Tourists support Afghanistan’s only ski race & help to form a new club

Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, January 19. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

The number of seniors on the slopes has reached epic proportions. In 2020-21 seniors accounted for 16.1% of skier visits, totaling 59 million, while a record 10.5 million seniors participated in the sport according to the National Ski Areas Association. Contrary to popular belief, not all seniors are snowbirds who fly south at the first sign of winter.

Early last February, at the Mount Washington Backcountry Ski Festival in New Hampshire, the organizers faced an increasingly common problem: Terrible snow.

The passport you hold is a powerful tool when it comes to effortlessly visiting countries around the world.And some passports provide far more access than others, according to the Henley Passport Index.The just-released 2024 index shows that for the first time in 19 years of producing the ranking, six countries are tied for the top spot of having the most powerful passports.The countries leading the ranking are France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and Spain—meaning citizens from all of these countries are able to visit 194 destinations around the world either visa-free or by obtaining a visa-on-arrival.The Henley Passport Index is the only ranking of its kind and is developed based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Authority (IATA). The index compares 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations.While Japan and Singapore have made it into the number one slot for the past five years running, according to CNN, the European countries that are now also ranked number one on the list is a new development.

Perhaps no other sport rolls out the red carpet for festive activities more than skiing. After all, skiers as a whole are an active group who enjoy spending time outdoors either by being part of the action or as spectators watching spirited competitions and special events take place. As such, ski resorts present a wide variety of activities designed to thrill and entertain. The following ski resort events and activities are sure to draw large and enthusiastic crowds.

A passport is more than permission to travel across borders; holders of the world's most powerful passports have access to different ways of living that other passport holders do not. Heading into 2024, new data reveals not only the passports that give access to the most countries, but also where you might find a better quality of life.

Six countries now have the world's most powerful passport, according to the 2024 Henley Passport Index — but the US isn't one of them.

There's a new six-way tie for first place in an annual global travel ranking.France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and Spain, have all tied as having the top passport in the world, measured by providing visa-free access to 194 countries with their respective passports, according to the newest Henley Passport Index. The annual report measures the flexibility of visa-free travel and has become a popular list among global travelers. For comparison, in 2023, only Japan was crowned with the top spot when it provided access to 193 countries. 

Michael Bennett, the former N.F.L. player, started designing furniture as a way to reconsider architecture and the spaces that Black people occupy. Inspired by his upbringing in Louisiana and Texas, as well as by trips to Senegal, where his ancestors are from, Bennett began to think about the objects that “bring Black people together in public spaces” as a way to deepen his longtime activism work focused on racial justice. After retiring from football in 2020, he founded the design practice Studio Kër. Bennett’s exploration of the Black home led him to create an 11-piece collection of sculptural furniture that he’s debuting this month in “We Gotta Get Back to the Crib,” his inaugural exhibition for the Los Angeles art gallery Marta, presented at Theaster Gates’s Rebuild Foundation in Chicago. (In the spring, the show will travel to Houston.) The collection reimagines objects of communal gatherings; pieces include the Gumbo lounge chair, a lush take on the stackable monobloc chair, and the Pew couch, a nod to the church bench, made of leather and ekki wood. “For me, the show is about celebrating Black ingenuity and connecting back to that African diasporic design language,” says Bennett.

The world's most powerful passports for 2024 have been revealed — with the biggest shake-up in rankings we've seen in several years, including a never-before-seen six nations in first place.

Over the last five years, the world has changed a lot. A global pandemic ground much of the global population to a halt with travel the most restricted it's ever been in my lifetime – and most likely yours too. Russia’s war on Ukraine and now Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza are causing shockwaves around the world, reshaping the statuses of countries and the rights of their citizens.

As a New York City local, I tend to avoid typically touristy places like Margaritaville, Hard Rock Cafe, Olive Garden, and Bubba Gump Shrimp.