Articles tagged “travel agents”

An ambitious target of one million tourists by the end of 2022 has Mauritius — a largely luxury tourist destination, diversifying to lure even digital nomads and retirees. Will this help them deliver the numbers?

At a time when India has just resumed scheduled commercial flights to international destinations, agents wonder whether the Air India ban against them is an ill-timed move — or a well-timed one.

Interest in special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, has fizzled. The sell-off in market silliness could mean that investing in a profitable leisure travel wholesaler like Mondee via a SPAC is no longer a high-risk calculation.

Transactions are still about 75 percent lower than in 2019, but the agency is hoping a winter bookings surge will reflect the pace of the year ahead. It's an assumption not without risk.

Convincing travel companies to take less commission is a tall order, especially coming out of the pandemic. But Niarra Travel believes that getting more money into the hands of local communities requires bold steps and immediate action. The severe downturn in tourism revenue and its impact on Africa's wildlife and communities means that the time is now.

For years, a handful of large airline groups outside of the U.S. have slapped surcharges on airfare sold via legacy technology. Hawaiian is the first U.S.-based airline to add distribution surcharges.

Travel agents should've been expecting a development would arise making the sale of cruises difficult since the cruise industry has been so volatile since the start of the pandemic. It's clear to many agents now to find ways to be less dependent on booking cruises.

Travelers in many parts of the world are used to the online booking of build-your-own vacation packages, and others prefer to walk into a travel agency to plan. After many years, TUI is trying to embrace digital trends, and is modestly executing on a plan to get more online.

Not only did the travel bans force widespread cancellations for South Africans planning to go abroad during the country's summer, but they may also represent the death knell for many tourism businesses that had already been significantly hit hard by the initial blast of Covid.

Buy-now-pay-later schemes help people get around soaring inflation, but they're now being banned for foreign travel as the country enters negotiations to pay off some of its debt. It's not good news for travel agencies, or pent-up travelers.