The Uncertain Future of Asia’s Elephant Tourism Biz and 17 Other Top Tourism Stories This Week

The Complicated Business of Saving Elephant Tourism: A Skift Deep Dive: Given the complexity of Asian elephant tourism, it’s natural for rifts to form. A lot of people want to do the right thing, but there are many issues that are still up in the air — and a lot of business is at stake.

Puerto Rico Aims to Boost Biz Travel With High-Tech Entertainment District: El Distrito is an ambitious plan, and the island is throwing an extraordinary amount of effort toward making it a success. This is something that matters to business leaders. Hopefully, visitors will have the same enthusiasm.

Domestic Travel Outlook Softens in Another Worrying Sign for U.S. Travel: Amid a softening forecast for domestic travel within the United States and red tape in Washington, D.C., Brand USA still needs a legislative path forward — and time is running out.

How Thomas Cook’s European Businesses Are Now Divvied Up Among Rivals: Thomas Cook collected its fair share of brands over the years. Now rivals are picking over what remains of the group.

Who Loves Travel Advisors the Most? It’s Millennials, Not Boomers: Emerging destinations and changes in travel styles are fueling a need for human interaction in the travel planning process among younger generations. Companies would be wise not to neglect the human element instead of betting the bank on booking and personalization technology alone.

Survey: Millennials Prefer Travel Advisor Expertise When It Comes to Planning: The experiential travel that millennials and other younger people crave may be best provided by professionals, not booking tools.

Why the Luxury Sabbatical Trend Looks Built to Last: This is only the beginning of the sabbatical movement — a flash point in which trends in work, mindfulness, technology, and access all come together. Expect high-end consumers to become accustomed to the idea of taking extended leaves with their family at regular intervals, especially as the millennial generation ages.

Luxury Travelers Taking a Shine to Sabbaticals: Recess isn’t just for schoolchildren anymore. Adults nowadays are starting to take recesses from work to travel the world, oftentimes with famiIy in tow.

5 Key Lessons From the World’s Largest Green Events Venue: The Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta is currently the biggest event space to be environmentally certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. The center has spent the past 10 years investing heavily in sustainability — and now acts as a blueprint for other convention centers.

How Atlanta’s Massive Conference Center Became So Environmentally Friendly: Even the biggest venues can be gentle on the climate. The Georgia World Conference Center went through a redesign about 10 years ago, and now is one of the most sustainable large venues in the world.

New Zealand Tourist Deaths Expose Liability Risks for Adventure Tourism: If tourists increasingly seek adventure when they travel, whose job is it to ensure they are adequately informed of the risks associated with doing so? It’s a tough question to answer.

What the UK Election Result Means for Travel and Tourism: Boris Johnson wants to get Brexit done, but in reality leaving the European Union will be a long and arduous process — and ultimately leave the country poorer. It’s going to be a rocky few years for the UK’s travel and tourism industry.

Ridehailing Competition Delivers Fatal Blow to Airport Transport Service SuperShuttle: This is yet another casualty of the Uber and Lyft era. Other airport shuttle services will likely be next.

Asian Travelers to Go Slow and Solo in 2020, Online Searches Reveal: Asian tourist behavior is changing, reflecting a more mindful — and responsible — traveler overall.

What Do Asian Travelers Want in 2020? In short, Asia’s travelers are looking to go far, far from the madding crowd.

Hong Kong’s High-Spending Outbound Travel Market Stays Firm: Hong Kong residents are still traveling despite protests that have been going on for six months — or perhaps because of them.

TUI Looks Set for a Challenging 2020 Even Without Competitor Thomas Cook: TUI continues to have ambitious plans, and its quest to move away from the traditional tour operating market seems sensible given the problems endured by one of its biggest competitors. But good intentions often get derailed by outside circumstances. Can it stay the course in 2020?

How Wellness Travel Became a Thing in the Past Decade: More people want wellness woven into their travel than ever before, whether through retreats or one-off experiences, and the trend will likely gain momentum in the next decade.