The Cruise Quandary 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 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.

The Lasting Impact of a Year With No Cruises: The world’s three largest cruise lines are desperate to stop their $60 billion financial bleed. Destinations have experienced life without megaships for more than year. Is this the end of mass cruising as we knew it or can cruise lines find a place in a more balanced and diversified tourism economy?

UK Aims to Restart Some International Travel for Britons by May 17: Britons will have to wait a bit longer to find out where they can travel starting May 17. But it seems likely they’ll have to consider different destinations than their past preferences, given that the UK government seems likely to loosen restrictions for countries with high vaccination rates.

Hipmunk Co-Founders Debut Next-Gen Flight Search Tool to Skirt Online Travel ‘Collusion':  A new business model shall set you free. That’s the underpinning of Flight Penguin, with the former Hipmunk gang vowing to overturn the coziness between online travel players and their big-spending partners. Google, Kayak and Expedia have nothing to fear; they will hardly notice.

4 Charts Showing the Massive Global Travel Opportunity: Courtesy of Trip.com IPO Filing: As many private equity and other investors will tell you, massive opportunities remain in the travel industry over the long term. The travel market will undeniably look very different in 2025 than it does today. But if you believe Trip.com’s projections, boom times are ahead for many companies.

Emirates Wants to Shake Up Ticket Sales Through Closer Ties to Travel Agencies: Emirates is one of the largest airlines yet to try to shake up how tickets are sold worldwide. Sabre is at the negotiation table to avoid a content cutoff in July, while other tech partners and travel agencies are still figuring out how to adapt to the new commercial model.

Hilton Sets Leadership Diversity Goals Ahead of Hotels Jobs Revival: Diversity in leadership makes a company better — period. While to be commended for laying the groundwork for advancing diversity when hiring picks back up, Hilton and other hotel companies can’t stop with their latest diversity targets. This needs to be a long-term initiative across the entire industry.

Luxury Hotel Development Leans More on Having Condos in the Mix: When in doubt, condo it out: Investors sleep a little easier knowing there’s a more reliable income stream like high-end housing attached to a hotel project.

Short-Term Rental Sector Sees More Consolidation as Tech Startup Guesty Buys Rival MyVR: Venture capitalists see compelling prospects in startups that serve property rental businesses. The latest merger among these startups underscores the broader boom in short-term rentals and vacation rentals.

90 Percent of Global Travelers Would Embrace Health Passports to Jumpstart Travel: Amadeus Study: It’s interesting to hear that travelers are open to digital health passports, once the right safeguards are in place to protect their data. But it still remains unclear who will pay for and manage the vaccination certifications.

Hertz Selects Centerbridge to Lead Its Reorganization From Bankruptcy: Suddenly Hertz, the beleaguered car-rental firm forced into bankruptcy, is being wooed like it’s the last case of Budweiser on a deserted island. Investors see opportunity in an emerging new Hertz.