Oprah-Backed Healthcare Company on Track to Be the Hotel Industry’s Go-To Safety Standard

Several companies want to be the Michelin Guide equivalent for post-pandemic hotel safety standards. But early corporate travel agency buy-in puts Sharecare and Forbes Travel Guide's partnership at an advantage. -Cameron Sperance

Video: Interview With Ryanair Airline CEO Eddie Wilson at Skift Aviation Forum 🔒

Efficiency. That was Eddie Wilson's mantra for Ryanair's recovery versus a slew of competitors. This frank talk offers a rare glimpse inside the European airlines market throttled by the pandemic. -Tom Lowry

There’ll be no Christmas cheer for pubs stuck in tier 3

A community-focused Ramsbottom pub that trains marginalised young people slams the ‘inept system’ that is forcing tens of thousands of hospitality venues to remain closed In a normal year in the run-up to Christmas, Glen Duckett, landlord of the award-winning Eagle + Child in Ramsbottom, would be accompanying five or six of his staff on a trip to Angoulême in France, an annual culinary excursion he introduced as part of an apprenticeship scheme. Back at the pub, the team would be gearing up for festive gatherings, designing special menus, preparing turkeys and digging the Christmas decorations out of the cellar. But this year is anything but normal. The Eagle will still twinkle with fairy lights, but it won’t be open this Christmas. When lockdown in England ends on 2 December, the pub, near Bury in Greater Manchester, will return to tier 3, only this time the restrictions will be more severe. Continue reading...

Singer Cher has helped rescue the 'world's loneliest elephant' after decades in captivity

A 36-year-old overweight Asian elephant, who has spent much of his life languishing alone in captivity, is on his way to a sanctuary in Cambodia -- thanks in part to the efforts of American pop star Cher.

Kaavan the elephant had languished in a zoo in Pakistan for decades. But thanks to Cher and a social media campaign, he's on his way to a new home in Cambodia.

'I just didn't see myself represented in the travel industry': Ella Paradis of The Black Explorer

The founder of a new magazine created by and for Black travellers talks about the motivation behind the launch, her own travels and the people who inspire her I was around seven or eight years old, sitting in my plane seat as a giddy, unaccompanied minor. My brother and I were on an eight-hour flight to Kingston, Jamaica. I didn’t cry when we waved goodbye to our mum at the departure gate and walked off with the airline staff. All I could think about was six weeks of sea and sun with my grandma. This was the beginning of my love for travel – something I didn’t realise until speaking to Ella Paradis, founder and editor of a new magazine, the Black Explorer. Like many second- and third-generation kids in the UK who travel across the globe to see family, she had had a similar experience to mine. Continue reading...

Europe's ski resorts are facing the 'season from hell'

Skiers and snowboarders across Europe are experiencing a roller coaster ride as doubts build over when the mountains might open for sport this winter.

Bean there: my love of fabada in Asturias, Spain – plus the recipe

The butter bean stew is Asturias’ signature dish, and treated with reverence at ‘one of the most special restaurants in Spain’ Asturias is not the Spain of your imagination. Don’t expect flamenco dresses, clacking castanets and jugs of sangria in this north-west province. Instead of tiny tapas bars, there are raucous cider houses. Instead of vineyards and sunbaked hills, there are apple orchards and a thousand shades of green. This was a lesson I first learned from the chef and humanitarian José Andrés, born and raised in the Asturian mining town of Mieres. We travelled together on a surf-and-turf bender in his home region in 2010, soaking ourselves in Asturias cider, inventing meals to fill the interminable space between lunch and dinner. Continue reading...

Site of Hong Kong's former Kai Tak Airport set for major transformation

The site of the old Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport -- famous for its notoriously challenging runway in the middle of the busy city center -- is set to welcome a new sky-high landmark.

Lufthansa trials lie-flat economy seat concept

Passengers traveling on one Lufthansa route this month can buy a row of economy seats and stretch out across them, replicating the experience of a lie-flat business class bed.

What's next for no-touch air travel?

How many times do you touch the cabin around you in an airplane when you fly? How about the airport? How many times do the people working there touch your belongings?

