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    Heritage Expeditions celebrates reopening of NZ with three new voyages

    Heritage Expeditions is celebrating the reopening of New Zealand’s borders to international visitors from 1 May 2022, with the launch of three brand new voyages taking in the hidden beaches, breath-taking fjords and remote island sanctuaries of this enduringly popular destination.
    The New Zealand based expedition cruise operator, which has been specialising in conservation-based trips for the past 35 years, is marking the addition of the new cruises with a US$500 flight credit per person booking any of the three trips.
    New Zealand Coastal Odyssey: The Ultimate Expedition Cruise of the New Zealand Coast:  The first of the new departures leaves the bright lights of Auckland on 14 November 2022 on an 11-day voyage to discover the highlights of the country’s three main islands, North, South and Stewart.
    Before boarding the 140-guest ship, Heritage Adventurer, in Tauranga, a detour will take in the geothermal sights of Rotorua, with its plethora of steam vents, geysers and bubbling mud pools, without which no trip to New Zealand would be complete.ADVERTISEMENTThis is a cruise which packs in the contrasts, focal points and hidden gems of the ninth longest coastline in the world.  From the avant-garde fashion labels of Dunedin, the adventure playground of Queenstown and the Art Deco capital of Napier, to the stunning scenery of Fiordland including Milford, Doubtful and Dusky Sounds, the iconic wildlife havens of Stewart and Ulva Islands, home to New Zealand icon – the Kiwi bird, and thrilling opportunities to encounter rare Hector’s dolphins, native fur seals and penguins in Akaroa Harbour, the Ultimate Expedition features them all.
    What’s more, guests will never be far from New Zealand’s gourmet delights, including award-winning wines from Canterbury, Marlborough, Hawke’s Bay and French-infused Akaroa, along with its cheeses.

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    LVCVA Announces first 2022 Hospitality Heroes winner

    The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) has honoured Paola Crow, veteran concierge at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, with its Hospitality Heroes award during its board of directors meeting. The recognition programme shines a spotlight on the top talent in Southern Nevada’s most important industry, celebrating exemplary hospitality workers who help make Las Vegas the number one tourist destination.
    Crow started her career as a concierge in 1999 and was part of the opening teams at a number of Las Vegas resorts before joining The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in 2010. She was nominated for the award by a colleague for her knowledge, expertise, and her outstanding customer service skills. Crow is also a member of the esteemed Les Clefs d’Or, an international association of hotel concierges representing extraordinary concierge professionals.
    The year-round Hospitality Heroes program was created to celebrate the accomplishments of an elite group of hospitality workers. Winners receive an award and an “Only Vegas” gift bag that includes a staycation at a local resort. Hospitality Heroes are chosen by an independent section committee made up of the following local business leaders: Mary Beth Sewald, president and CEO of the Vegas Chamber, Peter Guzman, president of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, Stowe Shoemaker, dean of UNLV’s William H. Harrah College of Hospitality and Brenda Scolari, director of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs.
    Nominations for the second quarter will be accepted through April 29. Visit www.LVCVA.com/HospitalityHeroes to nominate an outstanding hospitality worker.

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    AR set to transform the travel and tourism industry

    Companies in the tourism sector are investing in emerging technologies such as augmented reality (AR) to improve traveller experience after the industry was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions, says GlobalData. The leading data and analytics company notes that AR is set to bring the tourism industry closer to the metaverse, which could provide a venue for people to meet, plan trips together, and learn about different historic sites in a virtual environment before they travel.
    According to GlobalData’s latest report, ‘Augmented Reality in Travel & Tourism (2022)’, the industry is using AR to adapt to challenges such as last-minute cancellations by improving the booking experience. Guests looking to book hotel stays can visualise hotel rooms before they travel using AR, making it easier to pick the most suitable rooms, reducing cancellation frequency.
    Rachel Foster Jones, Analyst for the Thematic Research team at GlobalData, comments: “As well as improving the booking experience, AR can also enhance the travel experience for tourists, from translating signs and menus to guiding tourists through popular attractions. The technology will play an exciting role in the industry as it is facilitating a stress-reduced and more informative journey, which is important for hesitant travellers who have faced various imposed travel restrictions.”
    GlobalData estimates that the AR market will reach $152 billion by 2030, up from $7 billion in 2020. The number of jobs related to this theme in the travel and tourism industry has also increased, rising from 106 active jobs in November 2021 to 161 in February 2022. The US has the highest percentage of AR and VR roles, with over half (54%) of the number of positions tracked by GlobalData based in this country.
    The Walt Disney Company recently outlined plans to prepare for the metaverse and as a result of this, was the most active in job posting for AR. Disney has also been granted a patent to create a real-world theme park ride where users could experience a 3D virtual world without requiring wearable hardware. It will achieve this using a simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technique to map the visitor’s surroundings as they move through the real world while creating 3D imagery.ADVERTISEMENTJones adds: “By creating a highly immersive simulated world, Disney is one step closer to creating its take on the metaverse by bringing the virtual world with AR capabilities to real-world sites. Disney’s new patent indicates that it wants to stay ahead and compete with other theme parks such as Mario Karts: Koopa’s Challenge ride, which already uses AR but without the clunky headsets usually associated with it.
    “Disney has seen where it fits when it comes to the metaverse and through this patent, it has the ability to take its storytelling capabilities to the next level. A highly immersive but personalised experience for individual guests will be created as they move through the park. Projections of Disney characters will appear which can interact with guests without requiring guests to wear headsets, creating a more realistic experience than Disney’s current approach of hiring actors.”

