Eliana Willis

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    Booking to top Nairobi attractions made easy by Cruzeiro Safaris Kenya

    Most popular places to visit in Africa for safaris are East Africa precisely Kenya which offers vast plains and roaming packs of extraordinary beasts and experiences.
    One can browse from their website comprehensive listings of safaris to Masai Mara, Amboseli, Lake Nakuru and much more on https://www.cruzeiro-safaris.com/.
    Many travelers come to Africa in search of the “big five”: buffalo, lions, leopards, elephants and rhinoceroses. The chance to get close to these animals in their natural habitats is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but your trip to the Africa is anything but a trip to the zoo. Safaris can be physically taxing and strenuous, and you may not see all the animals you expected. Since most safari destinations are in developing sub-Saharan nations, travelers must take certain safety and health precautions. If you’re planning a safari (or just dreaming about it), be as prepared as possible. Get some good guidebooks, talk to friends who’ve been to Africa and research, research, research. We’ve outlined some important safari basics, from choosing a destination to getting vaccinated, to help you start planning a successful African adventure such as short trip to the Nairobi National Park, Amboseli, Lake Nakuru, Masai Mara, Samburu which can be booked online through https://cruzeiro-safaris.com/nairobi-tours
    About Cruzeiro Safaris KenyaCruzeiro-safaris.com is established in Kenya, incorporated in 2004. Its core business is safari packages and day tours complemented by air travel. It has a well-established wealth of experience in arranging memorable tours and safaris and has established a client base who provide with repeat business year after year. Join us on facebook, twitter and youtube. Safaris in Kenya may be tailored to the tourist taste and can extend to Tanzania and Uganda. Browse and read reviews on trip advisor page and one can also book from trip advisor link.

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    Dubai’s Emirates Airline to suspend Nigeria flights from September

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    Dubai eases Covid entry rules for unvaccinated teenagers

    Dubai has relaxed its Covid entry requirements for children, making it easier for them to visit the country.
    The city has dropped the requirement for those aged between 13 and 16 years who are unvaccinated to take a PCR test to enter.Prior to the rule change, under 12s were exempt from testing rules, but unvaccinated children aged between 13 and 16 were required to take a test if they did not have proof of recovery from Covid.
    The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office has updated its guidelines to reflect the changes.
    It states: “Travellers to the UAE do not need to take a Covid PCR test before they travel if they are fully vaccinated or: they hold a Covid recovery certificate with a QR code dated within 30 days of departure; they are under 16 years of age for arrivals in Abu Dhabi and Dubai; they have severe disabilities.”
    The FCDO warned anyone who does not fit into those categories “must still have a negative Covid PCR test, taken no more than 48 hours before departure, and present the certificate at check in.”ADVERTISEMENTAdditionally, the FCDO said unvaccinated travellers may be required to take a PCR test on arrival.

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    How COVID-19 ‘unified’ competitors in the tourism industry: Sandals CEO

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    How COVID-19 ‘unified’ competitors in the tourism industry: Sandals CEO

    Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, fierce competition drove the tourism industry. Businesses worked independently, with no sense of shared mission. Now, more than two years on, one industry executive said that’s all changed.
    On a recent episode of Influencers with Yahoo Finance,Sandals Resorts Executive Chairman Adam Stewart explained how COVID-19’s effects on the economy helped to “unify” players in the tourism industry.“I saw in COVID, a level of unification amongst competitors, that was second to none,” Stewart told Yahoo Finance. “The cruise industry came together with the land-based hospitality industry, came together with the airlines, came together with associations like the World Travel and Tourism Council.”
    Sandals is made up of five brands and has 24 properties in eight countries including, Antigua, The Bahamas, Grenada, Barbados, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Curaçao and Turks & Caicos.
    Supply chain challengesStewart said the industry is now bearing the brunt of supply chain issues spurred by the pandemic as well as crushing inflation. For example, though many items sold by the tourism industry in Jamaica are manufactured locally, the country still relies heavily on overseas imports. For instance, Jamaica imported $1.12 billion worth of food in 2021, according to the International Trade Administration. Sixty percent of those imports were for the hotel, restaurant, and institutional sector.“Just to get all the, what we call in the in the hotel industry, the circulating inventory — So, the linens and the food and all the elements that we can procure locally, but even locally, right now in Jamaica, we’re having issues with glass bottles.” Stewart said. “So, for alcohol products, they’re just unable to get the raw materials to finish the product.”
    Stewart added that the global chip shortage is also creating challenges for his company’s work with the automobile business. “Our group is also in the car business. We represent BMW and Mini for this region in the Caribbean, [and there have been] lots of supply issues between chips and different elements made within the cars,” he said.ADVERTISEMENTFortunately, Stewart says, the tourism industry has been able to tackle global supply chain issues by working together as in during the pandemic.
    “Everyone worked daily on this recovery,” Stewart said. “I think you’re starting to see it more and more now on the supply chain side of people just trying to do everything they can to get over the hump of these supply chain issues.”
    Stewart went on to say that economic adversity has changed the way workers relate to one another in the tourism industry.

