Mexico Tourism Department’s longstanding tourism campaign, New Mexico True. 

Booking Holdings officials have spoken for years about their aim to take market share in rival Expedia Group’s stronghold, namely the U.S., and Booking appears to be delivering on that goal.

Hotels are increasingly looking at wellness investments as travelers’ expectations have evolved.

When you think of Southeast Asia, one automatically assumes the region is largely tech-enabled with its super-app culture and payment wallets that leapfrogged traditional banking; all fluidly switched on for digital purchases. But this couldn’t be further from the truth for the tours and activities landscape across the region.

It’s like that bunny in the old Energizer battery commercials: Still going.

All types of hotels have enjoyed stellar performance in the post-pandemic surge, but it’s properties offering something distinctive in a particular market that have the most promising financial returns. Investors see the most potential gain in hotels that address growing guest tastes for distinctive, experiential offerings.

Travel exchange company EbixCash — the Indian arm of insurance software company Ebix — has been granted regulatory approval for its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO). The IPO is expected to raise between $732 million to $975 million, making it one of the largest IPOs in the financial services sector in India. The company has already filed a draft red herring prospectus, but the IPO is still subject to the necessary approvals, market conditions, and other factors. In the run-up to the anticipated IPO, EbixCash had filed its prospectus with the Indian stock market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on March 10, 2022 after CEO Robin Raina declared on the company’s quarterly earnings call that EbixCash would file its prospectus “imminently.” Ebix declared its intent to raise $787 million via the IPO, while retaining a significant majority stake in EbixCash. While EbixCash operates in several segments — payment solutions, travel, financial technologies, business processing outsourcing services and startup initiatives — it receives over 80 percent of its revenue from the payments services business. Under this business, the company offers domestic remittance, forex, international remittance and prepaid cards/gift cards. It largely generates revenue based on commissions and transaction fees from providing these services. 

The LGBTQ+ travel market has grown enormously in recent years, becoming one of the most lucrative segments in the industry. LGBTQ+ travelers were worth an estimated $218 billion worldwide prior to the pandemic, with the LGBTQ+ community in the U.S. alone spending roughly 10 percent of its purchasing power on travel.

New York’s tourism industry has roared back from its rough pandemic years, but local pessimism and empty offices could hamper the sector’s long-term trajectory.

Hilton Worldwide executives teased on Wednesday that they expect to announce a new apartment hotel brand within the next couple of months. The move will come as the operator continues to expand its portfolio beyond premium and luxury hotel brands, such as Waldorf Astoria and Conrad.

Air New Zealand has revealed further details around its new Skynest product, which is set to be available on ultra-long haul flights from September 2024, according to the airline.

India’s aviation security regulator – Bureau of Civil Aviation Security – has been deploying new-age security systems at airports across the country, including 3D perimeter security equipment, biometric-based access control and surveillance systems. “We are creating a dedicated special force for aviation security and a program for pre-verification of passengers for faster processing,” said Zulfiquar Hasan, director general of the regulator. Speaking at a webinar on ‘Aviation Security Trends and Insights: A Focus on India’ organized by International Air Transport Association, Hasan highlighted the success of DigiYatra, which allows biometric boarding using facial recognition technology to establish the flier’s identity. First launched in December 2022, the facility is now available at Delhi, Varanasi and Bengaluru airports, with the most recent one introduced at Kolkata airport. For Indian airlines, aviation overview, terrorism and travel warnings are key considerations to strategize on aviation security, the global airlines body said. It cited a transparent risk-based oversight and security management system as essential to ensuring that measures are being applied where vulnerability is assessed to be at its greatest point. “Given new-age emerging threats like cyber hijacking and drones, security and infrastructure at airports need to be modernized,” added Hasan. He also called congestion a serious security challenge as it leads to an “increase in the density of unchecked passengers with unchecked luggage.” In December 2022, several passengers complained of unending queues at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, leading to many missing their flights. Hasan said that the issue is now being addressed at all major airports in the country. India has also been mulling a unified security force for all its airportsakin to the Transportation Security Administration of the U.S., which will combine immigration and customs. 

India will soon declare a national tourism policyand is also planning a global tourism investment summit, said Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy. “Without private investment, we cannot become a global destination,” he said, adding the government is allowing 100 percent foreign direct investment in tourism. Speaking at the third G20 tourism working group meeting in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar, Reddy said the tourism ministry is working closely with all the other ministries and state governments to encourage tourism. The new national tourism policy for the country has been in the making for almost two years, with the current one dating back to 2002. The policy would help lay down a framework to make India more competitive in the international market, at a time when the world is reopening to tourists. It aims to increase visitation, stay and spend and make India a year-round destination, besides creating jobs and opportunities in the sector. Last month, Tourism Secretary Arvind Singh highlighted India’s plans to open up to 50 new tourism destinations, promote green tourism, launch a publicity campaign in overseas markets and operationalize 59 new air routes this year. 

Airbus is grappling with a growing shortfall in the range of its upcoming A321XLR passenger jet after reaching an agreement with European regulators on design safeguards needed to achieve certification, industry sources said.

Investors looking for short-term gains may be disappointed in Expedia Group’s second quarter — it missed analysts’ revenue expectations by $10 million. But if things actually work out according to Expedia’s playbook, a carefully laid foundation may start to trigger more lucrative results in 2024.

Expedia Group’s vacation rental brand Vrbo for the first time reversed its traditional guest refund policy, and is mandating that hosts refund guests in Maui.

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Even for the most experienced travelers, the actual process of getting to your destination is hardly ever the fun part. Unforeseen inconveniences aside—think flight delays and last-minute cancellations—there are certainly travelers who enjoy the aviation experience (myself included), and have fine-tuned the art of packing for a strenuous long-haul flight.