Travel tips

Every year on September 27th, the United Nations observes World Tourism Day to acknowledge tourism’s significant role in promoting growth and cultural awareness. The theme for World Tourism Day 2023 is “Tourism and Green Investments,” emphasizing the importance of directing investments towards the well-being of people, the planet, and prosperity.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with 25-year-old Elophia Mengestu, who is based in New York City, and it has been edited for length and clarity.

Belize Tourism Board is proud to announce it is the official host destination for the inaugural 2024 World Travel Sustainability Awards (WTSA), the new World Travel Awards programme to help drive Net Positive Hospitality in Travel and Tourism. Belize will provide the perfect backdrop to the awards as a destination that holds responsible tourism at the core of its value systems, developing projects that encourage travellers to engage with the country’s rainforests, reefs, and unique culture in a truly sustainable and responsible manner. The World Travel Sustainability Awards will be launched in Dubai at COP28 and feature more than 40 new categories. Belize and the WTA are developing a powerful network of trusted, authoritative partners, that will guide the awards programme on best practices, standards, criteria, and the actual award category list.

This World Tourism Day – taking place on September 27 – the hotel industry is witnessing a significant transformation with sustainability finally emerging as a crucial factor in a hotel’s success. As part of this year’s theme the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has identified green investments as a top priority for the recovery and future growth of tourism, emphasising the need for more focused and better investments for people, the planet, and prosperity.

Saudi Arabia’s tourism and hospitality sector is in high gear to achieve industry targets set under Vision 2030, industry leaders said during a panel at FHS on Tuesday. “No sector matches tourism in creating jobs, especially in rural areas and communities that are currently suffering from unemployment. One in every five jobs globally today is supported by tourism, so that’s tourism is such an important sector,” Badr Alherbish, chief strategy officer of Saudi Arabia’s Tourism Development Fund, said in one of the sessions of the three-day Future Hospitality Summit in Abu Dhabi.

The Sustainable Hospitality Challenge (SHC) 2023, by Hotelschool The Hague, has concluded, and the exceptional winner of this year’s competition have been announced by William Heinecke, Founder & Chairman of Minor International, at the Future Hospitality Summit in Abu Dhabi.

The UAE’s Yas and Saadiyat islands have emerged as safe havens for investment thanks to the endeavors of the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism in grooming them as luxury destinations, said the CEO of a real estate development firm. Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the Future Hospitality Summit in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, Miral Group CEO Mohamed Abdalla Al-Zaabi said both destinations continue to attract investments and tourists in line with the UAE’s vision of economic diversification.

Heritage tourism experts grappled with complex issues of presenting culture and heritage to tourists at an international gathering of culture tourism experts 24-25 September in Valencia, Spain. Just over 100 delegates from 17 countries debated the latest issues, trends and opportunities affecting the sector, which accounts for 40% of all tourism activity, according to the UNWTO.

Around the world, people live in houseboats along canals, rivers, or in harbors.

I planned a trip on a luxury river cruise with a potential suitor I met through friends in Barcelona. He was from a municipality in Spain called Valladolid, and his eagerness to travel together was evident from the first time we met.

A passenger on an American Airlines flight claims he was met by police on arrival in Los Angeles after a flight attendant highlighted concerns about the wellbeing of his children and suggested that they may not have been his.

I've lived in Scotland my entire life, but until recently I had never visited the Isle of Barra in the Outer Hebrides.

Traveling by train through the US, Canada, and Europe, sailing through the Caribbean Sea on the largest cruise ship in the world, and taking long-haul flights from the Pacific to the Atlantic — I've done it all by myself.

Life 100 years ago was different in many ways, especially when it came to traveling.

Artificial intelligence will soon recommend personalized services to hotel guests based on their previous stays and preferences thanks to its emerging hyper-personalization features, revealed the CEO of a US-based AI insights company.

Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt are the driving forces behind the Middle East’s $1.9tn hospitality and residential project development boom.

After its deadliest earthquake in more than 60 years, Morocco is calling on investors to inject capital into its tourism sector, with opportunities ranging from developing beach resorts to building theme parks. The North African country is seeking to double the amount of investment in its tourism industry to $2 billion a year by 2026, Imad Barrakad, chief executive of the Moroccan Agency for Tourism Development, told The National on the sidelines of the Future Hospitality Summit in Abu Dhabi.

Hotels in the Middle East are performing really well with the highest occupancy rates in the world, said a senior director of global data benchmarking firm STR.

The Travel & Tourism sector entered 2023 like a marathon runner hitting the last six miles of a race. It fought its way through almost two years of the COVID-19 pandemic — only to be overwhelmed, as the disease waned, by an unprecedented surge in travel by people tired of quarantines and lockdowns. With many in the sector still struggling to fill their workforces to handle this significant uptake of travel, big and small companies alike now face their next challenge — the accelerating transition from voluntary to mandatory sustainability reporting. Are they ready for it?

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), today shed light on the substantial resurgence of China’s Travel & Tourism sector.

The Maldives’ most well-kept surprise opening, Ifuru Island Maldives, celebrated its official opening on 23 September 2023 with a special ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by the owners, the resort’s All-Star team and the very excited first official guests. A lush natural island boasting a 1km long stretch of white sandy beach with spectacular sunset views, the Ifuru Island concept brings unique and engaging experiences for guests seeking social connections and everything the Maldives has to offer in one place.