Middle tips

There’s nothing more irritating than watching your seatmate snooze effortlessly next to you while you queue up another in-flight film and fall further into sleep debt on a red-eye. As a frequent traveler, I know all too well that catching up on deep sleep certainly isn’t feasible for everybody—especially nervous flyers or those with insomnia—but trying to get in at least a few extra hours, even if it’s not a full night’s sleep, is the key to enjoying a better vacation.

Frontier Airlines is guaranteeing a new way for travelers to snag the best seats in the house.

A new Frontier Airlines fare product enables flyers to guarantee an empty middle seat next to their own window or aisle seat in the first two rows of the aircraft.

Frontier Airlines is adding a new seating option at the front of the aircraft. Its big selling point: an empty middle seat.

Outbound travel from China to the Middle East reached pre-pandemic levels during the Chinese New Year period, according to data firm ForwardKeys.

Accor’s top boss said Thursday that the hotel group will benefit as the middle class expands, especially in India.

The Middle East won big in the 2024 Forbes Travel Guide Star Awards, with Dubai leading the pack — the city earned the highest number of new Five-Star honors worldwide.

On our latest episode exploring Skift’s Megatrends for 2024, Skift Editor-in-Chief Sarah Kopit is joined by Asia Editor Peden Doma Bhutia and Middle East reporter Josh Corder to talk about this year’s travel Megatrends centered on India and the Middle East.

Forbes Travel Guide, a rating system for luxury hotels and other travel products and services, released its 2024 Star Awards on Wednesday. About 340 luxury hotels received “five-star” ratings, while about 1,600 others received other commendations in the 66th year of the rankings.

Virgin Voyages is the latest cruise line to announce it will reroute a ship around Africa instead of attempting to pass through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.

Skift’s Megatrends for 2024 were released at the beginning of the year, our 12th annual reporting on the trends defining the travel industry.

After five or so dates, I thought I'd finally found someone I genuinely liked. He was intelligent, clever, and loved architecture and art —which I found heavily attractive. He came at things with a confident humbleness that I enjoyed being around.

Travelers appear to be slowly returning to some Middle East nations despite the continuation of the Israel-Hamas conflict that all but decimated the region’s tourism since it began on Oct. 7. Travel operators said that bookings to countries including Egypt, Jordan and Oman are growing, welcome news for an area that’s dependent on tourist dollars and one that had received a record number of visitors since the height of the pandemic.

Enjoy the holiday season in the heart of the capital, Saadiyat Island Abu Dhabi, the “Middle East’s Leading Beach Destination” honoured for the 12th consecutive year by the World Travel Awards. Indulge in celebrations that reflect the destination’s unparalleled charm, crafting an experience that is truly unmatched.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, December 8. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

The Middle East lost its tourism growth momentum once the Israel-Gaza War started in October. Before the conflict, the region was a star performer in the global tourism industry. Here are seven facts about Middle East tourism:

The forum is expected to draw attention to Bahrain’s unique position as a destination that offers a multifaceted and all-encompassing travel experience.

ICAO Secretary General Juan Carlos Salazar expressed his profound appreciation to the Government of Egypt for hosting ICAO’s MID Regional Office for the past seven decades. 

The Middle East exceeded its pre-pandemic international tourist arrival numbers by over 20% through September this year, according to the UN World Tourism Organization’s latest data. That’s before the Israel-Hamas conflict started in early October.

The Middle East is not just a destination; it’s a living testament to the transformative power of forward-thinking ideas. It’s a natural fit for Skift to host a Forum, a location that thrives on innovation and embraces the ever-evolving landscape of global travel. Which is why I am excited Skift and Dubai are hosting Skift Global Forum East there for the second year on December 12-14 at Atlantis The Royal.

The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which erupted in early October, has halted international tourism to Israel and severely blunted travel to neighboring countries in a ripple effect spreading across the entire Middle East. While the slowdown in international visitors is only one of the war’s economic repercussions in the region, it poses a significant threat to the economies of Egypt, Jordan and other nations heavily dependent on tourism and has swiftly reversed a banner year of travel in the Middle East.