Why European Travel Tech Startups Need to Keep On Building Through the Fallout

Startups should take note of venture capital firm Lakestar's vision of what makes a travel company successful if they want to emerge stronger in the post-Covid world. -Matthew Parsons

GetYourGuide CEO Highlights Google’s Alleged Failings During the Pandemic

GetYourGuide's Johannes Reck is underplaying the Google threat in tours and activities. Sure, Google has much larger priorities, but how much will it cost to build the GetYourGuide brand with Google controlling the airspace? -Dennis Schaal

10 of the best books set in Japan – that will take you there

These great novels – featuring Murakami and Murata – uncover the mystery of Japan in a way ‘documentarists about families living with robots’ never will • In the series: Ireland | Spain | Portugal | India When Japan was forced to “open up” in 1853 following more than 200 years of its sakoku policy, the country was a mystery to the outside world. In some ways it still is. But as an early adopter of western things, from ideas to clothes, it is easy to see Japan as a familiar place. Even its unfamiliarity – Shinto shrines, sumo bouts – is recognisable as “Japan” nowadays. What is less recognisable is what Japanese writers say about their own country. Authors – not the documentarists about families living with robots – uncover the mystery. These books speak for a Japan that is often spoken for and about, and speculated about by others; they speak for its history as it unfolded, for its culture as it is practised and its society as lived in and fought against. Continue reading...

It Won’t Get Better in the Second Half of 2020

Let's start planning 2021, assuming most of our businesses get there ... -Rafat Ali

British Airways Reportedly Lays Off 350 Pilots and Puts 300 in ‘Pool’ for Rehire

This reported "fire and rehire" strategy will give the airline more flexibility, but the rift between unions and British Airways will only get wider now. -Matthew Parsons

New tourist train opens up Yorkshire dales

Over the summer trains will run from Skipton to Appleby, offering walkers and cyclists a chance to explore stunning parts of North Yorkshire and Cumbria In the UK’s post-pandemic months, when demand for domestic holidays is sky-high, Yorkshire’s expansive green spaces hold appeal for many. But how to explore it without spending hours in a car and cries of “Are we nearly there yet?” From next month, a new rail service on one of the country’s most scenic routes, between the Grade II-listed stations of Skipton, North Yorkshire, and Appleby in Cumbria (a 90-minute journey each way) will open up a pocket of the UK countryside to cyclists, walkers and visitors looking to explore by train. Continue reading...

Disneyland fans ask: Should I go when the park eventually reopens?

Disneyland in Southern California, which debuted on July 17, 1955, had been aiming for a phased reopening on its 65th anniversary, July 17.

Feeling hot? Kayak through a melting glacier

Compass Heli Tours takes guests to kayak through glacial lakes in a remote area of British Columbia

The 12th-century Japanese poet and pioneer of lockdown travel

By renouncing normal life and holing up in a hut in the woods, the ruminative Kamo no Chomei mastered the art of travelling without moving Passport details Kamo no Chomei, born Kyoto in 1153 or 1155. Melancholy Japanese sage who explored inner space from a 10ft hut. Claim to fame The experience of lockdown has helped focus attention on that handful of explorers whose talents lay in the direction of small-scale journeys. Henry David Thoreau in Walden and Xavier de Maistre in A Journey Round My Room celebrated withdrawal, confinement and reflection instead of the expansive pleasures of vast landscapes and new horizons. You could call this genre “armchair exploration”, except one of its pioneers wouldn’t have known what an armchair was. Kamo no Chomei was a 12th-century Japanese poet and musician who suffered some kind of midlife crisis at the age of 50 and became a monk. Even monastic life was too gregarious for him and around his 60th birthday Chomei went to live alone in a tiny hut in the woods. The years he spent in this seclusion make Thoreau and de Maistre look like lightweights: de Maistre was only in lockdown for six weeks and Thoreau’s renunciation of the outside world famously involved getting his mum to do his laundry. Continue reading...

