Blacklane Switches Focus to Intercity Trips With Airport Transfers Collapsing

Talk is cheap about potential stock market listings. Blacklane finds itself in a very competitive sector with the bottom having fallen out of its airport business. Its rebound will be tough. -Dennis Schaal

Singapore’s Reopening Fervor and 11 Other Top Travel Stories This Week

From Singapore's very active reopening strategy to Marriott's work from hotel plan and Airbnb's pre-IPO stock split, the Skift team covered the top travel stories this week. -Dennis Schaal

Happy Halloween! 10 of the UK's spookiest places to visit

Said to be haunted by poltergeists, hellish hounds and ghostly huntsmen, these eerie spots are perfect for a Halloween trip – but maybe not alone “For me, this secret wood, perhaps the strangest in all Britain, does not really rise like a line of infantry. It rises like a ghost.” So wrote John Fowles in his 1979 book, The Tree. After revisiting this place half-remembered from his teens, he later writes of feeling overcome with a “primal urge to flee”. Continue reading...

Japan's 'love hotels' accused of anti-gay discrimination

Same-sex couples say hotels make excuses to turn them away despite 2018 law change In May this year, at the height of the coronavirus’s first wave, two gay men living together in Amagasaki, western Japan, thought they would ease the boredom of the country’s soft lockdown with a visit to a love hotel, where couples pay for short stays to have sex. But rather than the carefree time they had anticipated, the couple, in their mid-30s, did not even get as far as the door to their room. Continue reading...

Berlin's 'cursed' Brandenburg Airport finally opens

It's nearly a decade behind schedule, 4 billion Euros over budget, and there's a global pandemic crippling the aviation industry. But Germany's much-delayed Berlin-Brandenburg Willie Brandt Airport is finally open.

Fiji resort offers the ultimate in social distancing

Take a private plane to a private island on Fiji for a travel bubble vacation.

Wyndham Achieves Pandemic Rarity for Hotel Industry: Profitability

Wyndham snapped quickly back to profitability from pandemic losses, but there is still plenty of work ahead to get back to 2019 performance levels. -Cameron Sperance

What it's like to be a cruise ship captain

Celebrity Edge Captain Kate McCue tells CNN Travel what it's like taking charge of an enormous floating city and navigating the unexpected, choppy waters of the pandemic.

My favourite tree: readers' travel tips

Our love of trees, and the solace they have brought this year, shines brightly in this pick spanning England and Wales On the limestone pavement above Malham Cove stands a solitary ash tree. The deeply etched grooves of the weathered limestone draw your eye towards this isolated figure. In summer, butterflies and skylarks fly around its limbs, while ferns and flowers sprout from the pavement crevices where gnarled roots anchor. Less-bountiful seasons are identified by the colour, presence or absence of ash leaves. The tree becomes a perpetual reminder of time passing in this grey-washed landscape. I find comfort in the presence of this emblem of survival. Debbie Rolls Continue reading...

A 200-pound tortoise named Sparkplug broke out of his enclosure and wound up 30 miles away from his Alabama home

A 200-pound tortoise broke out of his enclosure, evaded capture for two days and wound up over 30 miles away from his Alabama home.

Your secret travel weapon during Covid-19

For reassurance and to find the best options in the confusing times of the Covid-19 pandemic, some travelers are turning -- for the first time -- to travel agents.

Kazakhstan embraces Borat catchphrase in new tourism campaign: 'Very nice!'

When comedian Sacha Baron Cohen released his satirical mockumentary about the fictional Kazakh reporter Borat Sagdiyev in 2006, it was banned in Kazakhstan.

Hard Truths From Singapore’s Reopening Gambits

Desperation is the new mother of invention and all eyes are on Singapore to see if the slew of measures it is taking will go down in history as forerunners of safe travel reopening — or just despairing moves. -Raini Hamdi

What’s Going On With Oyo, 10 Months Into the Pandemic

Oyo and its founder have long been accused of being heavy on spin even though all acknowledge that the hotel chain has been a category creator. This interview is excellent because Agarwal faced tough questioning. We know a politician who would have walked out. -Dennis Schaal

Thieves stripped a vineyard of grapes the night before harvest

When workers arrived at Canada's Vignoble Coteau Rougemont vineyard on Thursday, ready to pick the last grapes of the season, they found that thieves had beaten them to it.

