Sarah Enelow-Snyder, Skift
This week in tourism, we decoded all 17 of Thomas Cook's key brands, plus earnings from SeaWorld and Disney.
2 days ago
Won Jae Ko, Bloomberg
Call it the Instagram effect. The platform can be an economic driver for destinations desperate for more tourism, but many locales remain unprepared for how quickly social media can elevate their profiles.
1 week ago
This week in tourism, don't miss our sixth anniversary digital book, which tells the backstories of six major travel brands, and how they achieved long-lasting success. And don't miss these roundups of our best stories and podcasts from the last six years.
Rebecca Stone, Skift
While destinations with overtourism issues are getting a lot of attention, other cities are emerging as new frontiers for tourism. Sofia, Bulgaria, is one of those cities with a unique opportunity to declare to the world what it wants to be as a destination, and to define a vision and strategy for how tourism can develop sustainably.
2 weeks ago
Dan Peltier, Skift
UNESCO sites have to follow conservation and management criteria to maintain their designations, but many have slacked off over the years and put themselves at risk. Albeit, the organization doesn't view many of its most iconic sites most at risk from crowds as the most problematic.
Coral reefs are hurting, but they're not entirely washed up and defeated. They have a movement behind them that seems stronger than any save-the-oceans push in recent memory, and more travelers are aware of reefs because more are visiting them.
Charlie Devereux and Pablo Gonzalez, Bloomberg
Private airport operators aren't popular everywhere, but they tend to move a little faster on capital projects than the average publicly run airport. That's usually a good thing.
This week in tourism, state tourism budgets are up for debate as midterm elections approach, and don't miss the roundup of our biggest deep dives so far this year.
Viriya Singgih and Rieka Rahadiana, Bloomberg
The strong U.S. dollar has implications beyond making it more expensive for many travelers to visit the United States; it's also making other countries like Indonesia increasingly desperate to get more tourists through the door.
3 weeks ago
Hannah Sampson , Skift
Six Flags is going beyond the typical theme and water park offerings with kid-focused and adventure options in China, and it makes sense to bring those concepts to other markets. But it's also wise to make sure the parks are delivering what customers want before investing in building them elsewhere.
The future of tourism marketing in the United States will be on the ballot in more than three dozen states in one way or another this November. While most voters probably won't realize that, tourism is one of the most important economic drivers they'll be voting for.
Matthew Brown, Associated Press
U.S. national parks are supposed to showcase America's natural wonders, so it's no surprise that visitors would stay away on days when the air might be full of pollution. Given the current administration's eagerness to roll back environmental regulations, we don't see this problem being fixed anytime soon.
