The Impact of Visit Florida’s LGBTQ Travel Page Removal

We don’t know why the page was removed and Visit Florida won’t say. But it could hurt already strained relations with the LGBTQ community and it doesn’t make sense from a marketing perspective. -Dawit Habtemariam

Inside One of the Most Profitable U.S. Airlines You Haven’t Heard of

As ultra-low-cost carriers like Spirit and Frontier falter, Sun Country has been able to routinely stand out as one of the most profitable airlines in the U.S.
-Meghna Maharishi

IndiGo Goes Upscale: What Its New Business Class Reveals About India’s Premium Shift

IndiGo got big as a budget airline. But Indians are increasingly willing to spend on luxury and the airline is going where the money is. -Peden Doma Bhutia

Another Kerala-Based Airline Set to Take Off — India Report

The Indian aviation industry is rapidly growing, but continues to be underserved, be it in terms of airports or airlines. This creates a significant opportunity for new players to enter the market and fill the gap. -Bulbul Dhawan

Hotel Giants Turn to Loyalty Licensing Deals: 10 Things to Know

Major hotel groups are playing Pokémon with their loyalty programs. Instead of collecting rare game cards, they're adding new sets of travelers to their databases. Gotta catch 'em all. -Sean O'Neill

Here’s How Thailand Is Leveraging Influencers to Transform Its Tourism Industry

This move of tapping into influencer marketing is part of a broader push to digitally transform Thailand’s tourism industry. This also keeps pace with a global trend where social media personalities play a significant role in shaping travel choices.

-Peden Doma Bhutia

What’s Driving India’s Surge in Global Travel Influence?

The younger generation in India are increasingly embracing an aspirational lifestyle that places a premium on travel and new experiences. This trend has led to a significant increase in first-time international travelers. -Peden Doma Bhutia

Where tourists seldom tread, part 11: five British seaside towns with hidden histories

Look carefully around less-loved, gently crumbling resorts such as Rhyl, Bognor and Skegness and they are still teeming with hidden pleasures
Where tourists seldom tread, parts 1-10

Every summer, Which? magazine publishes a list of resorts – 126 this year – ranked according to hotel quality and prices, food and drink, attractions, shopping, scenery. The top slots are inevitably occupied by smaller, smarter places visited by the better-off, probably before or after a trip to France or Crete. The bottom, though, is far more interesting. After all, what are we to make of places built for consumption if there’s nothing worth buying besides fish and chips? What about the timeless qualities of the shore – the horizon, the tides, the big skies? Is the point of the seaside its ahistorical oddness – or can history rescue resorts that seem stranded, sinking or sad?

The following were all ranked in the bottom 10, or excluded altogether. Continue reading...

Short-Term Rental Bookings Drop in Mallorca

Mallorca authorities are trying to respond to local frustrations with mass tourism by cracking down on short-term rentals. -Dawit Habtemariam

Sonder-Marriott Deal: What the Fine Print Says About Distribution and Royalties

Sonder gets new marketing and distribution power through the licensing deal. While a positive, this isn't a panacea for Sonder's fundamental problems. -Dennis Schaal

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky Returns to Skift Global Forum for Fourth Consecutive Year

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is heading back to Skift Global Forum for the fourth consecutive year - and we can’t wait to hear all the exciting new plans for the company's future. -Nicole Meyer

Walking the Netherlands’ new long-distance Salt Path

A new hiking route in the far north of the country is helping to connect visitors with rural communities and giving churches a new lease of life as B&Bs and art studios




At 5am, the toll of the church bell reverberates through the darkness, jolting me awake – again. The unwavering sentinel in the rural Dutch village of Eastrum has rung every half hour throughout the night. Lying on a camp bed in the nave of the 16th-century Saint Nicholas church, I begin to wonder what I’ve agreed to. But then, gazing upwards, I notice a glimmer – soft tendrils of early morning light sneak through the windows, illuminating thin gold lines painted along the edges of the church roof beams. In the stripped-back simplicity of the building’s Protestant design, the subtle glimmers feel like a heavenly wonder.