How Automating Tours and Activities Benefits Travel Resellers, Advisors and Travelers

For the fragmented tours and activities sector, delivering a diverse, globally distributed set of product offerings at scale requires technology solutions that can benefit travel advisors, procurement teams, and individual travelers alike. -Livn

20 of the UK’s best Christmas light trails

With so much Christmas fun likely to be cancelled this year, these brilliantly imaginative winter trails offer some much-needed festive sparkle and reverie Walk-through displays of Christmas lights have sparkled ever brighter in the UK’s grand gardens over the lpast decade or so. They often include tunnels of fairy lights and themed illuminations (animal-shaped lanterns at Chester Zoo or glowing flowers at the RHS gardens). Flaming torches, lasers, glowing snowflakes and stirring seasonal music are also quite likely to feature. These events are well-suited to Covid regulations: they take place outside in spacious grounds or parkland, so it’s relatively easy to socially distance, and they always did involve reserving tickets in advance. They are not cheap, are selling out fast, and booking timed tickets is generally essential (there tend to be more slots available on weekdays and later in the evening), but these festive spectacles offer an hour or so of pure escapism, and we could all do with a bit of that right now. Continue reading...

Canada’s 4 Eastern Provinces Ease Tourism Pain Even With Sealing Themselves Off From the World

Another successful case study of a travel bubble, well, as successful as you can be in a pandemic. New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador coordinated a travel bubble while implementing strict Covid guidelines. The result was small businesses were able to make some money these past months. -Tom Lowry

How Digital Disruption Happens in Industries, the Travel Industry Edition

Everyone forgets that in the moment in business, everything is cyclical, and the fate of business forever is bundling and unbundling over a period of time, even if they're put back together in different and potentially unrecognizable ways. -Rafat Ali

Into the night: why walking in the dark is good for the soul

Shorter days don’t have to put a stop to walking trips, as our writer finds on a night-time ramble on the South Downs The lights from the cottagewindows recede, all too rapidly, as we walk along an unlit country lane and take a footpath through a field into open countryside. Thick cloud cover prevents the moonlight from illuminating the way ahead. Yet, as my eyes begin to get used to the darkness, the landscape around me reveals itself in a new light – albeit a shady one. The contours of Mount Caburn, an iron-age hill fort, are like shadows against the sky. On the horizon, a tree bent by the wind is silhouetted, and the rocky outcrop at the top of the field turns out to be a flock of sleeping sheep. A fox cries, a pheasant crows and the air is full of a heady earthy scent. Continue reading...

Expedia Cuts More Jobs and 13 Other Top Travel Stories This Week

In Skift's top stories this week, Expedia conducted another round of layoffs, tech investors are drooling over the events industry, American Airlines is mulling bringing back the 737 Max before the end of the year, and Google founding itself dealing with a U.S. antirust lawsuit. -Dennis Schaal

Oasis Launches Subscriptions for Extended-Stay Apartment Rentals

Oasis is yet another example of how the travel sector has been testing the subscription model this year. But the company's on-again, off-again investment history with Accor, Hyatt, and Vacasa hints at a broader story. Blended hospitality with leisure travelers is difficult to do at scale. -Sean O'Neill

Victories Are All Relative Now for Hotel Giant IHG

Revenue improved for IHG in the third quarter, but there is still too much weakness in the travel economy (and IHG's own portfolio) to call this a win. -Cameron Sperance

Traveling to the Maldives during Covid-19

If you're planning a trip to the Maldives here's what you'll need to know and expect if you want to visit during the global coronavirus pandemic.

Asia’s New Last-Minute Booking Habits Open Ways to Generate More Demand Across Travel Ecosystem

Domestic leisure travelers in Asia are booking at vastly shortened lead times and the usual channels to generate demand are no longer enough. Is this the start of a more equal distribution landscape for suppliers? -Raini Hamdi

The 'Caspian Sea Monster' rises from the grave

Is it a boat? Is it a plane? The Lun-class Ekranoplan, aka "The Caspian Sea Monster," is actually both. And now one of the most extraordinary Cold War flying machines ever built is about to enjoy a new lease on life.