    “What it’s forcing you to do is … to work your relationships more, from a shipping point of view on, and just moving product from wherever it’s made anywhere in the world,” he explained. “And it’s requiring a different level of infrastructure. … We’re running a team about 25% larger today than we were in 2019.”
    Despite staffing up, Stewart said labor shortages are another challenge facing the industry.
    “On the labor side, it’s a bit of a big mystery where everyone’s going, where they’re all going to work. There are a lot of people leaving and moving between industries,” he remarked.
    Yet, he says that Sandals, is an “employer of choice” and provides employees with educational opportunities and skills training to move onto other professions. For instance, employees can enroll in Sandals Corporate University, where they can earn a masters degree or even a doctorate.
    Stewart reflected, “So when you put it all together, Sandals really, all things being equal, has a lot more attrition and rotation of staff than probably most any other business in this hemisphere.”

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    A travel company is offering guided tours to war zones in Ukraine

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    A travel company is offering guided tours to war zones in Ukraine

    A travel company called Visit Ukraine has launched a campaign to bring tourists to some of the zones affected by the war in Ukraine. In an interview with CNN Travel, the founder of Visit Ukraine, Anton Taranenko, explained that these trips are to show the world how Ukraine continues with its daily life, despite the war and to give testimony of the reconstructed areas, as well as to help this country. Ukraine welcomed more than 4 million visitors last year.
    “Visit Ukraine begins work on the launch of dark tourism in Ukraine,” says the website. Tours are typically comprised of about 10 people led by a guide and take about 3-4 hours, and the visits involve guides, tourism experts, and memory specialists so that tourists can see what happened in Ukraine. The site says that people who sign up for “Brave City” tours would be able to visits cities such as Cherniv, Bucha, Irpin, all of them affected by the war.
    Taranenko told Business Insider that the company has provided several dozen tours since the site was updated and booked more than two hundred. Some of the people interested in the tours are Ukrainians who were displaced or had moved to other countries before the war, Taranenko said, though there have been many bookings coming from the US nationals.
    The company, which “works very close to the government” of Volodymyr Zelenski, according to Taranenko, offers different excursions in Kiev and its surroundings and other areas which bore a heavy burden at the beginning of the war, such as Kharkov, the second most important city in Ukraine. These days the fighting is concentrated in the south of the country and the eastern region of Dombas.
    Among the excursions offered are a day in Kiev (“Kiev fascinates you with its hospitality and will open your heart”), Kamianets-Podilsky (“it is the only city located on a natural island surrounded by a deep canyon), Odessa (the Pearl of the Black Sea and today under Russian siege), Mezhyhirya (the former presidential residence) and the Buki Gorge (“visit the small Switzerland”). Prices range from 38 to 200 euros.ADVERTISEMENTBut other tours allude directly to the war. For example, the excursion to Cherniv (“heroism to the northern capital”), “indestructible Kharkov”, Bucha and Irpin (“strong and invulnerable”), all at 50 euros leaving from the capital. Bucha was the scene of a massacre attributed to Russian soldiers last March. Meanwhile, Irpin, on the outskirts of the capital, was one of the major centers of Ukrainian resistance at the outbreak of the war.
    Taranenko noted that many famous foreign artists have already visited Ukraine since the beginning of the war” such as Angelina Jolie, Jessica Chastain or Ben Stiller. “And many others are planning to do so in the short term,” he said.
    The portal provides all the necessary information on how to act in a critical situation, where to go, how to enter/leave the country or evacuate a dangerous region. It also reminds that martial law is in force in Ukraine and air traffic is suspended, but the entry and exit of foreigners by land is allowed.
    Checkpoints at the border with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova “are open and secure,” he emphasized. Quite the opposite of those on the borders with Russia, Belarus and the Transnistrian region.
    According to Business Insider, the tourist site has not received any official approval from Ukrainian government. Ukraine is currently under the highest travel advisory level. The US Department of State has warned that it will not be able to assist any Americans in Ukraine. All profits from tour sales will go to help Ukrainian refugees, explains the website.