I’m in Eastrum to walk a segment of Het Ziltepad, or the Salt Path, a recently opened long-distance hiking trail that traverses the salt marshes of the sparsely populated northern Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen. Tracing the Wadden Sea coastline, the route invites hikers to explore local churches as a way to discover the region’s cultural heritage. If that sounds a little pious, fear not: ecclesiastical enthusiasm isn’t required. Rather, the project aims to breathe new life into the old buildings and encourage visitors to get chatting with local communities. Continue reading...

Americans to Cut Back on International Travel for Labor Day Weekend

After splurging on travel this summer, Americans are starting to cut back and take more vacations closer to home. -Dawit Habtemariam

Business Travel 2024: Hotels Bet on the New Road Warriors

Business travel is nearly back – but with an asterisk. Road warriors aren't taking as many trips, longer stays are becoming the norm, and traveler health is a primary focus. So, for those hotels willing to pivot, there’s an opening to snag these lucrative guests. -Sean O'Neill

EasyHotel Chain Says It’s Exploring a Sale

A news report put the potential valuation at roughly $500 million, but that would mark a big jump from the value before the pandemic of just $170 million. -Sean O'Neill

Britain’s summer weather has improved, but many holiday operators are still gloomy

Owners of hotels and rental cottages say the cost of living crisis has depressed bookings this year

‘It has been awful,” said Russell Beale, who has been running a holiday cottage sleeping four on the Devon coast for 14 years. “Typically, we’re let for 26-34 weeks a year and full from Easter until the end of September. This year we’ve had less than 10 weeks of bookings.”

As the summer weather improved in August, he said, things had picked up a bit: “People seem to be leaving it really, really late.” Continue reading...

Archer Aviation Raises $230 Million to Deploy Flying Taxis in 2026: Startup Funding Roundup

Travel startups announced fundraises over the last week exceeding $400 million. -Justin Dawes

‘Everything carries a hint of myth and magic’: six great island escapes in Europe

From the Med to the Atlantic and the North Sea, our writers choose great offshore idylls offering peace and perfect beaches

Gaze west from one of the crows-nest hilltops on Monteagudo (“Sharp Mount”) island, and you can just about imagine the rooftops of Atlantis beneath the Atlantic swell. One of the three islands that comprise the Islas Cíes archipelago, about nine miles off the Galician coast, it is where Captain Nemo, hero of Jules Verne’s 1871 novel Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, salvaged the treasure that funded his adventures. Continue reading...

Hotel Manager Highgate Shifts Strategy Amid Uneven Business Travel Recovery

The U.S. business travel recovery has been uneven. New York City? Thriving. San Francisco? Not so much. But the hotel manager giant Highgate sees signs for optimism.
-Sean O'Neill

Las Vegas Tourism Agency to Spend $1.7 Million on Formula 1 Tickets

Las Vegas is betting nearly $2 million on Formula 1 tickets to woo airlines and showcase the city’s high-stakes potential. The gamble comes as demand for the race shows signs of faltering. -Dawit Habtemariam

Flyr Just Raised $295 Million: CEO Alex Mans Tells Us What’s Next

Flyr CEO Alex Mans isn't afraid to call out the old guard as he harnesses AI to shake-up the antiquated world of airline technology. -Gordon Smith

Ten great ideas for August bank holiday

From wild days in Sussex to a Fab Four fest in Merseyside, there’s something for all the family in our pick of upcoming events

Grab one of the remaining tickets for nature and wellbeing festival Into the Wild, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. For three days, the Chiddinglye estate becomes an enchanting playground with world and folk music performed in woodland surroundings (including the bands Folkadelix and Mobius Loop), yoga, dance, theatre and wild crafts. Workshops and talks will focus on our relationship with the natural world, from experts such as rewilder Derek Gow and conservationist Benedict Macdonald. It’s a family favourite, with endless entertainment for kids (run by Lewes Youth Theatre) or the chance to just run wild in a beautiful spot. It’s alcohol-free (but there’s an excellent microbrewery in an adjacent field), and parties continue into the night with silent discos and DJs.
23-26 August, weekend tickets £160, £75 youth, £399 family, under-fives free, intothewildgathering.com Continue reading...

350+ Travel Stats, Booking Vs. Expedia and Nashville’s Edge

Today's podcast looks at Skift Research's latest mega-report on the state of travel, the marketing battles of Expedia and Booking Holdings, and new goals for Nashville. -Rashaad Jorden

Despegar Sells Destination Unit to Iberostar Group, 600 Employees Transfer

If this deals truly helps Despegar better focus on its core services — selling travel — then it would seem to make sense. In the process, Despegar gets leaner. -Dennis Schaal

Nashville Owns the Country Music Tourist – Can it Compete Globally With Mega Events?