Airline Industry Tangles With Trump Administration Over Temperature Checks

Airlines need all the help they can get in restoring consumer confidence to fly, but the White House may not be aligned with that mission. -Rosie Spinks

Britons to be allowed to holiday abroad from July via 'air bridges'

Ministers also expected to end policy of quarantining arrivals to the UK for 14 days * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverage Overseas holidays will be given the green light from early next month, with the government expected to suspend the 14-day quarantine period for a series of countries and also to set up so-called air bridge arrangements for overseas destinations. While the full list of countries involved is still being confirmed, the initial phase of travel opening up is expected to involve European nations including France, Greece, Spain and possibly Portugal, with other potentially more distant locations to follow. Continue reading...

The real Algarve: 'A white-washed village adrift in the kissing sea'

With talk of air bridges opening, the beaches, splendid seafood and ramshackle charms of Olhão will soon be within reach again Vitálio, 72, tubby and talkative, brushed lustrous hair, opens his barber shop at dawn. There’s a flow of customers blown in on the early tide – their fruit and veg picked and dug, fish hooked and delivered to the market at the end of the alley – and a handful of older insomniacs, here just to hang. Few come to get their hair cut, for Vitálio’s serves mainly as the bairro community centre. Read the newspaper, clack dominos, talk nonsense, fetch a café bica, scrape away at a lottery card. It’s the being here that matters, not the doing. Continue reading...

Virus-Free Vietnam and New Zealand See Different Domestic Tourism Rebounds

In mid-2020, virus-free is an enviable way to be. But it doesn't necessarily mean tourism will rebound easily. Vietnam and New Zealand provide two opposing case studies. -Rosie Spinks

Fancy a peek from the top of Eiffel Tower? You'll need to earn it

CNN's Cyril Vanier visits the Eiffel Tower in Paris as it reopens following its longest period of closure since WWII as the French capital emerges from lockdown.

Travel quiz: where is the world's highest, biggest, deepest …?

How low – or high – can you go? Test your geography know-how and powers of deduction with our superlative quiz Which of these capital cities is highest above sea level? And no, it's not the usual suspect … Quito, Ecuador Thimphu, Bhutan Mexico City Bogotá, Colombia What is the height of Africa's highest mountain, Kilimanjaro? 4,849 metres 7,978 metres 5,895 metres 3,312 metres Where is the world's largest desert? The Antarctic Siberia North Africa Australia In which ocean is the world's deepest oceanic trench, the Mariana? Atlantic Pacific Southern Indian What is the highest active volcano above sea level in the world? Mauna Kea, Hawaii Nevado Ojos del Salado, Chile/Argentina Chimborazo, Ecuador Mt Etna, Italy Which of these is Africa's most populous country? Egypt Democratic Republic of the Congo Nigeria Ethiopia What is the world's largest Buddhist temple? Angkor Wat, Cambodia Borobudur, Central Java, Indonesia Wat Arun, Thailand Haeinsa Temple, South Korea What is the world's largest island? New Guinea Honshu Borneo Greenland Where would you find the world's tallest building? Shanghai Singapore Dubai Taipei Which US state has the most burger joints? New York California Texas Florida Which city has the highest rooftop bar? Singapore Bangkok Los Angeles Hong Kong Which country has the most islands in the world? The Phillipines Indonesia Canada Sweden Which Caribbean island receives the most foreign visitors? Cuba Dominican Republic Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago Which was the most-visited tourist attraction in Scotland in 2018? National Museum of Scotland Edinburgh Castle Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum V&A Dundee Which is the highest city in England? Sheffield Birmingham Nottingham Bradford 11 and above. A most gratifying performance! 0 and above. Not a superlative display, better luck next time! 6 and above. Good effort, but a bit more oomph needed to reach new heights! Continue reading...

