Americans spent a record $18.3 billion traveling abroad in September, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office’s latest data.
International travelers spent $18.8 billion in September on travel to, and tourism-related activities within, the U.S. That’s up 24% from the year prior and the highest level of monthly spending since December 2019, the month before the onset of Covid-19 cases.
Between January and September, international travelers spent more than $156 billion, up nearly 32% from the same period last year. On average, international travelers spent nearly $572 million per day.
With regard to strictly purchases in September, international travelers spent $10.8 billion on lodging, food, gifts and other goods and services, up from $8.2 billion last year.
Air New Zealand will be collaborating with Kiwi fashion designer Emilia Wickstead on the design of its next uniform.
Credit: Air New Zealand
Emilia was selected following a pitch process involving a number of native designers – all tasked with creating a uniform based on select criteria, including sustainability, functionality, safety, and te ao Māori – or a respect of Māori customs and protocols.
“I could not be prouder, or more excited, to have been selected as Air New Zealand’s next uniform designer. This is a true passion project for me; one that further connects me with my homeland Aotearoa, and the community and places that I love,” Emilia was quoted in a press release.
Take a look at the post below from Air New Zealand regarding the launch, and why this project is so important to Emilia:
The carrier and Emilia will now work on a process to refine the designs, with onboard trials and consultations set to take place before unveiling the final design in late 2024.
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The problem surfaced in late Summer — Booking.com’s short-term rental hosts in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America cited financial hardships because the company wasn’t paying them for guest stays.
A condo hotel that was listed on Booking.com. Source: Booking.com
CEO Glenn Fogel told financial analysts last week during Booking Holdings’ third quarter earnings call that Booking.com would begin letting partners know that compensation is on the way.
Missed Host Payments
“During the quarter, some of our partners at Booking.com experienced delayed payments due to a planned upgrade to our finance and payment platforms in early July,” Fogel said. “We’ve now cleared the backlog of outstanding payment issues related to the system upgrade. We plan to provide compensation to partners who experienced an extended delay, and we recorded this in our Q3 results. We plan to communicate to all partners who were impacted by these payment delays within the next few days.”
The company won’t specify precisely how much it would be shelling out to hosts as compensation.
A spokesperson said the amount of the payments are “meaningful, not material.”
In-House Payment System Is Strategic Priority
When the reports of missed payments for hosts first surfaced several months ago, the company downplayed the issue.
But in addition to the financial pain it inflicted on hosts, the snafu was an embarrassment to the company because it has been developing its own payments system over the last few years as a strategic imperative.
Fogel: We did a very, very large change in our backend financial systems. Some things didn’t work so well. You do everything you can to make sure it’s going to be perfect. Wasn’t. Some people didn’t get paid a very, very, very small percentage. But even one person is one too many.
We have two types of customers. We’ve got the travelers and we’ve got the partners. And if we don’t provide good service to them, that’s on us. We screw it up, and there were mistakes. And if you don’t pay a very large company so much, well, it’s not a big deal.
By the way, in our agency business where we get paid by the partner who sends us money afterwards our commission, sometimes we don’t get paid on time either. So 30 days late, 60 days late, 90 days late, and during the pandemic, we didn’t get paid at all. Happens. This is not a pandemic, this is a mistake. And the thing is, for the smaller partners, partners that were really depending on that payment, I just felt so horrible.
Schaal: What kind of redress can you have for them?
Fogel: First thing is get their money as fast as you can, as fast as you can. And I’ll tell you, I get emails and I’ve read them and they are really heartbreaking. You just feel horrible when you do something wrong. And we have fixed it, it’s good now. But I’ll tell you, this is something where I say to the team, and I say that … I spoke out at a town hall for all of our 20 something thousand employees.
And I told them about this. I said, “Look, this is not the way we want to be. We got to do better. We should not ever, ever feel that this is OK.” Well, it’s only a small number of partners. That’s the wrong attitude. It’s always got to be, every partner counts. So the lesson from it was we have to do better.