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    Foreign tourists shun Japan over COVID-19 rules, rising infections

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    Germany Outbound Travel Significantly Improving

    By 2024 outbound travel from Germany is expected to surpass the record numbers of pre-pandemic levels, with a total of 117.9 million Germans visiting other countries, according to recent data provided by German Source Tourism InsightBesides, the same shows that Germans will once again be the main country in terms of international travel and tourism, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
    According to the figures provided by the same source, in 2019, a total of 116.1 million Germans visited other countries, despite the fact the country’s economic sector was facing significant problems.
    At the same time, the report shows that in 2024, the number of Germans travelling to other countries will reach 117.9.Based on the data provided by ‘Germany Source Tourism Insight, 2022 Update’, Germany’s outbound tourism numbers decreased significantly compared to 2019 figures due to the spread of the Coronavirus and its new variants and the restrictions imposed to halt its further spread.
    A total of 64.5 per cent decrease year-on-year from 116.1 million travellers in 2019 to a total of 41.2 million in 2020 before another decrease in 2021 to 40.4 million.
    Germany has also welcomed a large number of internationals, despite the situation caused by the Coronavirus.ADVERTISEMENTBesides, a recent report provided by the German Office for Statistics, Destatis, revealed that the number of nights spent by international visitors in Germany rose to 48.9 million in June, representing a total of 60.5 per cent increase compared to the corresponding time in the previous year.The same revealed that the number of overnight stays reached pre-pandemic levels, being only 3.4 per cent below those levels.
    In addition, the number of tourists spent by international passengers in Germany in May and June 2022 was quite similar to the pre-pandemic levels, implying a significant recovery of 2019 levels when travelling was limited as part of the efforts to halt the further spread of the Coronavirus and its new variants.
    According to the data provided by the World Health Organisation, there have been reported a total of 31,666,475 cases of COVID-19 infection since the start of the pandemic, while a total of 146,030 people have died during the same period.
    The same source shows that there have been a total of 183,133,264 vaccine doses in this country as of July 10.
    In June, Germany removed all the restrictions imposed due to the Coronavirus in order to facilitate the travel process for arrival from all countries.

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    Amtrak Releases FY21 Sustainability Report

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    Amtrak Releases FY21 Sustainability Report

    Amtrak released its FY21 Sustainability Report that showcases sustainability projects across Amtrak’s regions and operations. Throughout the report are details of Amtrak’s measured progress against annual and long-term sustainability goals that encompass greenhouse gas emissions, diesel fuel and electricity usage.“Driving sustainability at Amtrak means transforming the customer experience, reducing our carbon footprint and expanding service to new markets across America,” said Stephen Gardner, CEO at Amtrak“Recognizing the urgency to act now, Amtrak is out to change the way our country moves.”
    Today, intercity travel on Amtrak is cleaner and more sustainable than most alternatives. On average, Amtrak service is 46% more energy efficient than travel by car and 34% more efficient than domestic air travel. On the electrified Northeast Corridor, Amtrak travel emits up to 83% less greenhouse gas emissions compared to car travel and up to 72% less greenhouse gas emissions than flying. Our fully electrified service also provides the environmental benefit of zero tail pipe emissions which improves air quality in the dense urban areas we serve.
    Highlights from the report include:
    Cleaner, more climate-friendly equipment: A significant share of Amtrak’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)-provided funding will support the procurement of new train equipment. On the NEC and various State-Supported routes, this equipment will include new trainsets, including some dual-power equipment that can run on electric or diesel and other dual-power equipment that can run on battery or diesel. On Long-Distance routes, IIJA funds will support the continued procurement of fuel-efficient, Tier 4-compliant ALC-42 locomotives, which emit 89% less nitrogen oxide and 95% less particulate matter than the diesels that they are replacing.Expansion of energy-efficient passenger rail service: Large increases in population and travel demand, demographic shifts, congestion and changing travel preferences mean that Amtrak’s legacy route network does not fully meet the changing needs of the traveling public. For example, Texas and Florida, the nation’s second and third most populous states, have a combined population of just over 50 million, but those two states are served by just six Amtrak routes, some of which do not operate every day. In FY21, Amtrak released a corridor vision called Amtrak Connects US, to develop and expand intercity passenger rail corridors. Providing intercity passenger rail service to the 50 largest metropolitan areas, Amtrak’s vision aims to add service to 160 new communities, create 39 new routes and enhance 25 routes. A historic investment in expanding passenger rail, IIJA funding signifies the important role trains play in the future of sustainable transportation.Improved capacity, reliability and performance on existing routes: Guided by the Northeast Corridor Commission’s Connect NEC 2035 service development plan, the IIJA investments will make the Western Hemisphere’s busiest, highest-speed rail corridor an even more efficient, effective and resilient mode of transportation—taking countless cars off the road, driving down carbon emissions and showing what sustained, robust funding for rail could achieve in other parts of the country.Acela solar-powered gates: In 2021, Amtrak designed and deployed innovative, solar powered technology to improve security on our Northeast Corridor (NEC) Right of Way (ROW), prior to the upcoming launch of the historic new Acela service, advancing safety and sustainability together.“Providing high-quality, low-carbon rail service that takes people out of cars and planes is one of the most efficient ways to drive emissions reductions,” said Dennis Newman, Executive Vice President, Strategy, Planning & Accessibility at Amtrak. “Through more and better service, we will give additional people a chance to pitch-in and fight the climate crisis by choosing rail.”
    For more information about Amtrak’s approach to sustainability, please visit amtrak.com/sustainability.ADVERTISEMENT