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    Future Travel Experience announces Enterprise Ireland partnership

    Future Travel Experience has announced that Enterprise Ireland is an official Headline Partner of the co-located FTE EMEA, FTE Ancillary & FTE World Airport Retailing Summit events, taking place at the RDS in Dublin on 7-9 June. The Irish government organisation, responsible for the development and growth of Irish enterprises in world markets, will provide a unique platform for aviation and travel vendors to showcase their solutions through a dedicated Enterprise Ireland Pavilion on the main expo hall.
    Gavin O’Connell, Development Adviser, High Potential Start Ups (HPSU’s), Enterprise Ireland, said: “We are excited to be part of the upcoming FTE Dublin show, where we can showcase an array of client companies, and provide them critical exposure to the world’s leading airlines and airports, as part of our efforts to help Irish businesses start, grow, innovate and win export sales through our international network.”
    The FTE Dublin mega-show will attract over 800 senior air transport and travel sector executives from around the world, who will be inspired on the most innovative digital, customer experience, future mobility and commercial approaches. Under the theme of “Scaling Innovation”, the three co-located events will champion bold new ideas, solutions, collaboration and innovation efforts to ensure we achieve an industry recovery that makes air transport even stronger in the long-term. Attendees will have access to multiple conference tracks, a major end-to-end exhibition, co-creation workshops, tours, briefings, startup content and showcases, and a unique social and networking programme in the heart of Dublin, including a Closing Party at the Guinness Storehouse.
    Among the confirmed speakers are high-level executives from Ryanair, Wizz Air, Lufthansa, Ferrovial, Fast Future Research, Manna Drone Delivery, Finnair, All Nippon Airways, Turkish Airlines, Aeroporti di Roma, Aena, Swedavia, McKinsey & Company, Avalon, Swoop, SunExpress, Cebu Pacific Air, AirAsia, Fraport, Cathay Pacific, Dublin Airport, Alaska Airlines, Transavia, easyJet, Istanbul Airport, Heathrow, Tax Free World Association (TFWA), Avinor, Amazon Web Services, and many more.
    » View the full FTE EMEA conference agendaADVERTISEMENT» View the full FTE Ancillary conference agenda
    » View the full FTE World Airport Retailing conference agenda
    All three co-located shows are free for airlines to attend, and low-cost for other industry stakeholders.

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    GBTA applauds effort to end testing for U.S. inbound vaccinated travelers More

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    GBTA applauds effort to end testing for U.S. inbound vaccinated travelers

    GBTA applauds the bipartisan effort to end the current testing requirement for all vaccinated inbound travelers to the United States. Moreover, GBTA calls on the Biden Administration to immediately end the testing requirements and move to allow vaccinated travelers to fly into the U.S.
    The current rule requires all U.S. inbound travelers present a negative COVID-19 test within one day before boarding their flight into the U.S. and regardless of their vaccination status or citizenship.
    Exempting fully vaccinated travelers, including almost 215 million Americans, from the order would be consistent with the scientific consensus that widespread vaccinations are the single most important element of the fight against COVID-19 while allowing the travel industry’s recovery to accelerate.
    As business travel and travel at large struggle, many in GBTA’s business travel recovery surveys cite government requirements such as testing as a major, if not the greatest, barrier.
    Yet, it is unclear whether at this stage in the pandemic the current testing rule is having any meaningful impact on the spread of COVID-19 from overseas destinations to the U.S. As of today, more than 78 million people have contracted COVID-19 in the U.S., meaning that at least 23 percent of the population has had the virus—though this figure is almost certainly underestimated due to the number of asymptomatic infections and limited testing early in the pandemic.ADVERTISEMENT