Credit: Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi at Al Maryah Island
The ‘Sustainable Art Awareness Project’ features the works of Lebanese-born Emirati artist Noura Ali Ramahi, and has been designed to support local artists who embrace sustainable art practices.
The exhibition will be on display within the public areas of the hotel through November 30, with a special event with the artist taking place on November 13 to coincide with World Kindness Day.
According to a release, Ramahi’s commitment to eco-friendly art mediums dates back to 2018, and sees her draw inspiration from her daily routine. However it is her use of everyday materials – such as wax paper from cheese, cardboard from packages, or retail paper bags – that give her work real impact.
“At Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi, we are strongly committed to sustainability and run several ESG initiatives. As a part of our work with community, the artworks of local talents and artisans are featured throughout the Hotel, including more than 2,000 pieces displayed in public areas and in each guest room and suite. On this World Kindness Day, in collaboration with Noura Ali Ramahi we would like to inspire our guests to make a positive impact on our planet. Through Noura’s innovative use of materials and her profound message of kindness towards nature, she inspires us all to make a difference.” says Bob Suri, general manager, Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi at Al Maryah Island.
Skift Ideasuncovers the most creative and forward-thinking innovations happening across travel. We celebrate innovation through our Skift IDEA Awards and hear from leaders on our Ideas podcast.
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Sculptor “bought about half of the €270 million ($290 million) of loans previously owned by UniCredit SpA in recent weeks,” Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
AccorInvest wants to sell more than $2 billion of hotels in Europe and Latin America and extend the maturity of more than $4 billion of debt.
AccorInvest is a hotel owner and operator that, as of September, runs about 750 hotels. Accor, on the other hand, creates and manages brands and a loyalty program while also offering technology and other services.
About two-thirds of European destinations remain below their pre-pandemic number of international tourist arrivals, according to the European Travel Commission’s quarterly report released Tuesday. The report covered the first nine months of 2023.
The destinations most far off from 2019 levels were Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania because of the Ukraine-Russia war. All three countries rely heavily on Russian tourists.
Overall, Europe is 3.2% off and 1.3% off from its 2019 international tourist arrivals and overnight stays, respectively.
Some destinations are seeing a strong comeback. One in three surpassed their 2019 international tourist numbers. Intra-European travel and American tourists have been the key drivers. The boom was most apparent in Southern and European destinations, notably Greece, Portugal, Turkey, Malta, Montenegro, and Serbia.
The European Travel Commission expects a full recovery in 2024 despite persistent inflation and geopolitical instability.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand unveiled a new marketing campaign “Meaningful Relationship” at the World Travel Market event in London on Monday.
The heart of the campaign is to encourage tourists to create more than just travel memories, it’s about fostering connections with the people, communities, nature and Thailand itself.
The “Meaningful Relationship” campaign seeks to tap into this shift, inspiring travelers to form connections that transcend the ordinary and ultimately foster a bond with oneself.
The Film
The advertising film features tourists from Korea, France, and Portugal, showcasing the attractions of Kanchanaburi, Chumphon, Nakhon Phanom, and the vibrant metropolis of Bangkok.
Thapanee Kiatphaibool, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, shared the campaign’s vision, stating, “The new ‘Meaningful Relationship’ marketing communication concept is designed to encourage travelers to engage in a meaningful connection, whether it is with themselves, the local people, the community, nature, or even with Thailand. When travelers form a relationship with the people they meet and the place they visit, they will have an opportunity to create lifelong friends, cherished recollections, and enjoyable moments.”
Moreover, December will also witness the launch of the “Thailand Always Cares” campaign, emphasizing Thailand’s commitment to ensuring a memorable experience for tourists.
Latest Tourism Figures from Thailand
Thailand’s ambitious goal is to attract 25-30 million tourists and generate THB 1.5 trillion ($43 billion) in revenue by the end of this year.