Feasts and holy days in the Kazakhstan desert

Sometimes the most interesting cooking is found in the most unlikely places, as our writer discovers on a road trip in the country’s vast wild west I thought I knew Kazakhstan. I’d been to Pavlodar, in the north-east, for its Russian cafes and its theatre named after Anton Chekhov, and I’d explored Turkestan, in the far south, with its Timurid architecture to rival the turquoise-tiled mosques of neighbouring Uzbekistan. I’d spent time in industrial Karaganda, in the vast central steppe, checking into a hotel built for Soviet cosmonauts. In the former capital, Almaty, I rented a flat and spent days exploring the city’s bazaars. Then, last autumn, deep in the far west, in a landscape as otherworldly as the moon, I realised I didn’t know Kazakhstan at all. Continue reading...

Covid-Tested Flights to Connect Rome and 3 U.S. Destinations

Well-run testing programs could make a world of difference, but the burden shouldn't be on airlines or airports to figure it out on their own. Unfortunately the lack of political leadership in many markets means this is the only way testing of any kind will happen. -Jason Clampet

Viking runestones open gateway to ancient civilization

An hour's drive north of Stockholm, the Rune Kingdom offers a mysterious portal into Sweden's past that reveals unexpected truths about the country's Viking ancestors.

Trump Administration May Lift Europe and Brazil Travel Restrictions to U.S.

The world, including Europe, is in the grip of a new surge of coronavirus cases. The decision would give the airlines a boost, but is this really a prudent call at this time? -Tom Lowry

The $550 million megayacht concept that looks like a shark

Just weeks after unveiling an upcoming yacht concept that resembles a swan, Lazzarini Design Studio are pushing the boundaries even further with a brand new design that's shaped like a shark.

Accor Joins Forces With Hoxton Hotels Owner to Form Lifestyle Brand Giant

Accor CEO Sebastien Bazin previously said lifestyle hotels will be a key source of growth moving forward. By orchestrating a merger with Ennismore and the full buyout of SBE, one the largest hotel deals so far of the pandemic, Bazin just underscored that point. -Cameron Sperance

Send us a tip on your most memorable rail journey for a chance to win a £200 holiday prize

Tell us about a fantastic train trip you’ve taken, anywhere in the world. The best tip wins £200 towards a Sawday’s stay Train travel offers some of the best adventures – a chance to get off-the-beaten track, to meet locals and soak up the scenery passing by. Whether it was on a steam train across tea plantations or the plains of Asia, a winding mountain railway, or a ramshackle local train to a memorable destination, we want to hear about your favourite rail journey. If you have a photo from the trip, do send it in – but it’s your words that will be judged for the competition Continue reading...

Quarantine rule change welcomed by UK travel industry

The number of days required to self-isolate on return will be reduced from 14 to five if a negative Covid test is provided * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverage The travel industry has welcomed the change in quarantine rules that will allow passengers returning to the UK from high-risk countries to reduce the time they self-isolate to five days, if they can provide a negative Covid test result. Travel companies have been campaigning against the mandatory 14-day quarantine for all returning travellers since it was introduced on 8 June. Paul Charles of the PC Agency, who led the Quash Quarantine campaign, with the backing of 500 travel and hospitality companies, said shorter quarantine will “boost travel confidence and bookings and enable quicker recovery in such a hard-hit sector”. Continue reading...

Video: Interview With Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie at Skift Aviation Forum 🔒

The low-cost carrier business model has been pretty resilient historically to swings in the economy. Listen to what Spirit CEO Ted Christie has to say about that now. -Tom Lowry

Millions travel for Thanksgiving despite Covid-19 surge

Travelers are packing airports despite warnings from the CDC urging Americans to stay home this year. CNN's Adrienne Broaddus reports.

In praise of Jan Morris, by six fellow travel writers

The trailblazing writer was loved and revered by all those who followed in her footsteps. Here they describe just what she meant to them Jan Morris was a dazzling historian who was constantly fascinated by the new. She could throw off precise and stunningly compact reports – on the trial of Eichmann or her interview with Che Guevara, for this paper and many others – and then compose 30-page master portraits of cities for Rolling Stone. She was mellifluous and mischievous at once, and perhaps an ideal chronicler of the 20th century, as a classical Brit who nonetheless sustained an undeluded love for brash and forward-looking America. Thousands of us recognised the beauty of her watercolour prose, but what gave it fibre was its unsurpassable acuity. London for her was “hard as nails,” Kyoto a city of ghosts. Continue reading...