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    Unique kite-flying festival to be hosted by Manchester

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    Take a Seat at Florida’s Table with New “Foodie” Campaign

    VISIT FLORIDA and Emergent Media have announced the launch of Florida’s Table, which promotes the state’s dynamic culinary scene by showcasing a diverse handful of restaurants across Southeast Florida. Each episode features a local chef or restaurateur who is a reflection of the place they live and work. These individuals are well-versed in their particular culinary tradition, and their cultural origins are represented in the flavors they serve up. Each profile culminates in the presentation of the establishment’s distinctly Floridian signature dish.
    “We are thrilled to let people know about the incredible culinary scene that we have in Florida,” said Staci Mellman, Chief Marketing Officer, VISIT FLORIDA. “And who better to tell that story than the restaurateurs themselves? The team at Emergent Media really understands authentic storytelling for lifestyle travel content. Florida’s Table is our first culinary-focused program with Emergent Media and we love this content. Travelers already love Florida’s beautiful beaches, iconic theme parks, and hidden outdoor gems, with the launch of this effort they will discover yet another wonderful thing about Florida.”
    Distribution is driven through Emergent Media’s Paradise audience network, which embodies a curious, go-getter with experiential travel ambitions. The organic and paid social program is currently live and runs through mid-September of this year on Web, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Florida’s Table positions Florida as the perfect destination for modern explorers to satisfy their taste buds, as well as their adventure cravings.
    “At Emergent, we pride ourselves on telling authentic and relatable stories and delivering on our clients objectives,” said Jennifer Klawin, chief business officer and head of brand partnerships at Emergent Media. “We are thrilled to be partnering with VISIT FLORIDA to launch Florida’s Table and inspire our travel audience to explore the state’s diverse, locally crafted culinary offerings.”
    This premiere series, which represents an expansion of VISIT FLORIDA’s partnership with Emergent Media, features Louis Grayson of Ramen Lab Eatery in Boca Raton; Daniel Salgado of Toro Latin Kitchen + Tequila Library in Dania Beach; Rick Mace of Tropical Smokehouse in West Palm Beach; Robert Moehling of Robert Is Here in Homestead; and Kim Kelly of Hurricane Alley in Boynton Beach.ADVERTISEMENT

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    The Government of Canada releases first results of environmental measures for cruise ships

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    The Government of Canada releases first results of environmental measures for cruise ships

    The Government of Canada releases first results of environmental measures for cruise shipsCanadians have been clear that they expect a healthy environment, with clean waters and clean air—and the Government of Canada is committed to achieving these results
    In April 2022, Transport Canada announced strict environmental measures for wastewater on cruise ships that exceed international standards. These measures were put in place this year as part of the restart of cruise ships entering and operating in our waters, and will help keep our oceans and environment clean. 
    As part of this new suite of environmental measures, the cruise industry was, and continues to be, required to document and report to Transport Canada on implementation. Compliance with the enhanced measures is also verified during formal inspections of cruise ships. The first set of results from this reporting demonstrates that the cruise ship industry has successfully implemented the new measures thus far this year.
    This is significant progress towards reducing the environmental impacts of cruise ships and other vessels on the water. These strict measures, along with additional planned measures for other areas of concern, including scrubber discharges that release acidic wastewater into the ocean, will continue to help keep our waters and our environment clean.
    These new measures are consistent with the Government of Canada’s commitment to keep marine ecosystems safe and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.ADVERTISEMENTQuote s“Cruise ships are an important part of our economy and tourism sector, and we must all work together to reduce their impact on the environment, and keep our waters safe and clean for everyone. These new environmental measures are a first step towards making shipping cleaner and protecting our waters from coast to coast to coast.”
    The Honourable Omar Alghabra Minister of Transport
    “Protecting the oceans and their ecosystems is a top priority. These important measures, which exceed international standards, demonstrate how the Government of Canada is taking strong action to protect the oceans for the future. This charts a more sustainable course for the tourism industry.”

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