According to the latest available data, in the first 10 months of 2023 (January 1-October 31), Thailand recorded over 21.6 million arrivals and generated over THB 927 billion ($26 billion) in tourism revenue. The top five source markets being Malaysia, China, South Korea, India and Russia.
The 2024 target is set at total revenue of THB 3 trillion ($84 billion) with THB 1.92 trillion ($54 billion) coming from the international market.
After granting visa free entry to Chinese tourists from September onwards, Thailand announced last week that it would grant visa-free entry to citizens from India and Taiwan from November 10 till May 2024.
Emirates has announced that its first flights operating with sustainable aviation fuel in the Emirates have taken place, with Emirates’ flight EK 412 bound for Sydney departing Dubai International Airport on 24 October.
315,000 gallons of blended sustainable aviation fuel has been provided to the airline’s hub in Dubai by Shell, and according to a release, has enabled the airline to ‘power a number of missions’ over the course of the last few weeks.
The supplied blend has chemical characteristics that are identical to conventional jet fuel, which means that integrating the fuel into the existing infrastructure and aircraft engines can be seamlessly actioned with no modifications required.
Credit: Emirates
“We’re pushing ahead with proactive measures to enable more sustainable flying now and in the future, and powering flights from our Dubai hub is just one of the steps we’ve taken to reduce emissions and concretely help our customers minimize their own carbon footprint. We still have a long road ahead, and we hope that our partnership with Shell Aviation inspires more producers to address the supply gaps and make SAF readily available in major hubs like Dubai, as well as other points on our network,” said Sir Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline.
Skift Ideasuncovers the most creative and forward-thinking innovations happening across travel. We celebrate innovation through our Skift IDEA Awards and hear from leaders on our Ideas podcast.
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Generator Group has completed a refinancing deal worth approximately $805 million (€750 million) with new and existing lenders across Europe and the US. Generator Group, which owns or runs 21 hotels, has seen strong results following the pandemic, giving its owner Queensgate the ability to refinance the group’s global debt.
Described as “one of the largest and most innovative real estate financings that the market has seen in years,” by Queensgate Investments CEO Jason Kow, different debt facilities have been used for different arms of the business.
For the Europe business, firm Ares Management backed private bond issuances and debt facilities in Pounds, Euros and Danish Krone of approximately $472 million (€440 million). While in the US, existing lenders Waterfall Asset Management and Värde Partner backed US debt facilities of around $330 million.
At the start of October, Generator gave a financial update, showing it is on track to produce revenues of about $238 million (€225 million) this year — 25% more than its revenues before the pandemic.
With the new refinancing scheme, Generator said that it is “now armed to continue its strategy of superlative organic growth.”
Saudi Arabian development group Red Sea Global has created its own luxury hotel brand called Shebara. The Shebara brand will be deployed for the upcoming Sheybarah Island resort – seen as the most exclusive of the current 16-property lineup in the archipelago development.
Opening next summer, the resort contains 73 keys, including overwater and beach villas and guests arrive either by a 45-minute boat ride from the mainland or 20 minutes by seaplane. The resort has been designed by renowned firm Killa, behind the Museum of the Future in Dubai, and is most recognizable for its stainless steel orbs which act as private villas.
The Shebara Resort will be run by Red Sea Global, meaning the firm both owns and manages the asset. Last month, RSG also announced it would self-operate a private island project called Thuwal Island near the Red Sea Project.
It is the latest hotel brand to come out of Saudi Arabia. At the start of last year, Boutique Group was announced: A hotel brand designed to repurpose former palaces and government buildings into luxury hotels. Both Shebara and Boutique Group come under the ownership of the vast Public Investment Fund.
Much like how Jumeirah Group has become a showcase of Dubai’s approach to Arabian hospitality, Red Sea Global hopes Shebara will do the same for Saudi.
RSG CEO John Pagano said: “Shebara is a beacon for all that RSG stands for, showcasing the very best in Saudi hospitality while setting new standards in responsible development and sustainable operations.”
