Sicily Creates Fund to Pay 50% of Vacationers' Costs
Posted on 04/27/2020, 8:00 AM
Sicily is giving vacationers an offer they can't refuse. The government of this storied Italian island has put aside €500 million (about $595 million) to pay for 50% of the cost of airfare for anyone who comes in the months that tourism returns. The fund will also pay for one out of every three hotel nights for visitors. Eventually there should be a form on the Sicily tourism website to register ...
Flight Attendants Call for Halting Leisure Travel
Posted on 04/26/2020, 8:00 PM
There's a headline I never thought I'd write. But because these frontline workers feel that their lives are being put in danger, the Association of Flight Attendants, a union representing employees of 20 carriers, wrote an open letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar. In the letter, the union requests that the government disallow le...
Immunity Passports for Travelers: Quick Solution or False Hope?
Posted on 04/26/2020, 8:00 PM
Every day, it seems, we’re learning more and more about Covid-19. Over the last few weeks—and they feel like years, don’t they?—we’ve learned that loss of taste and smell might be harbingers of the disease, that a spike in serious strokes may be related to the virus, and that it may have hit American shores far, far earlier than anyone realized. But the biggest lesson for those of us in the trave...
Saving California's Restaurants Means Saving Its Tourism Industry
Posted on 04/26/2020, 8:00 PM
Food is central to travel. Each year I write a roundup of travel trends for Frommer's, and every time, culinary vacations play a huge role. Over the last decade, tours devoted to cooking, eating, and food production have exploded in number to keep up with demand. We've also seen more and more upscale restaurants on cruise ships and in hotels, new apps and websites allowing users to eat with and l...
Cunard Releases The Recipe for Its Famous Scones (To Make Up for Their Absence)
Posted on 04/24/2020, 7:00 AM
We love scones. There's something undeniably comforting about eating a warm one with tea and jam. So after we drop the bad news (that's coming) we'll gift you with a terrific recipe. This week, both P&O Cruises and Cunard Line announced that they will extend their worldwide pause on travel through the end of July. That's longer than what the CDC recently required for ships using American ports...
Florida Beachgoers Share the Sand with the Grim Reaper
Posted on 04/24/2020, 2:00 AM
Florida-based attorney Daniel Uhlfelder recently tweeted that he planned to start traveling around his state's beaches dressed as Death to send a message. And no, that message is not "don't wear thongs." (Although that is excellent advice.) Uhlfelder, who gained national fame by fighting against the planned privatization of Florida beaches, tweeted, "Many of you have asked if I am willing to tra...
Venice's Gondoliers Deliver Food to Isolated Locals Now
Posted on 04/23/2020, 11:00 AM
It can be difficult, as a visitor, to step off the tourist treadmill in Venice. Until recently, it was a city besieged by tourism, with 60,000 outsiders a day filling streets and waterways that are home to just 50,000 permanent residents. In normal times, Row Venice, which is run by a group of passionate vogatrice (oarswomen), gives upright rowing lessons to tourists. Since 2008, the teachers, man...
Air Canada Suspends USA Flights Until May 22
Posted on 04/22/2020, 10:00 AM
Today Air Canada announced it will suspend all flights to and from the United States until May 22. The change came on the heels of the Canadian government's 30-day extension of its ban on nonessential border crossings, which effectively eliminated the airline's passenger base for the short term. The temporary Air Canada embargo goes into effect on Sunday, April 26. Until then, the carrier will ...
A Facebook Page for Sharing Window Views from Around the World
Posted on 04/22/2020, 6:00 AM
"If you want the people to understand you, invite them to your life and let them see the world from your window!" So wrote Turkish novelist and playwright Mehmet Murat ildan. And while I have no idea how many members of the Facebook group View From My Window know his work, they seem to have taken the sentiment to heart. The group—open to all for viewing, though posting is by invitation only—asks p...
It’s the Pits! The Cancellation of the National Cherry Festival Is Personally Saddening
Posted on 04/22/2020, 5:00 AM
About four years ago I learned that I was a failure. At cherry spitting, that is. No matter how much I tried—and I lined up four times to show off my non-skills to a judge—I couldn’t propel the pit more than about two and a half feet. A 10-year-old behind me couldn’t contain his giggles when my spit sprayed much farther than the pit, which dropped right on my sandals. Who cares? I tried and tri...