Writers retreat: seven authors on their outdoor escapes from lockdown

Some literary minds crave a full-throttle rush. For others, it’s the peace in birdwatching, kayaking or finding refuge in the trees Before lockdown, I occasionally got uneasily into a sea kayak with my kids – usually unbalancing it and tipping us all in the water. Then they exchanged the big multi-seater kayak for two lighter two-seaters, which I can actually lift. Continue reading...

Is It Right to Promote Holiday Travel Amid a Second Covid Surge?

There’s no telling how many of the projected 50 million Americans traveling for Thanksgiving will ditch their plans as the CDC and states sound the alarm. In the travel industry, the messages go from “stay home, buy local” to “book now for 2021” or “if you’re visiting, be safe,” as destinations and companies continue to balance their need for revenue against public health. -Lebawit Lily Girma

Ruins with a view: plan to turn Scottish castles into enchanting hotels

SNP hopes to emulate Spain’s lucrative paradores in a drive to boost jobs, tourism and heritage preservation Just outside Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire, on the side of a steep cliff overlooking the North Sea, sits Dunnottar castle. Once a medieval fortress, the picturesque ruins are open to the public for days out but have not boasted overnight visitors since the likes of Mary Queen of Scots and her son James VI in the 16th century. Now, under new proposals to be debated at the Scottish National party conference next weekend, Dunnottar could become one of a number of Scottish castles to be transformed into high-end but affordable hotels. The plan is based on the model of Spain’s paradores, government-run historically significant buildings such as churches, castles and stately homes, often in areas underserved by tourism. They have existed in Spain since 1928 and include iconic sites such as Parador de Santiago de Compostela, which began life in 1499 as a hospital for pilgrims travelling to Santiago and is considered to be the oldest hotel in the world. Today, Spain has nearly 100 paradores, including fortresses, convents, monasteries and even a former prison and asylum. In 2019, they generated a turnover of €261m (£230m) for the country’s economy. Continue reading...

‘Understanding a map creates a new sort of relationship with the outdoors’

Sales of Ordnance Survey’s maps and adventure apps have soared this year, as people reconnect with the beauty and history on their doorstep One of my strongest childhood memories is of sitting in the back of the car with a map. On long journeys it was my job to trace our route with my finger and call out directions (even though my parents knew exactly where we were going). I can remember that almost magical feeling of power and responsibility, as if somehow I was the one in control, that we would go where my finger took us. That’s where my love of maps began. When I got older, I joined the Scouts and I remember proudly getting my navigation badge. With it came the realisation that everything you need to understand the landscape around you – mountains, forests, lakes and rivers – folds down into something you can fit into a rucksack. Continue reading...

Scooter Rental Company Lime Sees First Profits Amid Growing Demand for Short-Range Travel

Scooter, bike, and car-sharing platform Lime’s profitability shows there is a market for sustainable, short-distance travel. Watch for even more competitors to enter this sector. -Cameron Sperance

Jan Morris obituary

Journalist, travel writer and historian who reported the first ascent of Everest in 1953 and wrote a social history of the British empire The greatest distance travelled by Jan Morris, who has died aged 94, was not across the Earth’s surface but between extraordinary identities: from being the golden-boy newspaper reporter James Morris to the female voyager and historian Jan Morris. James became Jan when what was then called a sex change was unexplored territory, from which she boldly sent back an early dispatch in 1974. The 70s reaction to that transformation was at best incomprehension, at worst hostility, especially literary hostility, but Morris wrote on – publishing more than 40 books, many still in print, even though the places they describe have metamorphosed too. She became an institution after having experienced the world, and herself in it, change radically in a lifetime. Continue reading...

