African countries have lost almost $55 billion in travel and tourism revenues in three months due to the coronavirus pandemic, the African Union (AU) commissioner for infrastructure and energy said on Thursday. Amani Abou-Zeid told a news conference the economic impact of lockdowns and border closures to curb the spread of the virus would be severe, with the continent’s air industry hit particularly hard. She said tourism and travel represented almost 10% of the gross domestic product of Africa. “We have 24 million African families whose livelihood is linked to travel and tourism,” Abou-Zeid said, adding the downturn had come…
Author: holidayweekly
WASHINGTON: United States senator, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, expressed some outrage when he flew with American Airlines. His flight was quite full, with many middle seats being taken up, which led to him posting an image of the cabin on Twitter before announcing he would be looking at banning the sale of middle seats throughout the pandemic. Senator Merkley posted a scathing tweet that was critical of American’s lack of social distancing onboard the flight. His concerns over American’s practices come just days after Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Robert Redfield expressed concern over American’s announcement that it would be…
DUBAI: Emirates SkyCargo will be operating scheduled cargo flights to 100 destinations across six continents during the month of July 2020. Some of the new cities added to the air cargo carrier’s network include Accra, Algiers, Athens, Fort Lauderdale, Glasgow, Larnaca, Los Angeles, Male, Moscow (SVO), Phnom Penh, Rome, Santiago, Sialkot and Tunis. Emirates SkyCargo’s network expansion is in response to the growing economic activity and demand for air cargo capacity from markets across the world along with Emirates’ increased passenger flight operations. By offering multiple daily or weekly cargo flight frequencies to major production and consumer markets, the carrier…
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) has closed 36 motels in the northern areas and terminated the services of all the employees, Officers/workmen, as per the notification of dated June 1, issued by PTDC. National Tourism Coordination Board (NTCB) Chairman Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari was quick to take to Twitter to assuage the growing concerns. Bukhari, who holds multiple portfolios of Special Assistant to PM on overseas Pakistanis, Chairman PTDC and Chairman NTCB rubbished the rumors regarding shutting down of the PTDC, saying that restructuring is underway to transform it into a vibrant organization with better workforce and improved…
KARACHI: The Virtual Customer Focus Group is an initiative by Amadeus to understand from our customers how they see the future of the travel industry in Pakistan. The objective of the programme was to uncover new trends, raise awareness, and understand customer needs. The Virtual Customer Focus Group was participated by leading names of the industry like, Fazal Mehmood (Sana Travels), Iqbal Sakrani (Super Travels (Pvt.) Ltd., Moiz S Ahmad (Bonds Travels), Omair Omerson (FCM), Junaid Khan (The Professionals), Imtiaz Butt (Silkways Travel), Zafar Iqbal Mian (T S C), Muhammad Rafique (Matchless Tours), Aamir Zuberi (Matchless Travel), Muhammad Imran (Thabbah…
MONTREAL: Global passenger traffic declined by an unprecedented 94.4% year-over-year in April as a result of the unfolding Covid-19 pandemic, said the Airports Council International (ACI), the trade association of the world’s airports. This followed an already dramatic drop of 55.9% in March, representing the worst decline of global passenger numbers in the history of the aviation industry. Global passenger traffic experienced an overall drop of 41.8% for the first four months of 2020 with the 12-month rolling average for the global industry continuing to decline, it was recorded at -11.3% by the end of April, without signs of consistent…
ROME: The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has appointed two new Special Ambassadors as it leads the restart of the sector across Europe. On the occasion of a visit of the Secretary-General to Italy, the first official delegation to travel since the closure of borders in response to COVID-19, UNWTO has named renowned fashion designer Giorgio Armani and celebrated chef Gino Sorbillo its latest Special Ambassadors for Tourism. [huge_it_slider id=”560″] In their new roles, both Special Ambassadors will draw on their status and influence promote the work of the United Nations specialized agency for responsible and sustainable tourism. As leaders in…
FLORIDA: A Florida company is planning to fly passengers to the edge of space in a high-tech version of a hot air balloon, with a pilot and up to eight travelers riding in a pressurized capsule suspended from an enormous blimp. [huge_it_slider id=”559″] Human space flight company Space Perspective has scheduled the test flight of its Spaceship Neptune for early 2021, from the auspicious surroundings of the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “We’re committed to fundamentally changing the way people have access to space, both to perform much-needed research to benefit life on Earth and…
ABU DHABI: The UAE, represented by the National Emergency, Crisis and Disasters Management Authority, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, has announced that all citizens and residents in the UAE are now free to travel in accordance with the health preventive and precautionary requirements enforced within the UAE’s airports and the destinations’ regulations. However, the authorites have advised people above 70 years or those with chronic diseases against travelling due to the increased risks associated. The UAE’s national carriers, as well as international carriers, will operate their flights according to…
ROME: Against the backdrop of the re-opening of borders across Europe, a high-level delegation from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has arrived in Italy to begin a first official visit to a Member State since the Covid-19 pandemic brought international travel to a standstill. The closure of tourism operations for several months has had a devastating effect for many businesses and millions of livelihoods across the world. To kickstart recovery, countries within the Schengen Zone (26 countries in Europe) are now reopening their borders to tourists. Following an official invitation by Italy, the UNWTO Secretary-General started an official visit (July…