Greece Announces a Bold Concept to Open Soon. Now, About That Plan...
Posted on 05/05/2020, 4:00 AM
Greece has been comparatively lucky this spring, with some of the lowest infection rates and fatality numbers in Europe (144 deaths in a population of 11 million). With that in mind, and since its curve seems to be flattening, Greece partially reopened May 4, putting hair salons and small retail back into service. And in a move that puts the country at the forefront of European tourism, Greek ho...
France May Be Effectively Closed to Visitors Until Late July
Posted on 05/04/2020, 8:00 AM
In the stretch of just a few weeks, the world's top spring and summer events—including Burning Man, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, South by Southwest, and Edinburgh's performing arts festivals—have all gone virtual, been postponed, or gotten canceled entirely (at least for 2020). Now it looks like we Americans may have to kiss most of summer in France goodbye, too. On Friday, Frenc...
Ireland Lays Out a Five-Pronged Phase-In Period for Reopening
Posted on 05/04/2020, 3:00 AM
What is Ireland without its pubs? Irish citizens, emerging from a very strict lockdown, will soon find that out. In the five-step reopening plan, announced late Friday, Irish Acting Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announced that pubs would be among the businesses opening in the final phase, scheduled now for August 10. Tourists could return slightly sooner, with hotels and museums set to reopen on J...
United Airlines Slashes Compensation Consumers Fought for in 2017
Posted on 05/01/2020, 11:00 AM
Two weeks ago, the airlines gratefully arranged to accept a boatload of our tax dollars. And what have those companies done last week and this week? They enacted rule changes so they can extract even more money from us in the sneakiest ways possible. American Airlines already chose this difficult moment to hike luggage fees, and many other airlines are trying to make customers accept vouchers in...
Maine Might Be Closed to Out-Of-State Visitors This Summer
Posted on 04/30/2020, 1:00 AM
On Tuesday, Maine's governor, Janet Mills, announced a phased reopening plan that has many in the tourist industry up in arms. While some businesses will reopen in May, and hotels and campgrounds will be allowed to reopen in June, the required 14-day quarantine for out-of-state visitors will remain in place until August. "[The quarantine requirement] has the potential not only to kill off the tou...
In Acapulco and Worldwide, Bioluminescent Waters Are Back
Posted on 04/29/2020, 10:45 AM
One of the fascinating lessons from this odd era is how quickly nature can regenerate when humans get out of the way. So when the bay in the Mexican resort city of Acapulco started glowing in a way that hasn't been seen for 60 years (pictured), many assumed that this, too, might be a result of the long pause humanity has been taking. Acapulco's event seemed to be echoed by the unusually bright bi...
Argentina Suspends Commercial Flights Until September
Posted on 04/29/2020, 7:45 AM
While a number of countries have banned international flights for the near future, Argentina has imposed what may be the most severe ban on the planet. Until September 1, not only will all international commercial flights cease, but the government has also announced that domestic flights will be grounded as well. Only cargo flights and repatriation missions will be allowed to take off. The decr...
Airfares Could Spike in the Near Future. Buy Now!
Posted on 04/28/2020, 8:00 PM
I've spent much of my career trying to predict where airfares are going. Like a fortune-teller consulting tea leaves, I've used the same tools over and over in that effort. For predicting fares, it has come down to fuel prices and demand. When fuel prices are low, airfares are likely to follow—though high demand can inch prices up. But in the last two weeks—and for the first time in history—oil f...
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...
