Air Traffic Rose at Tel Aviv Airport in 2023 Despite Recent Plunge

The numbers show how well travel has recovered post-pandemic in some parts of the world. -Justin Dawes

From historic town houses to rural retreats: 10 great places to stay in Madeira

Where to go on the Portuguese island for lush vegetation, clifftop settings, fine wine and the promise of winter sun

Set in the heart of Funchal’s atmospheric Old Town, the five historic houses that make up Castanheiro offer guests an immersion in more than 300 years of Madeiran history. Communal areas in each house are filled with antique furniture and period pieces from its earlier incarnations – one as a handcraft atelier, another the home of wealthy traders – while bedrooms are sleek and modern. The cherry on the cake is the rooftop pool, with fantastic views over Funchal and plenty of quiet outdoor spaces on the walled terraces for relaxing with a book or a cocktail. There’s no restaurant, but plenty of good options within a minute or two’s stroll.
Doubles from £153 B&B; castanheiroboutiquehotel.com Continue reading...

Lightship Raises $34 Million for Electric RV: Startup Funding Roundup

Lightship is developing a fully electric RV available starting in 2026, and Tumodo wants to expand its business travel platform throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa. -Justin Dawes

Egypt Sees Record Tourism Despite Israel-Hamas War

Egypt's tourism industry has been able to withstand some of the impact of the Israel-Hamas war. -Dawit Habtemariam

Top Hotel Brands Ranked by U.S. TV Ad Spending

Hilton led in TV ad spending last year, despite more ad dollars migrating to streaming platforms. One factor is that supply is oddly going down. -Sean O'Neill

International Tourism to Jump 15% in 2024

A mix of visa-free policies, American hunger for travel and China's rebound will drive an international tourism boom in 2024. -Dawit Habtemariam

France Sees Rise in TV Tourism

Like other destinations, France is benefiting from being a location for popular TV shows and films. -Dawit Habtemariam

‘Prepare for the sunset of a lifetime’: readers’ favourite beaches in southern Europe

From remote sandy coves in Galicia to bustling town beaches in the Cinque Terre, our tipsters dream of sunny climes and limpid waters

On an out-of-season trip to Zakynthos, a Greek island famed for intoxicated British teenagers that also happens to be beautiful, we stumbled upon Xigia Sulfur beach on the east coast. We were first greeted by the smell of rotten eggs, because of its sulphurous springs. Despite the smell, it’s brilliant: the glistening turquoise waters are framed by the towering cliffs, and the sulphur bubbles out of the seabed. A dip on this beach is said to be good for the skin and generally therapeutic. There are other little coves nearby, linked by paths.
Lucas Continue reading...

Airbnb Digs Deeper Into the Affordable Housing Issue

What down market? These short-term rental startups just raised multimillion dollar rounds. -Srividya Kalyanaraman

Travel Outlook 2024: From ‘Too Hot’ to ‘Just Right’: Skift Research

Revenue growth will finally decelerate from red-hot growth. But that's not a sign of weakness. it's a return to normal – and that's a good thing. -Seth Borko

Boeing Wins First 737 Max Order Since Alaska Blowout

The timing and size of this order from Akasa Air will be a big confidence booster for Boeing. -Peden Doma Bhutia

What JetBlue Saw in Spirit

Today's podcast looks at the JetBlue-Spirit merger, Airbnb's housing help, and Chinese travelers' American blues. -Rashaad Jorden

Where tourists seldom tread, part 7: five more UK towns with secret histories

From Slough to Stockton-on-Tees, these provincial towns have been derided, mocked and caricatured. But there are so many reasons to visit places that are snubbed by the guidebooks

part one | part two | part three | part four | part five | part six

There’s Crap Towns. There’s UK Grim. There’s John Betjeman. And then there’s James Cleverly, the Lewisham-born MP for Braintree. British towns get punched from above, below and the side – even from inside: if you serially humiliate people, they’ll begin to loathe where they come from in a twisted lunge for self-esteem. What riles when a politician slags off a place he doesn’t know or care about is the lack of self-awareness: anything and everything that is wrong with provincial Britain is a result of decisions taken by politicians over decades. Austerity, though, was the biggest, heaviest wrecking ball since deindustrialisation. These five “seldoms” are towns that have seen plenty of demolition and all have been derided, mocked, ignored, caricatured and dumped at the bottom of specious rankings. Seen through a thoughtful, engaged, flaneur-minded filter, however, they are wondrous, poetic, musical places. Continue reading...

