I wrote yesterday about how Air Canada Vacations and Lufthansa both are moving forward with new flights. Now I see Southwest Air in the U.S. is doing the same, and that Disney is looking at how it will re-open Walt Disney World with new social distancing measures. I think we can safely say that we’re moving into the early stages of recovery for the travel and tourism business. The steps are small, but they’re happening across a spectrum of businesses. And that’s great to see. Disney Recovery Plans My friends at TravelPulse in the U.S. have a story in their Read more
Canada
Today’s Future of Travel blog looks at everything from the impact of cancelled cruises to a series of new suspensions by cruise companies and airlines. It seems things are getting better, but it’s going to be a while until we travel in any significant manner. Cruise Cancellations Hit Canada Holland America on Wednesday announced it has cancelled all its cruises for Canada/New England, Europe and Alaska for this year because of the COVID-19 crisis. It’s a blow for consumers who had plans to travel, of course. But there’s also a huge impact on the destinations. Cities and countries around the Read more
Today’s Future of Travel blog looks at some of the countries that could be hit hardest by a tourism drop. I also have great news for Norwegian Cruise Line, which has received $2 billion US in financing, plus news about Canadian attractions being left behind by government aid programs, hotel cleanliness programs and news from both Royal Caribbean and Silversea cruises. Oh, and baseball, too! COVID-19 And Tourism Impact We all know from the headlines that Italy and Spain had a hard time with COVID-19, and that the UK and the US seem far worse off than Canada. But what Read more
We’re only six weeks from summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, and that has a lot of people feeling better about things. If you’re in the travel and tourism business, there are some pretty good reasons for optimism as well. I’ll look at a new poll in my FUTURE OF TRAVEL blog today, as well as optimistic TSA numbers and comments from airline officials. There’s also some news from Jasper National Park in Alberta and some not-so-hopeful comments out of France. THERE’S A GOOD MOON ON THE RISE First up, the good news for a Sunday. A report on novacancynews.com Read more
With some states and provinces starting to open up after long spring lockdowns, and with some countries loosening travel restrictions, there’s no shortage of travel news for my regular FUTURE OF TRAVEL series. Today I look at everything from re-opening plans for Las Vegas to Hawaii hotel renovations, California tourism and cruise restrictions. VIVA LAS VEGAS MGM Resorts is talking about when they can safely re-open. Officials say they’ll likely start their re-openings with New York-New York in Las Vegas as it’s a good size (2,000 rooms). The Bellagio also is on their list, but they say they’ll consult health Read more
