Travel

Skift Take The Skift Global Forum East 2024 will be your chance to find out what’s really going on in the region right now. Josh Corder Skift Global Forum East returns to Dubai next month — a chance for professionals in travel to meet, network, and, most importantly, find out what’s really going on. As

The town smelled of autumn: damp leaves, cinnamon, and the faint, almost metallic bite of cold creeping through the trees. But it wasn’t just the pumpkin patches or the flickering jack-o’-lanterns that drew the tourists here. They’ve come for something darker.  They’ve come for the ghosts. Hail, horrors! Hail Halloween – which not long ago

Skift Take After dipping their toes in the waters of tourist management, Venice’s officials are now diving in headfirst with entry fees on 54 days next year. Want to do a quick Instagram tour of St. Mark’s Square? That’ll be €5, grazie mille. Dawit Habtemariam Venice is committing to its pioneering tourist entry fees, expanding

Skift Take There are several startups worldwide developing flyings taxis, but it’s a capital-intensive venture. Lilium isn’t the first to face empty coffers. Justin Dawes Flying taxis could reduce an airport commute from 90 minutes to 7. They could better connect small towns to urban areas. Optimistic investors believe they’re the future of urban travel. 

Skift Take In a world that’s rapidly going cashless, mobile payments are transforming travel, with Asia leading the charge while the technology spreads globally. Peden Doma Bhutia The rebound of global travel in 2024 has been accompanied by the demand for seamless, cashless transactions. Alipay+, Ant International’s cross-border mobile payment and digitalization service, has seen

Skift Take Despite advance skepticism, the Paris Olympics provided a sugar rush for Accor’s hotels. But the company may need more than Olympic-sized live tourism events to sustain its ambitions for rapid growth worldwide. Sean O’Neill Accor raised its profit outlook after luxury hotels and the Paris Olympics helped drive growth, even as the French

Skift Take With 64% of union members rejecting this latest offer, the gulf between the two parties has never felt wider. Gordon Smith A major strike at Boeing will continue after union members rejected a revised deal. The IAM union announced on Wednesday night that 64% of mechanists turned down the offer. The development is

Skift Take This is an early idea of how an AI travel agent could look. As the tech advances, users could bypass online travel agencies altogether. Justin Dawes A new piece of AI is meant to perform computer tasks — including making travel plans — the same way a human would. Anthropic, a generative AI

Breezing through airport security without an ID or a boarding pass may have once been a futuristic idea. Today, it is a reality in India.  DigiYatra, India’s airport entry system using facial recognition, has transformed air travel across the country. In an exclusive interview with Skift, DigiYatra Foundation CEO Suresh Khadakbhavi discussed the project’s origins,

Skift Take IHG posted its strongest quarter of hotel openings in recent years, as the hotel giant accelerates its global expansion plans. Sean O’Neill InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) saw strong momentum in its expansion efforts in the third quarter. The hotel group added 17,500 rooms across 98 hotels, more than doubling its growth pace from

Skift Take As demand for luxury short-term vacation rentals rises in India, The Leela is seemingly seeking to leverage its established presence in the luxury hospitality space to capture more share of this market. Bulbul Dhawan Indian hospitality chain The Leela has announced the launch of Arq by The Leela – its collection of “ultra-luxury

Skift Take Muscat is the ying to Dubai’s yang. Oman’s roadmap doesn’t focus on glitzy mega-projects but rather sustainable growth and cultural preservation. Colin Nagy In the hypergrowth world of the modern Gulf, Oman stands in stark contrast to its neighbors. Dubai in the UAE and Riyadh in Saudi buzz with frenetic energy, driven by

Skift Take As more Indians look to explore new destinations and seek better travel deals, Skyscanner’s approach of being both a travel guide and a deal-finder could resonate. The company’s vision of making India a top-three market is ambitious, but its success could redefine the company’s role in Asia, Peden Doma Bhutia Travel metasearch engine

Skift Take In an interview, Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta spoke about sticking to Hilton’s “core competencies” with traditional lodging and not expanding into cruises and vacation rentals like rivals have. Sean O’Neill Hilton president and CEO Christopher Nassetta believes the hotel group’s focus on traditional hotels and lodging and mostly “organic” growth gives it an

Skift Take Taking inspiration from our Skift Megatrends list, here are some of the biggest themes we expect to come up time and again across multiple discussions at the Skift Aviation Forum 2024.  Gordon Smith The Skift Aviation Forum is shaping up to be the industry event of the year. On November 12, we’ll be

Skift Take Even if the union ratifies the new contract, Boeing still has to confront a slew of issues with its aircraft programs that have led to delays and production slowdowns. Meghna Maharishi Boeing’s machinist union announced Saturday that it reached a tentative agreement with the company, ending the month-long strike that halted production.  The

Skift Take Some Wall Street analysts had speculated that if Spirit wasn’t able to reach refinance or extend the deadline on a credit card processing agreement, then bankruptcy could have been on the table. Meghna Maharishi Spirit Airlines said Friday it had entered into an agreement to extend the deadline to refinance some of its

Mid September to early October was the most active time period for travel funding of the year: 13 startups raised $600 million, and then another six startups raised $500 million. The past two weeks have been a bit quieter. Eight travel startups announced fundraises totaling nearly $40 million. Beacon AI: $15 Million  Beacon AI, which is