Nashville’s ambition to host mega events shows it wants to be a major player. But while the city’s rebranding is attracting more diverse visitors, the real challenge lies in breaking free from its roots. -Dawit Habtemariam

Marketing Wars: Booking vs. Expedia – Who Spends Smarter?

In 2023, Booking and Expedia spent a combined $13 billion on marketing, with Booking demonstrating better efficiency and global reach. While both still invest heavily in Google, they're shifting towards alternative marketing strategies like price discounting and B2B channels. -Pranavi Agarwal

EL AL Signs its Biggest Boeing Order Ever as Profits Soar

EL AL is doubling down with Boeing as it places the largest single order in the Israeli airline's history. -Gordon Smith

How an ebike gave me the legs to tackle Switzerland’s contours

A new 240-mile cycle route from Lucerne includes spectacular alpine views and pastoral backcountry – with delicious local cheese and wine

With relatively few cars and roads as smooth as a Federer serve, Switzerland seems engineered for a low-carbon cycling holiday. Indeed, the Swiss government has launched a number of new cycle routes in recent years – including cycle route 1291.

Named after Switzerland’s founding year, route 1291 wraps around the heart of old Switzerland: the three founding cantons of Unterwalden (now Obwalden and Nidwalden), Uri, and Schwyz, as well as Lucerne. Starting and ending in the city of Lucerne, it runs through picturesque countryside for 240 miles. Sounds dreamy, but there’s just one problem: those mountains. Continue reading...

Capital One to the Rescue? Inspirato Looks for Boost Through Its Strategic Partner

The new CEO will have to figure out exactly what Inspirato will be. Is it the "luxury hospitality company" of 2019, the "innovative luxury travel club" of 2024, or something else. -Dennis Schaal

Las Vegas Sphere Sees Revenue Rise as it Hopes to Go Global

In recent months, the Las Vegas Sphere has been selling over $1 million a day in tickets, on average. But is that enough to recoup its $2.3 billion cost? -Jesse Chase-Lubitz

TUI Gains from Experience Sales and FTI Collapse

TUI reported another record-breaking quarter with sales of tours and activities helping to boost profitability. TUI also gained from the collapse of smaller rival FTI. -Jesse Chase-Lubitz

Southwest Braced for Boardroom Battle as Activist Investor Nominates 10 New Members

As industry veterans, Elliott Investment Management's 10 candidates have the potential to radically shake-up the 15-person Southwest board. -Gordon Smith

‘I lost my balance in excitement!’: a paddleboarding adventure along the Welsh coast

Stand-up paddleboarding is among the most popular water sports in the UK. Navigating idyllic beaches from Llandudno to Cardiff, the author of a new guide to paddling in Wales discovers routes to suit all levels

I arrived in Llandudno, north Wales, to blue skies, warm sunshine and a gentle breeze. A surge of optimism washed over me. The castellated bulk of Great Orme headland loomed to my left, the gentler outline of Little Orme to my right. Over the next six months, I would explore most of the 1,680 miles of Wales’s coastline for a new book charting the best places in the country to paddleboard (or canoe or kayak). I was hoping to spot some of the dolphins and porpoises that inhabit these waters on the way.

I hadn’t paddled in Wales since 2011, when I was battered by storms and sea sickness. With sturdier sea legs, an array of navigational gear and a van set up for some comfortable night-time stops, I completed my warm-up around the Great Orme before heading straight to Anglesey (Ynys Môn), the island whose waters had bested me before. This time, paddleboarding from the Britannia Bridge to Beaumaris, past beautiful islets and the romantic turrets of Château Rhianfa, ended not in a cold swim but with a visit to the excellent Central Bakery. (If you’re not sure about going it alone, try local guide Sian, based by the Menai Strait.) Continue reading...