Japan Sets December Tourism Record With 2.7 Million Visitors

Japan is continuing to make enormous progress in its rebound from the pandemic, but a full recovery will remain elusive without more visitors from China. -Rashaad Jorden

7 Underrated European Countries Saw Tourism Soar in 2023

2023 was a solid year of growth for tourism to Europe. It's finally bouncing back from the pandemic. -Dawit Habtemariam

Rooted in Design: Creating a Sense of Place

In episode ten of the Skift Ideas Podcast, Colin Nagy is joined by Ho Ren Yung of Banyan Group for a conversation around crafting spaces and experiences that seamlessly blend luxury, sustainability and wellbeing to shape an unparalleled guest experience. -Adam Stacey

I’ve made secret discoveries on my doorstep: a year-long journey across my local OS map

We have become disconnected from the wild world around us and I wanted to get regular small doses of the delights of travelling without having to wait for the trip of a lifetime

There’s a special place near where I live. To get there, you head down the road with all the fly-tipping, go through the motorway underpass, then turn left by the second-hand car garage and the greasy spoon cafe with a spelling mistake in its name. When you reach the factory with the rusting metal pipes and enormous concrete chimney, push through the scraggy bushes opposite and you have arrived.

Blond reedbeds surround you, head high, whispering in the wind. The call of cuckoos sounds like time gone by. In summer, swifts shriek overhead and sand martins swoop over the pools where endangered water voles make their home. Wandering through the marshland is like being transported to a wilder, quieter, more hopeful world. This secret discovery, or one like it, lies on the outskirts of towns across the country, part of the forgotten edge lands that we travellers ignore in favour of more exotic destinations. I spent a year searching for wildness closer to home than ever before – and it was a fascinating journey. Continue reading...

JetBlue-Spirit Blocked: 7 Key Quotes From Judge’s 109-Page Ruling

Massachusetts District Court Judge William Young delivered some notable lines in his 109-page ruling blocking the merger between JetBlue and Spirit.
-Meghna Maharishi

U.S. Winter Weather Travel Disruption: Cancellations Mount at NYC and DC Airports

Severe winter weather continues to hamper air travel in the U.S., and with another Arctic blast due later in the week, travelers can expect to see more disruptions.

-Meghna Maharishi

Turkey Adds Tourist Fee For Hagia Sophia

Using a new fee and rules for tourists, Turkey is trying to preserve and improve the experience of worshippers at Hagia Sophia. -Dawit Habtemariam

IBS Software Acquires Hotel Tech Company for $90 Million

IBS Software has taken a $90 million step toward its goal of becoming a "player of consequence" in hotel tech. It joins a group of others vying for the same. -Justin Dawes

Lufthansa Returns to Israel, When Will U.S. and Other Major Airlines Follow?

Lufthansa has kicked off a flurry of route resumptions to Tel Aviv, but some major carriers aren't ready to return just yet. -Gordon Smith

Rail route of the month: a dramatic ‘back door’ into Switzerland through the Italian Alps

Our slow travel expert alights from the express train in Domodossola to discover a rural route through the hills into Switzerland

Frequent Eurocity trains dash north from Milan via the Simplon Tunnel to Switzerland. On the way to the tunnel, those express trains speed by Lake Maggiore, affording fine views of the Borromean Islands. For Switzerland-bound trains, the last station stop in Italy is at the small Piedmont town of Domodossola. The station here is remarkably grand, as befits what was once an important gateway into Italy, with all the paraphernalia of customs and immigration. From Domodossola, it is just another half-hour through the Simplon Tunnel to Brig, an appealing Swiss town that guards the northern end of the Alpine tunnel, before trains head on to Berne, Basel and the north.

If you don’t mind missing the gorgeous scenery around the Swiss-Italian border, then travelling via the Simplon Tunnel route into Switzerland is fine. Simplon darkness is no different from the darkness on the London Underground, though the Eurocity trains that ply the Simplon route are far more comfortable than anything the tube has to offer. But those not in a hurry can do much better by turning right at Domodossola, then heading east into the hills to find a beautiful back-door route into Switzerland by using a cross-border rural railway. Continue reading...

EasyJet Expands TUI Musement Tours and Activities Partnership

TUI Musement's latest partnership expansion in the UK points to a shake-up in the business-to-business landscape of the experiences sector. -Selene Brophy

Tell us about a great city break in Europe – you could win a holiday voucher

Share details of your favourite discoveries during a city stay in Europe – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays break

If you’ve rambled along La Rambla in Barcelona, climbed the Eiffel Tower in Paris and checked out Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, it’s tempting to tick Europe’s major cities off the list. But even in the most well-visited cities, there’s often a new and surprising angle to discover. We’d love to hear about the unexpected discoveries that made you see a European city in a new light, whether it be modernist architecture in Vienna, street food in Amsterdam or contemporary art in Rome.

If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words that will be judged for the competition. Continue reading...