10 coastal campsites in the UK – that aren't already booked

A summer under canvas has never sounded so appealing but campsites are booking up fast. Here is a selection of small coastal pitches to try On the shore of the Dyfi estuary, Smugglers Cove’s three secluded pitches are some of the most fortunately situated in the country. Across the sands and water sits the RSPB’s Ynys-hir nature reserve (as seen on BBC’s Springwatch), home to lapwings, redshanks and, most dramatically of all, ospreys. A beached boat called The Boy John provides a communal area for campers or funky glamping accommodation. And if you can bear to leave, the beach at Aberdyfi and dunes beyond are magnificent. • From £20 for a two-person tent (maximum 5 people per pitch); hoping to open from early August, smugglerscove.info Continue reading...

My favourite memories of France: readers’ travel tips

Stolen kisses, wooden sailing boats, vintage bicyclettes and champagne: our tipsters recall the joie de vivre of their French holidays Let’s go canoeing, we said, when the teenagers were 14 and 17. And let’s wild camp, it’ll be fun. Everyone agreed. So we packed (very little), rented double kayaks (90€/kayak) from canoeevasion.com at Cosne sur Loire, took two of our own paddleboards, and with a week’s worth of gear on each craft, off we paddled. I say “we” paddled – the kids, in their kayaks, drifted downstream. But what a great trip to Orléans – the city liberated by Joan of Arc after years of English occupation – this was. We glided down the shallow, warm waters of the Loire, with only small pleasure craft, pretty towns like Gien and the occasional castle to break up the view. The 60-mile trip was an amazing, no-frills adventure, and the four teenagers still say it was their best holiday ever. Angela Luke Continue reading...

Petitioners Are Pushing Back on Walt Disney World’s Reopening Plans

Disney World is set to reopen on July 11, but petitioners think this should be delayed due to the recent spike of Covid-19 cases in Florida. If the park does reopen, will it be safe? -Korey Matthews

Send us a tip on a UK campsite for the chance to win a £200 Canopy & Stars voucher

Many UK campsites and caravan parks are set to reopen for the summer holidays. Tell us about your favourite and you could win a great prize For many of us, camping and caravanning will be the most viable holiday option this year, so we’d love to hear about great sites in beautiful locations. In England, campsites and caravan parks can open from 4 July; in Scotland they may open from 15 July but that date is under review. Wales is keeping its campsites closed for the time being but caravan parks will most likely be able to accept visitors from 13 July. In Northern Ireland, campsites and caravan parks can open from later this week (26 June). Continue reading...

Return to camping: The Quiet Site, Lake District

Confirmation that campsites can open on 4 July has prompted a rush of bookings. For one award-winning eco holiday park in the Lake District, the phone hasn’t stopped ringing... ‘The phone started ringing even before he’d finished talking,” says Daniel Holder, referring to Tuesday’s announcement by Boris Johnson that campsites and hotels are allowed to reopen on 4 July. Four of the 12 people employed by Holder, managing director of The Quiet Site, an ultra-green holiday park in Ullswater, Cumbria, were poised to speak to people eager to book a stay at the site. At the same time, Holder was replying as fast as possible to a flood of emails. “We had 206 in the first hour.” It doesn’t surprise me that people are so keen to visit. The Quiet Site is an exceptional place. In April it became the first holiday park in the country to win a Queen’s Award for Enterprise. And the campsite’s post-lockdown credentials are impeccable. With its Hobbit Holes, pods and generously-sized pitches spread out over the large site, social distancing should be easy. Its location on a rural hillside also means visitors are far from the pell-mell of urban life of any sort. And if the enforced isolation has left you starved of soul-easing views, you won’t even have to leave your tent to drink them in. I stayed there last autumn and even though my visit coincided with rather iffy weather, I still had a cracking time. Continue reading...