Skift IDEA Awards 2024: Meet the Winners

The travel industry’s most coveted award for excellence in design, creativity, and innovation once again celebrates the brands and businesses that are redefining the future of travel. Discover the final results and meet the 2024 winners. -Adam Stacey

These Dubai Mega Projects Were Left For Dead – Now They’re Back

A combined 160 hotels are planned for Dubai Islands and Palm Jebel Ali. -Josh Corder

GetYourGuide Partners With Eurowings to Pair Experiences with Airline Booking

GetYourGuide seeks to strengthen its airline collaborations with Eurowings integration, boosting customer experience. -Jesse Chase-Lubitz

Adapting to the Evolving Preferences of Indian Travelers

Indian travelers are evolving, and companies need to keep up! -Peden Doma Bhutia

In search of Monet’s wild landscapes: a glorious art adventure in central France

Rouen, Paris and London are more well-known Monet destinations, but rural La Creuse’s rugged gorges, spectacular lake and medieval castle really captivated the artist

As my train inched its way into the station at La Souterraine, some three hours south of Paris on a blisteringly hot June afternoon, the woman in the seat next to me asked: “Vous descendez ici?” Her expression seemed to say “Really? You’re getting off here?”

I could see what she meant. Behind the wire fencing lining the platform lay a handful of industrial buildings alongside nondescript looking farmland. Continue reading...

Disney Announces Expansion in Cruises, Gaming and Parks

As Disney's park attendance shows signs of softening, the company is betting on cruises and digital engagement to sustain its growth. -Jesse Chase-Lubitz

Q&A: How Global Hotel Alliance Has Empowered Independent Hotel Brands for 20 Years

As Global Hotel Alliance celebrates its 20th anniversary, CEO Chris Hartley reflects on the journey of becoming the world’s largest collection of independent hotel brands, what makes the GHA model different, and how independent hotels can stay ahead in a competitive market. -Global Hotel Alliance

Oyo Raises $175 Million in Latest Funding Round, Valuation Sinks to $2.4 Billion

Oyo’s significantly reduced valuation could imply a delay in IPO plans until market conditions and investor confidence improve. -Peden Doma Bhutia

India’s Surging Role in Global Tourism: Key Insights from Earnings Calls

The travel industry is making a global shift to capture India’s booming outbound tourism. From hotels and airlines to credit cards and digital platforms, everyone’s racing to cater to this surging wave of Indian travelers. As the market soars, the India opportunity is simply too big to ignore. -Peden Doma Bhutia

A greener Spanish city break: electric boats, birds and rice fields in Valencia

Traffic-free central squares, a huge urban park and a protected nature reserve reachable by bike all add up to make Valencia this year’s European Green Capital

The temperature gauge flashes 34C when I arrive in Valencia. It’s mid-June in Spain’s third-largest city, and the streets are humming with people and cars. I feel my body tense as I wait in a crowd to cross an enormous road, ambulance sirens ringing around me and neon shop signs flashing.

I’m not a city person. I spent my early 20s studying in central London, and ever since, the thought of a city break makes me shudder. I prefer the open spaces of the mountains, or the cool breeze and empty beaches of a quiet coastal town. But when I heard that Valencia, the capital of the region I grew up in, was named European Green Capital 2024, I was intrigued. Could a densely populated city – synonymous in my mind with concrete, fumes and noise – ever be green? I took the bus from my home town, 80 miles south of Valencia, to find out. Continue reading...

Travel Startups Raised $240 Million This Week

One startup fundraise this week — the largest yet this year — also outdid the top two deals in 2023 by GetYourGuide and Klook. -Justin Dawes

We Ask Five Airline CEOs What They Really Think About AI

Airlines comes in all shapes and sizes, and so do the real world applications for artificial intelligence. We sat down with five aviation leaders to find out how they think the new technology will impact their business. -Gordon Smith

Luarca, a summertime secret on Spain’s cooler northern costa

Spanish holidays needn’t mean battling crowded beaches and blistering heat. In this small fishing village, flanked by green hills and some of the nicest beaches in Asturias, the pace of life is slow even in summer


Spain’s love-hate relationship with tourism reaches boiling point on its costas each summer. It’s scorching, the beaches are packed and the mood can be frantic. Tourists from Spain and abroad flock to the seaside to relax, but can soon resort to mild aggression when it comes to scoring a decent spot on the beach or a parking space. Workers suffer through long, sweaty shifts and struggle to find decent accommodation in many hotspots during peak season.