Klook Launches Banking Partnership to Bolster Thai Travel to Japan

Klook's partnership with Krungsri signals its first step in growing its Pan-Asian travel marketplace footprint since its funding raise at the end of last year. -Selene Brophy

Short-Term Rentals See Rising Demand from the Super Bowl, Olympics, and More Taylor Swift

2023 taught short-term rental managers a lesson in pricing around big events – 2024 will be the year to apply those lessons. -Srividya Kalyanaraman

Ethical and greener travel: the best new European trips for 2024

Sipping biodynamic wines, hopping on new sleeper trains, improving habitats and planting trees are among our picks of breaks that will leave a positive imprint

Global campaigner the Conservation Collective is making waves across the Mediterranean, helping visitors protect the region’s increasingly under-pressure ecosystems. Its Sicily Environment Fund supports local hiking company Astrid Natura and Collettivo Rewild Sicily to train more walking guides, who will focus on the benefits of rewilding. Walking tours with qualified naturalist guides can also be booked with federescursionismosicilia.it. Continue reading...

Alaska Airlines Begins Boeing 737 Max 9 Preliminary Inspections

Alaska Airlines is trying to get to the bottom of the Boeing 737-9 Max's door plug blowout. -Dawit Habtemariam

Iceland Volcano Eruption Causes Blue Lagoon to Close Again

The popular Blue Lagoon attraction has closed as a precaution, but early signs are that the volcano's activity may not disrupt Icelandic tourism too much. -Dawit Habtemariam

Hotel Profits: Here’s What Will Drive Results in 2024

Both 2022 and 2023 were banner years for U.S. hotels. But owners and operators may face more headwinds when it comes to bottom-line profitability in 2024. -Sean O'Neill

Polar bears, melting glaciers – and a blues festival: my wild week on Svalbard

It’s one of the world’s northernmost communities, but as well as profound natural beauty, at its heart is a lively hub full of Norwegian cheer

Don’t worry,” says our guide Charlotta, flashing her rifle. “I’m really quick if I need to be.” My 12-year-old daughter glances around the Arctic wilderness anxiously. As much as she loved Philip Pullman’s armoured bears, one of the reasons she longed to visit, our proximity to the real thing is starting to dawn on her.

There are road signs all over town warning us about the risk of polar bears. They number around 3,000 here, compared to 2,500 or so human inhabitants – which is why the Svalbard authorities insist you walk beyond the main settlement only with an armed guide. Continue reading...

‘We came away awestruck’: 13 writers on Europe’s hidden treasures, from Chagall in Kent to Rome’s secret Caravaggios

David Bowie’s Berlin bolthole and the world’s most stolen artwork in Ghent are among the cultural icons that our writers have long wished to visit

When you have a partner obsessed with architecture, you can’t expect to go on holiday without a detour to see some building or another. So if it’s a city break, that usually means a walking tour of the architectural highlights interspersed with visits to art galleries. Continue reading...

Delta Sees Seattle Boost as Boeing 737 Max 9 Grounding Hits Alaska

For airlines unaffected by the Boeing 737 Max 9 grounding, there's money to be made. -Edward Russell

Get Ready For a New Delta Flagship: the Airbus A350-1000 is Coming

Delta is promising “world-class amenities” and more premium seating onboard a jet that it hopes will reaffirm its position as a leading legacy carrier. -Gordon Smith

Exploring Gen Z and Millennial Travel Habits – New Skift Research

Millennials and Gen Z are steering travel trends with a focus on technology, sustainability, and a quest for distinctive and meaningful experiences. -Varsha Arora

Tripadvisor Wants Tourists to Test Drive Reality in the Metaverse

Today's podcast looks at Tripadvisor's metaverse plans, Heathrow's busy runways, and the next White Lotus location. -Rashaad Jorden

‘I didn’t expect to feel so moved’: readers’ favourite cultural trips in Europe

From antiquity in Spain to modern art in Denmark, via three Erics in Morecambe, our tipsters reveal the places that left them feeling inspired

The spectacular House of Music is in Budapest’s beautiful City Park. After going through the mushroom-like main entrance, you find a museum dedicated to the history of music. From the beginning of music to the modern day via Gregorian chanting and Hungarian folk, the House of Music is a fascinating place. With a superb audio guide, and for just 1,000 forints (£2.25), it is well worth a visit.
Danny Baker Continue reading...