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    ‘Leading The Transformation’ Summit looks to more sustainable tourism

    The Palacio de Congresos de Palma hosted the Summit of Sustainable Destinations organised by UNWTO in partnership with the Mallorca Tourism Foundation. The conference has shared the best practices of environmental, social and economic sustainability developed around the world by leading organisations and companies in these initiatives.
    Catalina Cladera, the President of Consell de Majorca, Isabel Oliver from the Office of the UNWTO Secretary-General and José Hila, Mayor of Palma, opened the event of which was followed by more than 300 attendees in-person and online. Closing the summit were Closed the summit the vice president of the Spanish Government and Minister for Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño; and the president of the Balearic Islands, Francina Armengol
    Cladera expressed her pride that Majorca is “the world capital of sustainable tourism during the celebration of this international summit” and assured delegates that “we want it to continue beyond this summit”. During her speech, the president highlighted the potential of the island as a benchmark of sustainability within the tourism sector. The president added, “Majorca is a leading, quality destination around the world, year-round, with pioneering laws in waste management and tourism.
    Representing UNWTO, Isabel Oliver highlighted the importance of “promoting sustainable tourism that respects human rights” and highlighted the weight of Majorca as a benchmark in terms of sustainability for “its ability to innovate, the professionalism of its entrepreneurs and the management of its governments”. The Mayor of Palma, who announced the recent approval of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan for the city, highlighted the “need to bet on sustainability to improve the experiences of tourists and the quality of life of its residents, being a shared work between public administrations, the private sector and citizens”.
    Calviño stressed the importance of making public investments now, as well as the need to work collaboratively with the private sector to modernise a sector as important for Spain as the tourism sector and to continue to place the country in a position of leadership. She further emphasised that Spain will be able to recover 80% of international tourists of 2019 this summer under the leadership of the Balearic Islands, which this Easter has already exceeded the figures for 2019 in some segments.ADVERTISEMENTPresident Armengol ended the closing ceremony by highlighting the importance of the new tourism law that is being processed by the Parliament focused on sustainability from the triple perspective of business competitiveness, environmental sustainability and care for workers.
    Discussion of international expertsOn the first day, the Minister of Transition, Tourism and Sports, Andreu Serra, commenced the conference with the presentation “Majorca, leading the transition towards regenerative tourism”. This was followed by the first round table of the summit on institutional experiences in water management. Speakers included such as Miquel Mir, the Balearic Islands Minister of Environment and Territory, Jaume Mata, the Head of Sustainable Tourism for Visit Valencia, and Asad Riza, the Deputy Minister of Tourism of the Maldives Islands. Aniol Esteban, Director of the Marilles Foundation, and Stefan Gössling, professor of Linnaeus University School of Business and Economics, also participated. The moderator was the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Tourism of the University of the Balearic Islands, Tolo Deyà.
    Representatives of the private sector also discussed solid waste management, including Sandra Benbeniste, Director of Sustainability of EMEA -Iberostar Hotels, Miguel González San Roman, the Director of Business Development at Minsait/Indra, and Antonio Pérez, the Mayor of Benidorm.
    In addition, the experiences of civil society in the United States have been heard, with Nina Bellucci Butler, CEO of Stina, and Andy Schroeder, co-founder of an ocean plastics recovery project. The round table was moderated by Toni Munar of Turismoconsulting.
    In the afternoon, the forum began with presentations on circular economy, moderated by José María de Juan, from Koan Consulting. The panel involved the views of Enrique Martínez, President of Segittur, Antoni Riera, Director of the Impulsa Foundation, Jaume Ordinas, the auditor of Hotels Garden, and Elif Balcı Fisunoğlu, the deputy director of the Tourism Promotion and Development Agency of Turkey.
    The day ended with the block of analysis of data for the decision making in initiatives of touristic sustainability. The debate was moderated by Dolores Ordóñez, Director General at AnySolution, and was attended by Dirk Glaesser, Director of the UNWTO Sustainable Development Programme, Luis Javier Gadea, Director of Tourism Research, Development and Innovation at Segittur, José Javier Ramasco, CSIC Researcher at IFISC (CSIC-UIB), Sergio Guerreiro, Director of Knowledge Management and Innovation of Tourism of Portugal, and Carlos Cendra, partner at Mabrian Technologies.
    The second day of the forum was attended by the Minister of Economic Model, Tourism and Labour of the Balearic Government, Iago Negueruela, who participated with the presentation “Social Circularity and other axes of the Balearic tourism model”. This was followed by a round table on Human Development, with the participation of Catalina Alemany, CSR manager of Riu Hotels, Lola Herrero, professor and director of the Jean-Baptiste Say Institute, ESCP Europe, José Mañas, founder of Wireless DNA, Estelle Antognelli, director of Tourism and Congresses, Tourism and Convention Authority of Monaco, Manuel Butler, director of OTS in London and Juanma Martínez, director of projects and culture of sustainability at Green&Huma.
    Finally, the island councillor for Transition, Tourism and Sports, Andreu Serra, the president of FEHM, María Frontera, Mark Tanzer, executive director of ABTA, Miguel Sanz, director general of Turespaña, and Norbert Fiebig, president of DRV, presented the conclusions of the conference in a debate moderated by Michael Collins, director of TravelMedia.ie.
    HackathonParallel to the second day of the summit, a hackathon was held at the same Palacio de Congresos. The event was aimed at professionals, researchers, and students with an interest in and commitment to sustainability. They worked in groups on problems linked to three major challenges: water, food, and mobility. Each challenge will have a winning group, which will receive €5,000, to be divided equally among the members of each team.

