China’s Covid Lessons and 9 Other Top Travel Stories This Week

Throughout the week we are posting original stories night and day covering news and travel trends, including on the impact of coronavirus. Every weekend we will offer you a chance to read the most essential stories again in case you missed them earlier.

China’s Hotel Recovery Falls Off Rails Amid New Coronavirus Flare-Ups: All eyes have been on China in terms of its travel recovery. While China’s hotel recovery faces a major setback now with a surge of new Covid-19 cases, the country is still likely to make a faster rebound than other parts of the world.

Amex GBT Confident of Corporate Travel’s Return With Latest Acquisition: It’s a strategic move to get a better foothold in the small and medium-sized company sector, and the future will be smaller.

Amadeus’ First Travel Tech School Will Open Soon on Spain’s Canary Islands: Amadeus will soon open an educational program for travel careers at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The plan is for employees and professors to use virtual reality tools and other technology to train students. If it works, it could address a yawning skills gap in the labor market.

United Airlines Looks Abroad (Eventually) for Travel Recovery Profits: United Airlines executives are betting that structural changes on the international front mean it can emerge larger and stronger from the pandemic. But this won’t occur until travelers return in significant numbers, something they don’t expect for some months.

How U.S. Travel Policies Change in the Biden-Harris Era: On day one, travel executives will see policies from White House that will give them renewed hope that the world will be more open and soon safer from a deadly pandemic. Four contentious years will be in the past and a steadiness returned from which to rebuild a devastated industry.

Vegan Tourism Set to Be Travel’s Greener Shoot With a New Emphasis on Health: Well past the days of being a fringe diet, veganism has emerged as a tool for tour operators to attract guests to its excursions. And vegan-friendly tours are set to increase in years to come after pandemic.

Transportation Will Play Vital Role in Pandemic Recovery, Buttigieg Vows During Hearing: Confirmation hearings can be contentious, but Thursday’s hearing to confirm Pete Buttigieg as the nation’s first open LGBTQ cabinet member seemed more like a gathering of old friends. But Buttigieg was clear: transportation can play a leading role in bringing the country back.

Travel Megatrends 2025: Product Mediocrity Seeds a New Era of Travel Industry Disruption: If airlines and hotels end up cutting back too much, they would risk providing plenty of opportunities for new companies to emerge, fill gaps, and gobble up market share. But a faster recovery in corporate travel would make this issue moot for a lot of companies.

Will Biden’s Mask Mandate Make Life Easier for U.S. Airline Workers?: Unions have said this could all be rectified with a mask mandate, laying out the requirements in black and white. But the Trump administration’s Transportation Department remained deaf to their pleas.

Onfly Raises Funds for Brazilian Business Travel: Travel Startup Funding This Week: This week, travel startups announced more than $176 million in funding. Concepts included corporate travel, hotel robots, and channel management for vacation rentals.