India Considers Backing Down After U.S. Government Accuses It Of Favoring Air India

In so many ways, aviation has been set back decades by Covid-19. This is another example. After years of encouraging open skies agreements, governments are moving to protect their air carriers. At least India understands it may need to walk this back. -Brian Sumers

Saudi Arabia Won’t Allow Overseas Visitors to Attend Hajj

Saudi Arabia has erred on the side of caution for this year's hajj — the first time in modern history that Muslims from around the world will be unable to make the religious pilgrimage. -Rosie Spinks

10 of the best books set in Ireland – that will take you there

Explore Ireland’s history and culture through these tales of loss and love by Sally Rooney, Edna O’Brien, Colm Tóibín and more • Share your own suggestions in the comments below Read on: India | Portugal | Spain | Latin America | Italy I was born in Toronto and moved to Ireland as a boy, where I spent some formative years in a planned, Khrushchevian-style satellite town in south County Clare. Settlers arrived in waves from Belfast, London, New York or further afield – from cities throughout Chile and South Africa. In this multicultural outpost, populated by residential tourists, we became wry observers of traditional nuances. For me, Ireland’s political, historical and cultural landscapes were first properly discovered in the country’s literature. The greats, such as Wilde, Yeats and Joyce, offered signposts to the past while more contemporary writers, including Roddy Doyle, Flann O’Brien and Jamie O’Neill, shone a light on lesser-heard Irish voices. And so my selection of novels echoes Ireland’s literary journey from pre-famine to the present day. Continue reading...

Do U.S. Airlines Have a Legal Right to Bar Passengers Who Don’t Wear Masks?

Just wear a mask on an airplane. It's not that hard, and it keeps everyone safer. -Brian Sumers

Hospitality’s Devastating Loss of Talent Should Be Your Gain

Great hoteliers are a different breed with skill sets that are hard to find in other industries. While hospitality has cut talent to the bone, other growing industries can benefit from a very unique suite of people skills, operational acumen, and soft diplomacy. They are worth consideration. -Colin Nagy

American Airlines Seeks $3.5 Billion in New Financing

With the green shoots of recovery emerging, is this a final push from American Airlines to see it through to the other side? -Matthew Parsons

Delhi to transform 25 luxury hotels into Covid-19 care centres

Fearful hotel workers asked to take on role of hospital support staff as cases in Delhi rise * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverage Staff at luxury hotels in Delhi are to start welcoming guests not with traditional garlands but with a medical gown. Amid growing concerns that there are not enough hospital beds to cope with the rising number of cases, the Delhi government has become the first in the country to requisition its hotels. Starting this week, 25 establishments will be repurposed as emergency Covid-19 care centres for patients with mild to moderate symptoms. In a sign of how overwhelmed medical staff are becoming, hotel employees are being trained in case they have to administer some of the care. Continue reading...

Spain Reopens Borders to Most European Countries

This is a huge step for one of Europe's most popular destinations. Airports in Spain on Sunday saw travelers, yes, travelers. -Tom Lowry

The perfect post-lockdown activity: paddleboarding in Cornwall

A two-day paddleboarding course teaches all levels how to stay safe in the open ocean – and is a meditative way to take in the wild coast around Newquay Dom Moore traces his finger along a sea chart of the Cornish coast, pointing out sea depths, ancient shipwrecks and potential risks along the route we’re about to take. This isn’t your average stand-up paddleboarding tour. Instead of simply following a guide for a couple of hours, I’m helping to plan my own route, factoring in changing tides and wind conditions, and identifying exit routes should things go wrong. Ocean navigation is part of the two-day Atlantic Expedition course offered by Surf Sanctuary, a surf school run from the Headland Hotel in Newquay. Designed by Dom, the school’s owner, its idea is to equip people with the skills to be safe and self-sufficient in open water. Interest in paddleboarding has surged in recent years – and since the easing of lockdown, board sales have soared, according to paddleboard brand Red Paddle Co, which reports online searches up 100% in the last two weeks of May. Continue reading...