Travel Stayed Stagnant in October After September Decline: New Skift Recovery Index

The Skift Recovery Index has been tracking the performance of the travel industry since the beginning of the year, through the major downturn in April, seeing it crawl back up during the summer, and then entering a second dip in September. October saw very little movement, but a few green shoots are there to look forward to. -Wouter Geerts

Navigating the Path Forward for Meetings and Events: Insights and Perspectives for Success in a Post-Pandemic World

In this report, Skift and The Venetian Resort Las Vegas reveal how industry stakeholders are dealing with the Covid-19 crisis. They share learnings, best practices, and innovations that can enlighten businesses, meeting planners, and venues alike. -

The Business Trip’s Next New Look 🔒

Will soundbites like "Zoom parties every day, every night" and other headline-grabbing quotes influence perceptions of the value of business travel, or do we take them with a pinch of salt? -Matthew Parsons

CEOs From Air France and Ryanair See Different Flight Paths to a Travel Recovery

There's a fascinating difference of opinion between the top bosses of Air France and Ryanair on competitiveness, fairness, and the value of testing at airports. -Sean O'Neill

Meet 3 Small Businesses Paving the Road to Recovery

This year, Visa committed to digitally enabling 50 million small businesses around the globe in an effort to get local communities back to business in the wake of the pandemic. Here, we profile three businesses that have innovated to survive and thrive, no matter the challenge. -

The evocative music that inspired my travels: readers' tips

Music from Motown to folk, and even Flemish bagpipes, has opened up a world of experiences for curious and intrepid readers I found Peatbog Faeries’ album Welcome to DunVEGAS from a tiny, well-stocked trad music shop in Portree. The album, recorded in a cottage on the banks of Pool Roag near Dunvegan during a three-month-long party, became a musical guidebook for a road trip exploring the beautiful and harsh Isle of Skye. Pete Morrison’s belting, anthemic bagpipes and Roddy Neilson’s undulating fiddle reels reflect the constantly changing weather and landscape. Gaelic vocals on the track Fear Eile echo the island’s rich mythology and the hollow percussion on Morning Dew evokes memories of hanging mist and raindrops falling off ... well, everything! Anna Kennett Continue reading...

U.S. Airlines Still Have Lots to Do to Put the 737 Max in the Air After FAA Approval

The U.S. has cleared the Boeing 737 Max to fly, but global regulators still need more time. Still, it's good news for U.S. airlines and for Boeing, ending the longest grounding in aviation history. -Madhu Unnikrishnan

3 Remote Work Security Considerations for Today’s Decentralized Travel Companies

The rush to enable remote working in response to the pandemic has exposed some travel companies to cyber attacks and phishing campaigns. Looking toward a post-recovery future, business teams will need secure and frictionless connectivity as they begin to travel again. -LastPass

Beware the Bubble: Corporations Ready Themselves for Airfare Spikes When Routes Reopen 🔒

Travel bubbles were created to reinvigorate travel, but airlines will need to walk a fine line between pent-up demand and pricing to ensure a steady revival. -Matthew Parsons

Understanding Today’s Hotel Distribution Landscape: New Skift Research

The hotel distribution landscape is complex, with hotel rooms being sold and promoted in many different channels. Covid-19 has certainly impacted how and where hotel rooms are being distributed, but it is unlikely this disruption will be sustained long-term. That’s not to say that disruption isn’t coming, though. -Wouter Geerts

New Independent Hotel Group Fights Back on Industry’s Bigger-Is-Better Mentality

Independent hotel owners have a new pandemic survival strategy with the arrival of the Curator Hotel & Resort Collection. The big brands need to address grievances over their high costs in order to remain competitive. -Cameron Sperance

I can’t visit Scotland’s mountains – so I’m sketching them instead

With the UK’s glorious peaks temporarily out of reach, our writer is bringing them to life by drawing them It started with Ben Hope, a mountain about as far north as you can go on the mainland UK. Rising from the Flow Country, in Sutherland, Ben Hope is famous for being the most northerly Munro. I was sitting at home in Yorkshire, thinking back to when I climbed this mountain about a decade ago. Suddenly I wanted to draw Ben Hope, to capture its shape and character, that lonely hill up there, a long way away, in a place I love to be. Doing so helped to jog my memories of the misty spring day I reached its summit. Continue reading...

