Taxing Overtourism and 14 Other Tourism Trends This Week

The Paradox of Taxing Travelers for Overtourism: Are destinations taxing visitors because they don’t want them to show up? Actually, the conversation around tourism taxes shows that it’s not really fewer visitors that destinations want — it’s more resources and management tools to deal with them properly.

Why Is the U.S. Never Deemed ‘Unsafe’ as a Travel Destination? In the wake of a tragedy, destinations are hugely beholden to the public perception of how safe it is to travel there, regardless of the reality on the ground. But the United States — which has experienced more mass shootings than there are days in 2019 — is unfairly exempt from that struggle.

Look Who’s Issuing Travel Advisories Now for the U.S. Since Dayton and El Paso: In the wake of the mass shootings that claimed 31 lives in early August, several authorities have issued travel alerts for travelers headed to the U.S. Whether it’s a statement or a matter of safety — or both — it’s significant.

Sri Lanka Boldly Asks Online Travel Agencies to Cut Commissions to Help Revive Tourism: Of the several measures to bring arrivals back to pre-Easter bombing levels, a tireless Sri Lanka is asking online travel agencies to slash commissions. It might be better to ask them instead to do a free or at-cost campaign to drive bookings to the country.

Lessons From a Destination’s Crisis Recovery in Asia: It’s understandable that Sri Lanka wants arrivals to return to pre-Easter bombing levels soonest. The challenge is knowing what measures are needed, amid the sense of urgency that can cloud the mind.

UK Ends Its Relationship With European Rail Pass Interrail on Eve of Brexit: Britain’s Rail Development Group contends it’s not leaving the Interrail scheme for reasons related to Brexit. But the optics and timing of the move aren’t great — not to mention it goes against several global trends in travel at the moment.

Norwegian Cruise Line Adapts to Disruptions From Cuba Travel Ban: Norwegian Cruise Line’s outlook remains bright, despite the industrywide challenge of the Cuba ban in early June.

Namibia Lures New Travelers Seeking Desert Solitude: It would be easy to see Namibia’s ascent as a run of great PR, but the country has been playing a long game to attract visitors from around the world. And now there’s both more access and new product to match rising demand from travelers who crave isolation — not to mention social media cred.

Hertz and Avis Double Down on Ridehailing Strategy: It’s been hard for car rental companies to adapt to disruptors like Uber and Lyft, but their recent strategies show promise.

Travel Advisors See Growing Demand for Women-Only Tours That Promote Empowerment: A proliferation of women-only tours reflects the fact that women are a driving force behind the trend for experiential and adventure-oriented travel. The tours enable participants to interact with women from cultures far different than their own.

Caribbean Woes Send Travel Advisors Searching for Plan B: Highly publicized incidents and policy changes surrounding some of the Caribbean’s most popular destinations are putting a snafu in travel plans. As always, travel advisors need to roll with the punches and find workable alternatives for clients.

Travel Advisors Scramble to Find Alternatives for Caribbean-Bound Clients: In the age of mass media, word of incidents in travel destinations quickly spread across the globe, and travel advisors need to be prepared to handle client requests for changes in their wake. It’s important for advisors to start looking for backup plans when news begins to break.

Wellness Targets the Nightlife: Millennials and Gen Z don’t want to kill festivals and clubs with their wellness wants, but they do want the event spaces to keep up with the changing times.

Your Chance to Win All-Access Passes to Skift Global Forum: We have a great lineup of interviews and speakers for you at this year’s Skift Global Forum. And you and a colleague have a chance to attend for free this year.

What to Expect at Skift Global Forum 2019: We look forward to having you join us in New York for our sixth — and best ever — Skift Global Forum.