U.S. Rejects Chinese Airlines’ Request for Additional Flights

If the ongoing political rally between these countries continues for much longer, U.S. airlines are only going to find it harder to schedule new routes. And being used as pawns won't go down well either. -Matthew Parsons

Marriott’s Post-Pandemic Playbook and 18 Other Coronavirus Travel Stories This Week

In coronavirus-related travel stories this week, Skift covered Marriott's strategy, the Skift Travel Tracker about consumer sentiment, how blocked seats on airlines and travel bubbles will impact business travel, and travel mergers that fell victim to the pandemic. -Dennis Schaal

Travel clinic: what you need to know about your summer holidays

From flights, ferries and quarantine to staycations and insurance, the lowdown on your rights The Ryanair email sent out to millions of people this week was certainly enticing, advertising up to 250,000 seats from £29.99 each on one of the 1,000 flights a day that the airline will be running from 1 July. Reading the long list of destinations on offer, you could almost forget that the UK government is still advising against all holiday travel. But it is, so if you have a trip planned – or are desperate to get one in the diary – here’s what you need to know. Continue reading...

See the light: why midsummer birding in Norway is life-affirming

Spring starts late in Arctic Norway, but when it comes there is one long blast of daylight so energising it draws birds all the way from Africa One day I’ll see my last redstart – perhaps I already have. Was it the one that I followed across the hill behind Gabi Wagner’s house near Tromsø in northern Norway at midnight on a midsummer’s day? I had gone out for a walk. Another walk – because it is light all the time at that time in Troms County and there seems no reason not to be up and out in it as long as it lasts. And it lasts long. It lasts so long that lasting is not what it does. The light, plainly, is. Elsewhere, and at other times, days might be where we live, but for three months of the Arctic year there are no days, or rather there is just one long day, and everything lives in its light. Continue reading...

For some Venice residents, reopening after lockdown is bittersweet

Before coronavirus, Venice was overwhelmed by tourists - a boon for the city's economy but a sometimes inconvenient reality for residents. As the city reopens, some residents tell CNN's Ben Wedeman they hope a new balance can be struck.

How JetBlue Just Flouted Airline Industry Norms by Launching New Routes

Airlines are highly competitive businesses. Usually, the routes announced Thursday would engender a massive competitive response. But is there an appetite for that now? Hard to say. -Brian Sumers

A cruise ship employee gets VERY creative

Cruise performer Ashleigh Perrie was so bored while quarantined in her hotel room, she created an entire fashion line out of the paper bags her meals were delivered in

Share your favourite holiday memory of France

Tell fellow readers about a French location or experience that has lingered in your memory – and you would love to revisit Restaurants and bars have opened up again in France, so it’s an ideal time to hear about your best holiday memories of country millions of UK citizens visit every year. Whether you’ve enjoyed cycling in the lush countryside, visiting museums and chateaux, eating and drinking out or just lying on a beach we’d love to hear your reminiscences. And don’t forget the chance encounters and locals’ tips that so often transform an experience on holiday. Continue reading...

The end of tourism?

The pandemic has devastated global tourism, and many will say ‘good riddance’ to overcrowded cities and rubbish-strewn natural wonders. Is there any way to reinvent an industry that does so much damage? By Christopher de Bellaigue Of all the calamities that befell tourists as the coronavirus took hold, those involving cruise ships stood apart. Contagion at sea inspired a special horror, as pleasure palaces turned into prison hulks, and rumours of infection on board spread between fetid cabins via WhatsApp. Trapped in close proximity to their fellow passengers, holidaymakers experienced the distress of being both victims and agents of infection, as a succession of ports refused them entry. When it began, the deadly situation at sea was seen as a freakish outgrowth of what many still thought of as a Chinese problem. The first ship to suffer a major outbreak was the Diamond Princess. By mid-February, 355 cases had been confirmed aboard, and the ship was held being in quarantine in the port of Yokohama. At the time, the ship accounted for more than half of reported cases outside China. Fourteen passengers on the Diamond Princess would die of the virus. Continue reading...

