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Coronavirus and Travel

Coronavirus

How Travel Companies Are Handling Covid-Related Refunds Now

Covid is still wreaking havoc on many consumers' travel plans, but some companies act like that's not the case, considering the loops they're asking travelers to go through to get a refund.

Rashaad Jorden | 2 years ago

Cruises

The Highest Paid Cruise Industry CEOs

Everybody in the cruise business suffered during Covid except CEOs, it seemed. As passengers canceled or got sick, and workers got laid off, executive compensation topped 1,000 times the median worker's pay. Including tips.

Tim Mullaney, Skift | 2 years ago

News Blog

Desperate Hotels in a Rush Left to Hire Inexperienced Staff

Heavily-understaffed European hotel brands are now scrambling to hire workers, left with applicants with no experience or even no track record, according to Reuters. Accor needs 35,000 employees in the 110 countries that it operates in. The hotel brand has been conducting trial initiatives to recruit people who have never worked in the industry, Reuters…

Peden Doma Bhutia | 2 years ago

Startups

Borrow a Boat Raises $3.6 Million for Yacht-Rental Service: Travel Startup Funding This Week

In a quiet week for travel tech fundraising, highlights include a 3 million pound crowdfunding for a service that lets consumers rent a yacht to feel like, well, a yacht owner. Slowing venture capital returns may be a caution flag for deals later this year.

Tim Mullaney, Skift | 2 years ago

News Blog

China Cuts Quarantine Time for International Travelers to 7 Days

The National Health Commission of China has slashed the quarantine time for inbound travellers by half. International arrivals will now only need to spend seven days in a centralized quarantine facility, and then monitor their health at home for three days, down from seven previously. Relaxing its stringent zero-Covid policy has already spurred travel industry…

Matthew Parsons | 2 years ago

Airlines

U.S. to End Covid Test Requirement for Incoming Air Travelers

Airlines had been clamoring for the government to drop the pre-departure testing requirement for a long time, since they viewed it as a significant impediment to a complete recovery. Travelers aren't too sad about this development either.

Rashaad Jorden | 2 years ago

Business Travel

Trip.com Sees Biggest Business Travel Growth in China’s Second Cities

As for future business travel hotspots in China, plenty of gems come up in a new report published this week by Trip.Biz, the corporate travel division of Trip.com. It offers agencies real insight into the minds of business travelers, as well as opportunities to grow in a country that's ready to rebound after strict lockdowns.

Matthew Parsons | 2 years ago

Tourism

U.S. Travelers More Concerned About Costs Than Covid for First Time Since Pandemic

Americans are now saying that financial factors trump health and safety worries when it comes to travel decision-making. While some are staying home because they can't afford it, those determined to travel are finding ways to work around higher prices.

Mary Ann Ha | 2 years ago

Business Travel

Is WeWork Missing the Golden Opportunity for Remote Working?

The co-working giant posted a $504 million loss for the first quarter of this year, although the figures are heading in the right direction. But has it run out of steam after setting right so many wrongs in the past?

Matthew Parsons | 2 years ago

Travel Technology

An Artificial Intelligence Remedy to Ease Traffic Jam Madness This Summer

Travel reports are revealing that people are going to be spending more time on the road this year than during any other pandemic year. One company is introducing a new technology to make sure people are actually spending that time in transit, not at a traffic light.

Mary Ann Ha | 2 years ago

With road trips and domestic travel set to boom this summer, everyone is anticipating to see record levels of people on the road in 2022. While traffic jams seem inevitable in response to pent-up travel demand, a new machine-learning and artificial intelligence-based technology, comprised of a network of video and radar sensors, is proposing a solution to traffic congestion.

When traffic management company NoTraffic realized that the traffic light technology used today is severely outdated, it wanted to see if there was a better way of doing things — starting by combining the current hardware with a smarter software platform.

NoTraffic's new technology system is currently being sold to local governments and their departments of transportation, as they work with traffic engineers in the area to address specific needs of intersections and provide oversight to adjust visual meteorological condition algorithms as needed. The company is privately held and does not disclose financials.

“Most of the roadway algorithms today, while there are some pretty advanced, were developed in the '80s, and they all are based on history,” said Norman Tutnauer, chief business officer at NoTraffic. “We use artificial intelligence and machine learning to actually understand what’s happening now, not what happened five years ago, which isn’t even relevant to today.”

In the past, over 70 percent of intersections were not connected nor communicating with each other, and thus clueless of the activity happening between streets. Not only do NoTraffic’s cameras detect vehicles from farther distances than existing cameras, but they also provide a real-time communication infrastructure between intersections. As a result, traffic flow monitored by these newer systems moves in the most efficient way possible, bringing forth a more advanced age of traffic infrastructure.

A NoTraffic video sensor analyzes an intersection

NoTraffic has seen their AI system cut down traffic blockages by 50 to 60 percent, with overall travel time being reduced by 40 to 50 percent, according to a client case study.

The system also has a hand in improving road safety, which, especially during the pandemic, has actually deteriorated dramatically. Due to the obvious preference of socially-distanced forms of transportation, there are more vulnerable users in the roadways, i.e. pedestrians, bicycles, and scooters, who are getting hit more often. Through the improved traffic system, pedestrians are spending less time in vulnerable locations and waiting less time at the intersections.

“Covid changed everything,” said Tutnauer. “It changed traffic patterns, it changed the way people lived, and suddenly, old algorithms are no longer very effective. You can’t depend on them, and this is really the first ‘post-Covid summer’. No one knows what traffic is really going to look like. No one knows how many people are really going to be on the road.”

Unlike past traffic infrastructure, NoTraffic’s systems have no need to be replaced by updated versions. Data is constantly being recalculated, with thousands of simulations running every minute at every intersection and rethinking the traffic signal pattern every fifteen seconds. When a new intersection is incorporated into the network, NoTraffic’s technology begins by gaining awareness of its surroundings, with the first two weeks after sensor installation solely dedicated to data collection.

Most importantly, NoTraffic’s commitment to diminishing traffic congestion also addresses the global effort to reduce emissions, which provides a more realistic reality for sustainable travel. Through their advanced sensors, the technology has learned to prioritize certain types of vehicles that produce higher levels of emissions through their size or model. At an intersection with a lot of heavy traffic, the system makes sure that those vehicles are moving as quickly as possible by actually identifying the type of vehicle and giving them priority.

NoTraffic is continuing to grow the business across the U.S., with upcoming partnerships to be announced in the coming months. As of now, cities in California, Arizona, Texas, and Pennsylvania have welcomed the NoTraffic system. As the company continues its trial development outside the U.S., it is looking to extend into Western Europe by next year.

The company is also hoping to “future proof'' their system by incorporating various types of inter-vehicle communications, which many automobile companies are starting to introduce today. By integrating that technology into their own sensors, the system may be able to facilitate communication within the infrastructure and help drivers deal with all sorts of safety messages, such as warning signs when a vehicle has the potential to run a red light.