Lebawit Lily Girma

The region's tourism vulnerability to the pandemic will continue to impact its full economic recovery as source markets increasingly restrict travel due to a fast spreading and little-understood Omicron variant. Now is the time for a good number of islands to double down on their lagging vaccine access and uptake.

The holidays continue to point to friends and family reunions and as a result, soaring backyard tourism — in the U.S., but also beyond.

Here's to hoping we don't see another one of these anytime soon. Host communities everywhere, irrespective of the destination's income level or racial makeup, are the face and the raison d'être of this global tourism industry — and they deserve better.

This one-day negative test requirement for international visitation to the U.S., which reopened fully less than a month ago, will be watched closely by the U.S. travel sector, wary that the restart of its recovery will now stall.

It's a strong sign that domestic tourism will continue to dominate over the holidays and into next year, particularly with the uncertainty looming over international travel with the Omicron variant.

From consumer confidence to tourism board revenues potentially taking another big hit, the tourism industry continues to be at risk, especially with a new set of unknowns surrounding Covid's newest variant. It's not too late for travel leaders to demand urgent global vaccine distributions.

A government bailout always helps, but the recovery of Portugal's home airline points to the benefit of serving resilient markets in South America and Africa.

Destinations continue to push out some of the best tourism marketing campaigns we've seen since the big pandemic pause.

Alternative fuel sources are urgently needed, yes. But the cruise lines’ woes go well beyond emissions and remain unaddressed, even if CLIA now recognizes that really big ships aren't suitable for certain destinations. With climate change finally front and center, will more governments restrict megaships and regulate various impacts on host communities?

Travel and tourism in the U.S. is breathing a huge sigh of relief today as vaccinated international travelers start their return. But as we've learned from Covid, the outcome will intertwined with an ongoing pandemic and persistent vaccine inequity.