Announcing the Skift Short-Term Rental and Outdoor Summit This December

Our second annual Short-Term Rental Summit will feature a two-day event looking at two of the areas in travel that have actually experienced growth during the pandemic: short-term vacation rentals and outdoor travel. Day one will feature STR leaders and day two will be driven around outdoor activities. -Brian Quinn

Top 10 books about the Himalayas | Ed Douglas

Along with spectacular adventures, these books record a richly diverse culture that has often been missed in accounts of derring-do The Himalayas are the highest mountains on Earth, the stupendously wild boundary between India and Tibet and a magnet for countless adventurers, missionaries and spiritual seekers. Yet the region is no empty wilderness – it is the home of a richly diverse human population with a longstanding literary tradition. Writing my history of the Himalayas required an Everest-sized reading list, but when I’d finished compiling my bibliography I felt I needed to say more. There were lots of weighty histories but I realised the soul of this amazing world lay elsewhere, in fiction, memoir and poetry. Until recently, few writers from the region have cut through to anglophone readers. That’s beginning to change. Writers such as Manjushree Thapa and Prajwal Parajuly, shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas prize for his debut short story collection The Gurkha’s Daughter, have built followings in Europe and North America. Some seminal work from previous decades is getting translated, one shining example being the Darjeeling writer Indra Bahadur Rai. Historians are also starting to break down the exotic myths that coloured our view of this extraordinary but misunderstood part of the world. This then is my selection of books that catch the human texture and shape of the world’s highest mountain range. Some of the writers were born there; some are outsiders with a particular insight. All, I think, are very readable. Continue reading...

Global travel has ground to a near halt due to the coronavirus pandemic but now CommonPass, a new digital health passport, hopes to reverse the course. CNN's Anna Stewart reports.

Here’s the Quote That Will Shake the Multi-Billion Dollar Corp Travel Market Out of Its Stupor

That whooshing sound in the corporate travel sector's ear ... -Rafat Ali

UK cities plan Covid-safe festivities as Christmas markets are cancelled

Many seasonal events have been axed, but light displays and trails will go ahead illuminating cityscapes, stately homes and gardens * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverage As if we didn’t have enough reasons to hate Covid-19, now it’s threatening – Grinch-style – to steal Christmas, too. Growing numbers of cities are cancelling their Christmas markets. One of the most recent cities to abandon its plans is Manchester. Its Christmas spokesperson, councillor Pat Karney, told the Manchester Evening News last week that the markets had “not met our commercial and public health tests”. In December 2019, VisitEngland’s Christmas tourism survey showed more than 14 million Britons planned overnight trips during last year’s festive season and a third of those surveyed said they would be visiting a Christmas market. VisitEngland estimates these trips boosted the economy by nearly £3bn and predicts a 49% decline in domestic tourism spending overall this year. That’s before adding in the revenue loss to restaurants from not hosting larger groups and Christmas parties. A Welcome to Yorkshire poll found that 20% of hospitality businesses are cancelling planned activities and a third are scaling back. Continue reading...

The tragedy behind Italy's famous pasta dish

Spaghetti all'amatriciana is beloved around the world. But a devastating earthquake destroyed the town it came from -- and it has yet to recover

Airline offers 'mystery breaks' to lure travelers back

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, all of travel seems like a big question mark. So, one airline argues, why not embrace that question mark?

'Ghost' cruise ship rescues 24 people from sinking boat

Cruise ships are mostly standing idle due to the pandemic, but that hasn't stopped one "ghost' vessel jumping into action to rescue 24 people from a sinking boat.

Japan's first bullet train left Tokyo in 1964 running an average of 80 mph. High speed lines now run all over the world and the newest ones are pushing 370 mph.

Missing hiker found in Zion National Park, family says

A hiker missing in Zion National Park for nearly two weeks has been found alive, her family said Sunday.

Mexican restaurant takes political stand with sign declaring 'No Love, No Tacos'

A Mexican restaurant in a small town in Iowa has wrapped itself in the middle of political discourse after some customers of the popular eatery took offense to a yard sign the owner placed outside.

