After more than two and-a-half years of strict COVID-19 controls, the government of Hong Kong says it’s putting an end to mandatory quarantine rules for international travellers. CNN reports that under rules that come into play on Monday, September 26, incoming travellers will be required to undergo three days of self-monitoring on arrival. Travellers will not be allowed to visit certain places during that period, including restaurants and bars. They’ll also have to take PCR tests on days, two, four and six after arriving, followed by another rapid antigen test. It’s still a fair bit of control, but it’s a Read more
Asia
Today’s travel notebook looks at a variety of subjects, including WestJet trimming flights to Halifax and other cities in Atlantic Canada, a new, long flight between New York City and New Zealand, and the slow opening of Japan to tourism. WEST JET TO TRIM ATLANTIC CANADA FLIGHTS The CBC reports that WestJet, which announced earlier this year it would retrench and focus more on Western Canada, has cut fliights to several cities in Atlantic Canada. Flights between Halifax and Montreal will be suspended Oct. 28, while flights from Halifax to Ottawa and St. John’s will be suspended in early January. Read more
Here’s a lazy Sunday Labour Day compendium of a few stories I found on the old Internet this morning about new world hotels, travel products for people with small children, Caribbean visits and more, plus a note about Toronto Pearson delays. First off, I’ve been tracking delays at Toronto Pearson Airport the past few days, and things aren’t a whole lot better. According to Flight Aware, here are the outgoing flight delay stats for the past few days. September 1: 205 delays (15 minutes or more), which is 33% of all outbound flights. September 2: 200 delays (34%) September 3: Read more
A new report looks like bad news for tourism and the business travel industry. My travel notebook also has good news for tourism in Las Vegas, Vancouver, San Francisco, Toronto, Bali, and Halifax. I also have news about Emerald Cruises in the Caribbean. BUSINESS TRAVEL: WILL IT EVER RECOVER? A company called Morning Consult surveyed more than 16,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region between October 2021 and summer 2022. It found that two in five Americans who used to travel for work three times a year say they will NEVER take another business trip. People’s intentions Read more
An insurance company called Luko has looked at the most bike-friendly cities in the world, and Europe came out smelling like a rose. Nine of the top ten bike-friendly cities were in Europe, led by Utrecht, Holland. North American cities fared poorly, with Montreal the only entry in the top 20 (16th overall). Vancouver came 37th, while San Francisco was the top U.S. city in 39th position. Portland, Oregon was 41st and Seattle 50th. Cities were ranked on a variety of issues, including bike accident rates, theft rates, weather, bike usage and infrastructure. Holland had two cities in the top Read more