Meanwhile, in cities such as Barcelona, locals spray water guns at lunching visitors while chanting “Tourists go home!” Even on Spain’s rainier, less visited north coast, grumpy locals are often heard moaning about the madrileños who come north to escape the summer heat. But the Spanish coast still holds some secrets, even in the middle of summer: places where tourists can unwind without any hassle and locals seem genuinely happy to host them. One such place is Luarca, a small fishing village in Asturias. Continue reading...

Twin border towns reunited in Italy and Slovenia for capital of culture

Gorizia was split down the middle in 1947 between Italy and Slovenia. Next year the two towns will come together again as European capital of culture

The sunny terrace of Mama Angela wine bar is the perfect spot from which to appreciate the splendour of Gorizia’s Piazza della Vittoria. My train from Venice took more than two hours to chug its way here, and I now find it hard to believe I am still in Italy. I’m sipping a delicious Slovene orange wine, other customers are mostly chatting in local dialect and Slovenian, and across the square are a glorious baroque church, a monumental Neptune fountain and romantic pastel palaces, all dating from when this was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

But the glory days of Victory Square are long gone. For the moment, Gorizia is one of those rare hidden gems that is simply not on the radar of most tourists, or even most Italians. At the end of the second world war, the city was unceremoniously split between post-Mussolini Italy and communist Yugoslavia. A brutal metal barrier, topped with barbed wire and patrolled by armed soldiers, separated homes and families, as happened in Berlin, but this town’s fate had little attention from the world’s media. All that is set to change. Continue reading...

Exploring the quieter side of the Cyclades on a Greek island hopping holiday

The party island of Mykonos steals the spotlight, but a short ferry ride away, tranquil Tinos and Delos offer ancient history, holy sites and rugged beauty

A woman crawls, slowly – very slowly – along the pavement. She’s wearing kneepads. Before her walks her husband, carrying a red candle as tall as himself. On the main steps to the church of Panagia Evangelistria, we pass two more people proceeding on hands and knees. But this is not a surprise: we are on the island of Tinos, outside one of the holiest sites in Greece. If we’d come in August, there’d have been many more pilgrims crawling uphill, over 800m, all the way from the island’s main port, in sweltering heat.

The church they’re inching towards is a neoclassical marble beauty with wedding-cake decorations of blue and red. Inside, black-cloaked priests chant in candlelight and clouds of incense. Even for the irreligious, it’s a moving experience to see pilgrims, many of them now in tears, queueing to kiss the holy icon, said to have been discovered after a local nun had a vision from the Virgin Mary. Continue reading...

‘Scotland in miniature’: why the Isle of Arran is perfect for a family holiday

With its mysterious stones, fairytale waterfalls and dinosaur footprints, Arran is a magical playground for children

As we climb up to Eas Mor waterfall in the south of the island of Arran, I pause to read the words carved into a fallen tree across our path: “Bow your head for you enter sacred and magical lands.” There’s a lot about Arran that is sacred and magical. Growing up in Glasgow, I went to the island several times as a child, played mini golf at Brodick and spent hours combing beaches for perfectly smooth, multicoloured stones. My husband’s family used to decamp from London for long summer holidays too: stories of three-year-olds trudging up Goatfell – the island’s tallest peak at 874 metres – are the stuff of family fable.

We have two children of our own now – Henry, eight, and Isobel, five – and we brought them back to this beautiful Firth of Clyde island in May half-term. Arran is often dubbed “Scotland in miniature”, but that is especially true and pertinent for families. You can be there in about two hours from Glasgow, and the island’s main road is a continuous 55-mile loop around its coast, taking in wild beaches, misty castles, whisky distilleries and looming granite mountains. Continue reading...

The bucket and spade list: 10 new reasons to visit the British seaside this summer

From snorkel trails and seafood restaurants to maritime festivals and a ‘museum of fun’, here’s what’s new and exciting around the UK coast

I love walking in Blackpool. The stroll along the prom takes time and a bit of effort – it’s almost three miles from the South Shore to the Grand Hotel – and takes me past three piers and more than a century of architecture including Victorian, art deco, modern and postwar municipal. In her 2023 novel Pleasure Beach, Helen Palmer pastiches Joyce’s Ulysses: her home town perfectly suits its promiscuous, genre-hopping, list-loving energy. The expanses of sand, big skies and far horizons of the Irish Sea always distract and calm the soul. Continue reading...