10 of the best cosy pubs with rooms for an autumn break

Escaping to a warm, friendly inn that serves great food has never felt like a more enticing prospect. We pick 10 from the latest Good Hotel Guide • Check local restrictions before you travel There’s olde-English atmosphere in spades at this village pub overlooking the green by a Saxon church. Beams, flagstones and fireplace are all there, along with an oak-panelled dining room for candlelit dinners. It’s a welcoming retreat after exploring the surrounding countryside: there are walks from the door and it’s a short drive to the waterfalls of Low Force, High Force and Cauldron Snout. Rooms are in country-chic style: those in the main building have exposed stone and beams while courtyard rooms are more contemporary, with a patio. But one of the best things about this pub near Barnard Castle is that small doubles cost just £85 a night – and no, you don’t need your eyes tested, you’ve read that right. • Doubles from £85 B&B, dogs welcome, rose-and-crown.co.uk Continue reading...

Blaze of glory: 20 of the best autumn gardens in the UK

For fiery beech trees and golden ferns, savour the changing seasons at these glorious gardens Some gardens are all about effect. Created in the 18th century near Bath, Stourhead is a Palladian ideal of a landscape, augmented by temples, grottoes and follies – it’s magnificent. But explore beyond the oaks and fiery beech trees and there’s a sense of wildness and abundant autumn fruits on this National Trust estate, including rosehips and crab apples. • nationaltrust.org.uk Continue reading...

Hyatt’s Potential Defections and 12 Other Top Travel Stories This Week

In Skift's top stories this week, we covered Sonesta's rapid growth at the expense of Marriott and IHG, Asia's travel recovery, AirAsia's digital transformation, and Southwest's business travel strategy, among others. -Dennis Schaal

10 of the best cosy holiday cabins in the UK

Cabin life has never felt more alluring. From simple shacks to Scandi-style boltholes, here are 10 to escape to and snuggle up in • Check local restrictions before you travel As winter draws closer and the world continues to descend into chaos, what could be more appealing than to run away for a few days to a forest or isolated clifftop, where there’s nothing to do but go for frosty rambles, soak in a wood-fired hot tub and sit snug in bed by a woodburner. Whether you swoon over sharply designed, stark, cantilevered black timber huts of the kind seen on cult architecture website Dezeen, prefer the backcountry Americana of hit photography book Cabin Porn, or fancy more of an off-grid, homemade-shed vibe, it’s never been easier to get your fix. Continue reading...

Will New Business Class Fares Woo Back Corp Travelers?

After Emirates, now low-cost carrier Zipair is offering a "basic" business-class product. The concept sounds great, but convincing company travel buyers could be a challenge. -Matthew Parsons

Travelers With Disabilities Face New Challenges During Covid

They are among the most resilient travelers on the planet. But the pandemic is testing the mettle of travelers with disabilities — and the businesses that support them — in unique ways. -Tom Lowry

Getaround Raises $140 Million for Car Sharing: Travel Startup Funding This Week

Travel startups announced more than $193 million in venture equity funding this week. It's reassuring to see funding rounds continue this many months into the pandemic, defying predictions of a dry spell. -Sean O'Neill

Ryanair cuts one in three winter flights and warns of more job losses

Reductions extended to 2021 as chief executive rails at government ‘mismanagement’ Ryanair is cutting the number of its winter flights by a third because of Covid air travel restrictions across the EU and has warned of further job losses as passenger numbers plummet. The airline previously cut the number of flights in October to around 40% of normal levels, but is now extending the reduction through November to March, down from the 60% previously planned. It is still hoping to keep its planes 70% full, in order to break even and “minimise cash burn”. Continue reading...

A new study found that Australia's Great Barrier Reef has not recovered from a torrent of bleaching events caused by climate change.

Quarantine for arrivals to UK may be cut to a week, says Shapps

Transport secretary describes ‘test and release’ scheme being considered as UK travel body says thousands of jobs at risk * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverage The quarantine period for travellers arriving in the UK is likely only to be cut to about a week, according to the transport secretary, under a “test and release” scheme being considered by the government’s taskforce. Grant Shapps said the new regime, which is due to be confirmed in November, would require a single coronavirus test, to be taken about a week after arrival and paid for privately. Continue reading...

Mexican Short-Term Rental Startup Casai Raises $48 Million Led by Andreessen Horowitz

Venture capitalists rarely bet on Mexico's travel startups. But Casai's 80 percent average occupancy rates in August and September must've helped it woo top-tier investor Andreessen Horowitz. -Sean O'Neill