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    ABTA shares top tips for travellers jetting off this Easter

    ABTA – The Travel Association has issued its top tips for travellers heading abroad this Easter weekend, which marks the first bank holiday since UK travel restrictions were lifted.
    With many people travelling overseas for the first time since the start of the pandemic, ABTA’s advice for those flying this weekend is focused on helping them get to and through the airport as smoothly as possible:

    Plan your journey to the airport in advance and allow extra time for traffic, planned road closures or engineering works.
    Arrive at the earliest time advised by your airline and airport.
    Make sure you’re ready to present your passport and any Covid-related documents you need at check-in. You also have the option to check-in online which may save you time.
    Prepare your hand luggage for security by placing large electrical items like laptops and tablets in the trays provided alongside any liquids you’re taking – these need to be 100ml or less and placed inside a 20cm x 20cm plastic bag.
    Take off items of clothing like coats, jackets and belts when passing through security and put any items in your pockets into the trays provided.

    More broadly, ABTA Members are reporting that the Canary Islands, Turkey, Portugal and Egypt are proving particularly popular for those seeking guaranteed sunshine and warmer weather this Easter, where temperatures are set to reach 24C in Faro, 25C in Lanzarote and 32C in Sharm El-Sheikh over the weekend.
    London Gatwick’s most popular short haul routes for 15-18 April are Dublin, Barcelona, Malaga, Madrid, Geneva, Amsterdam and Rome, while those heading further afield are visiting Dubai, Cancun and Toronto. All these routes have seen a significant increase in popularity since UK travel restrictions were removed.
    Graeme Buck, Director of Communications at ABTA – The Travel Association said:ADVERTISEMENT“Easter is a busy time for travel every year and in 2022 it sees the first major holiday getaway since UK Covid travel restrictions were lifted. Since the school holidays began, although there have been some reports of delays, most people’s journeys have been trouble free. That said, with many people wanting to travel it’s a good idea to plan ahead as much as possible.
    “In particular, time spent at the airport before a flight can be reduced if you make sure you have the travel documents you need ready for check-in and you’ve prepared your hand luggage in advance for the airport security checks.”

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    Intrepid relaunches food trips with a focus on plant-based experiences

    Intrepid Travel has relaunched its Real Food Adventures tour range. The 21 tours have been revamped to include a new plant-based experience on every itinerary, part of Intrepid’s ongoing commitment to decarbonise its business and inform a more climate-conscious future for travel.
    “Plant-based diets are a major opportunity for mitigating and adapting to climate change,” said Intrepid’s Global Environmental Impact Manager, Susanne Etti. “Plant-based foods generally have a much lower carbon footprint than animal-based foods. As Intrepid continues to innovate in ways that promote and support sustainability, including a delicious meal that showcases local fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds is just one way that we are investing in the health of our planet,” she added.
    Intrepid’s Real Food Adventures were originally launched in 2013 with six trips designed to give foodies a culinary experience focused on grassroots cuisines and culture. After a pandemic-induced hiatus, today, the reintroduced range features 21 tours including longstanding favourites like Mexico, India and Vietnam as well as newer itineraries in South Korea, The Balkans and Israel & Palestine.
    New for 2022 is a selection of 21 plant-based experiences that were curated to promote less carbon-intensive eating habits and to show travellers how easy it is to make climate-conscious decisions in everyday life.ADVERTISEMENTWhile the tours will still feature signature meals with traditional meat and fish dishes, the trips have been designed to show the importance of balance and moderation when it comes to making small but significant changes towards a more climate-friendly lifestyle.

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