U.S. Hotel Rates Buck Inflation Trend With Year-End Decline

Good news for travelers, bad news for hotel owners. The U.S. hotel industry is seeing a (modest) decline in room rates after a recent dramatic run-up in prices. -Sean O'Neill

Booking Holdings CEO Recalls Road Back From Reverse Stock Split to $3,500 Per Share

One challenge for struggling travel SPACs beyond their stock prices is to create something new that's truly valuable to their customers. Booking.com did just that years ago, although others have caught up in the interim. -Dennis Schaal

Finnair Appoints New CEO, Topi Manner Leaving Airline on Monday

The incoming chief executive inherits a company which has had its business model uprooted by the Russian airspace closure. -Gordon Smith

Greece’s New Climate-Focused Tourist Tax

Today's podcast looks at Greece's tourist tax, Boeing's mounting problems, and virtual tourism with Apple Vision Pro. -Rashaad Jorden

Car-free tour of East Sussex: waterside walks, woods and delicious food stops

This pastoral landscape – dotted with medieval towns and villages, quirky pubs and ancient churches – is easy to navigate using buses, trains and hiking routes such as the 1066 Country Walk

Ancient oaks flash past the train windows. There are wide views across a medieval patchwork of farmland and rolling downs scattered with conical oast houses and tile-hung brick cottages. The railway line to Hastings runs straight through the High Weald, England’s fourth largest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Unlike Cornwall or the Cotswolds, this pastoral landscape is sometimes overlooked. But it’s easy to reach by train and ideal walking country: picturesque timber-framed villages with cheerful pubs and cafes set among gentle wooded hills with a choice of footpaths.

From Wadhurst station, the recently renamed 1066 bus takes me down into Wadhurst village. I pick up savoury olive-studded bread and mulled apple crumble cake from Delicatus and begin to make my way cross-country towards Bewl Water, the largest lake in south-east England. This reservoir on the border with Kent, storing water from the River Medway, sprawls into numerous tree-lined creeks. Thirteen miles of trails circle its straggling shores through waterside woods and meadows. I’m following them today as far as Downash Wood, an imaginative collection of secluded cabins and treehouses close to Bewl Water. Downash is a beautiful afternoon’s hike from Wadhurst or a few minutes’ stroll from the Tinkers Lane bus stop in neighbouring Ticehurst. Continue reading...

The Travel Trends That Will Define 2024

Today's podcast looks at the year's biggest travel trends, Boeing's bolt blunder, and Airbus' first big deal of 2024. -Rashaad Jorden

India Takes Steps To Manage Fatigue Risks for Aviation Crew: India Report

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation's decision to ease work pressure on aviation crew is a welcome step, considering the recent reports of fatigue-related safety risks. -Ashvita Singh

Boeing CEO Says 737 Max 9 Issues Are ‘Our Mistake’

Boeing CEO David Calhoun acknowledged the fallout from the Alaska Airlines jet that suddenly lost a door plug mid-air during a company-wide meeting on Tuesday.
-Meghna Maharishi

‘If you are not lost within a minute, you’re not trying hard enough’ – my search for magical Morocco

It’s celebrated as a place that influenced generations of artists. Our writer attempts to recapture the spirit on an overland journey from London to Marrakech and the Atlas Mountains

In Tangier, fresh off the ferry from Spain, I walk along the esplanade in cool morning air, then take the steps up into the casbah. My journey to Morocco started at St Pancras station in London three days earlier, and I spent a night each in Barcelona and Algeciras. I feel none of the dislocation or awkwardness that a flight would entail. I’ve seen the landscapes change: the lavender fields of Provence, the peach groves of Catalonia, then the wild upland magic of La Mancha. I spotted my first Arabic sign in Spain yesterday. Now the crafted casbah of Tangier seems like the natural next step. I take a turn up a narrow alleyway and pass an elderly couple, the woman in a straw hat decorated with fresh flowers, her husband hooded in a thick woollen burnous.

The casbah is quiet. I stumble into the only place where things are happening: the meat market. By western supermarket standards, this bazaar is a challenge: entire blood-dripping carcasses on hooks, a man sorting through yards of slithery steaming intestines with his bare hands. Continue reading...

Share a tip on a beach in southern Europe – and win a holiday voucher

Tell us about your favourite south European beach – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays break

These dull, wet winter days are the perfect time to reminisce about sunny breaks spent on favourite beaches in southern Europe – and to plan future trips. Whether you love shingle and rock, busy town sands, or secluded coves at the end of a glorious hike, we’d love to hear about your golden discoveries. Is there a particular beach that you long to go back to? Don’t forget to mention any great beach bars and places to eat at or stay in on your shoreline travels.

If you have a relevant photo, do send it in – but it’s your words that will be judged for the competition. Continue reading...

There Will Be a Short-Term Rental Boom in the Middle East

The Middle East’s lofty tourism goals mean a re-think in accommodations. Luxury hotels won’t be enough.
-Peden Doma Bhutia

Executives, Meet Your New Intern: Artificial Intelligence

Organizational shifts prompted by AI are already happening. It’s only a matter of time before it leads to job cuts. -Justin Dawes