U.S. Travel Spending Expected to Drop 45 Percent This Year

The U.S. travel industry is hurting and there are new numbers to prove how badly. -Rosie Spinks

5 Ways Travel Brands Can Use Messaging to Strengthen Customer Service — and Why It Matters Now

The coronavirus pandemic has shown that building a strong chat and messaging infrastructure has never been more vital to companies that want to provide the best customer support experience possible. -

Australia’s Borders Likely to Stay Closed to International Tourists Until 2021

School's in for winter, going by the country's decision to allow international students rather than tourists in for the remainder of the year. It must have been a difficult decision, but if there's one thing Australia has shown since the pandemic started, it's that it never compromises the health of its population. -Matthew Parsons

Maldives’ Touted July Reopening Shows Complexities Behind the Hoopla

Launching a reopening campaign is exciting and positive, but the ability to visit is still the great question that the paradise must sort out — with only weeks to go. -Raini Hamdi

Airlines ban alcohol on planes in response to Covid-19

Alcohol sales may have boomed during lockdown, but our return to air travel will be an altogether more sobering experience.

10 of the best books set in India – that will take you there

Tired of narratives that obsess over spices, colours and cows on the road? These books, all by Indian writers, paint realistic pictures of the country’s geographical, cultural and political landscapes • Share your own suggestions in the comments below When I researched my book Around India in 80 Trains, one of the small joys of my four-month railway adventure was idling on platforms and rummaging through the iconic old Wheeler stalls for paperbacks to keep me company. Sometimes I’d get conned with pirated copies, flicking hungrily to the last few pages only to find they were missing, or the final lines had slid off the photocopied page. But for the most part my rucksack was stacked with stories that shaped the curves of my journey. Tired of narratives that obsess over spices, colours and cows on the road, I’ve chosen books by Indian writers only; after all, who knows a country better than its own people? Where the authors have used the old names of cities, I’ve done so too, in order to convey the duality of their nature: having spent a couple of years living in Madras as a child, I know the familiar emotions and memories that the name conjures up, whereas Chennai is a completely different city to me. Continue reading...

United Airlines Uses Its Loyalty Program to Secure $5 Billion Loan

America seems to think recovery mode has begun. United Airlines is not so sure. The airline is raising massive cash to withstand the worst. -Brian Sumers

Europe’s Tourism Reopening Begins — In Fits and Starts

This was expected but reopening tourism is not as simple as flipping a switch. Europe is experimenting with varying degrees of caution across the continent. -Rosie Spinks

The Travel Deals That Have Fallen Victim to the Pandemic

Don't count your deals before they've hatched. Coronavirus has killed valuations of many companies, and deals along with them. On the other hand, some companies, such as Grubhub, are in the right place at the right time. -Dennis Schaal

China Southern Airlines Suspends Dhaka to Guangzhou Flights Over Coronavirus Infections

Coronavirus spikes like the one China Southern Airlines experienced boost the rational for travel corridors, at least on a temporary basis. -Dennis Schaal

Lufthansa Subsidiary Austrian Airlines Expects to Be 20 Percent Smaller by 2022

Part of Austrian Airlines' plans to shrink in size is, of course, a workforce reduction. More than 1,000 employees will lose their jobs in more pain for the global airline industry. -Tom Lowry

Worst of times: why Charles Dickens would have hated lockdown

The restless writer fled the frenzy of a London summer in 1857 for walks in the Lake District – and a tryst with his mistress It is hard to imagine anyone less suited to living with any kind of restraint than Charles Dickens. Especially, I think, the hyperactive Dickens of 1857, the year he turned 45. By the last days of the summer, he had already written, staged and starred in his own play in London and Manchester; bought, renovated and moved into the house of his childhood dreams in Gad’s Hill, in the village of Higham, Kent; and taken trips to Brighton and Southampton, where he waved his 16-year-old son on to a troopship bound for India. In the May he had finished his latest novel, Little Dorritt, and in June had given his first-ever public readings (a crowd of 2,000 turned up to hear him declaim and weep his way through A Christmas Carol). Editing his monthly magazine was also keeping him busy, as was his charity for homeless women. Dozens of letters flowed. Continue reading...