Hostels See Opportunity in the Backlash Against Plastic 🔒

Coming out of the pandemic, some hostels hope to do well by doing good. -Sean O'Neill

Korean Air Plans To Take Over Rival Asiana Airlines With $1.6 Billion Injection

Consolidation was long overdue in South Korea. If the deal goes through, the result will be a single international carrier cushioned against further blows from the pandemic. -Matthew Parsons

‘Sound walks’ offer a new way to travel in lockdown

At a time when even leaving our homes is tricky, new audio guides with a difference can take listeners over the Atlantic or to splash about in the Med The bear’s throaty growl starts to my right, then circles predatorily around to my left as I turn. But I stay calm, because the beast is not really there – it’s an illusion. I’m on a street corner in Leeds on a bright, chilly autumn morning and there are no bears for thousands of miles – or at least there haven’t been for well over a century. Between 1840 and 1858, before Burley Park was all tarmac and terraced housing, the street where I’m standing was part of the short-lived Headingley Zoological and Botanical Gardens. I’m on a guided “sound walk” around the graffitied remnants of its walls, and I’ve just reached Bearpit Gardens. Continue reading...

The future Rockefeller Christmas tree was cut down, and it's on its way to Manhattan

The Christmas tree that will light up Rockefeller Center this holiday met its end -- in the spirit of the season, of course.

Once upon a time … there was a magical storytelling walk in a Sussex forest

In days when a dread sickness stalks the land, an enchantress shares woodland tales to help keep the darkness at bay It’s a sunny late-autumn morning in woodlands on the outskirts of Lewes, East Sussex, and I’m sitting under a beech tree having a story told to me. For an adult, this may seem like a slightly odd thing to be doing, but I’m on a storytelling walk with nature guide and tale-weaver Nana Tomova, and her mesmerising voice is transporting me to some faraway places. We have wandered through forest to this spot, with Nana sharing her knowledge of mushrooms and trees. The surroundings add to the fairytale vibe: squirrels eye us unafraid, a robin perches on a log next to me – and even hops on to my boot for a moment. Continue reading...

We were sick of lockdown – so cycled from Land’s End to John o’Groats

Two stir-crazy friends strap tents to their bikes and set out to ride the entire length of Britain If you stand on the cliff at Land’s End with your back to the sea and the majesty of England stretching ahead of you, the first thing you see is a theme park. It’s not the most promising introduction to the country. But my friend Ed and I had our sights set well beyond the expensive ice-cream and Arthur’s Quest experience. We had them fixed 874 miles away – on John o’Groats. Many midlife adventures spark into life in the pub after one too many pints and a chaser of bravado. Ours, however, was a direct reaction to the foreshortened horizons of the pandemic. What better way to shake off the shackles of lockdown than a self-supported, two-week biking and camping trek over the length of the country? “Well …” my wife laughed, “how about staying in a luxury hotel?” She makes a persuasive case, but months of staring at the same four walls had made me yearn for widescreen panoramas and the freedom of the open road. Continue reading...

Tripadvisor Stands Up for Free Speech and 10 Other Top Travel Stories This Week

In travel news this week, Tripadvisor went to bat for an American expat reviewer who was tossed in jail for a review he wrote about a hotel in Thailand, JetBlue said it was seeking partner to help it launch into the short-term rentals business, and a vote by the citizens in Key West to ban big ships could be have ramifications in other port communities across the globe. -Tom Lowry

I walk around London at midnight – with my father's ghost for company | Barbara Nadel

The crime writer travels the City’s historic and deserted streets alone, but memories of her father are always there to guide her The magic takes hold as soon as I step into All Hallows by the Tower churchyard. It’s gone midnight and at first I look right towards one of the City of London’s oldest churches. Then I turn left, with a coldness trickling down my spine as I stare deep into my own past. My father, nearly 20 years dead now, used to take me on both day and nighttime jaunts through London. A thin, stylish East Ender, he was the sort of man who could produce a coin from your ear, magic away sickness and reveal the weird glories of London. Dad found the miraculous in everything, which is why I always carry him in my head when I go on these midnight yomps through the City. Continue reading...

Hotels See Automation as a Stopgap When They Can’t Afford Full Staffs

Most hoteliers are still practicing triage, trying to stanch the flow of losses. But investing in automation and contactless tech can help boost operational efficiency, say executives at hotel groups such as Accor, Hilton, and Mandarin Oriental. -Sean O'Neill

Shipbuilders Wallenius Marine have designed a transatlantic car carrier that cuts carbon emissions by 90%, compared to standard car carriers.