Category Archives for Destinations.
Spain isn’t just planning to re-open to vaccinated travelers this summer, it’s planning to re-open to everyone in June.
European travel won’t be completely ‘normal’ this summer. Here’s how to think about planning a trip.
A delay of a little more than 5 hours caused a planeload full of passengers to be sent into 14 day mandatory hotel quarantine when they reached their destination.
Virgin Australia flight VA469 had departed from Perth, in Western Australia, enroute to Brisbane. But while the plane was in the air, the Australian state of Queensland where Brisbane is located closed its borders to incoming Perth traffic.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Sunday that because the U.S. is using vaccines that are approved by the European Medicines Agency, the European Union will accept proof of vaccination to allow Americans to visit this summer, “because one thing is clear: All 27 member states will accept, unconditionally, all those who are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved by E.M.A.”
The CDC says “avoid all travel to Antarctica.” This week the State Department upgraded the region to level 4 – its highest travel warning, usually reserved for places like Yemen. And they didn’t even get their first Covid case until December.
Australia and New Zealand have launched a ‘travel bubble.’ That means citizens of either country are permitted to travel to the other, and then return home without a government-enforced quarantine. There is three times as much travel going from Australia to New Zealand as there is the other way around.
A reader asks why this is considered “lopsided” in media reports when there are 5 times as many people in Australia as there are in New Zealand?
In the fall the Maldives announced the world’s first frequency program for visiting a country. Given the importance of tourism to their economy, it makes sense to encourage repeat visitors.
They’ve now detailed earning and benefits for their elite tiers.
There’s been a lot written about vaccine tourism but did you know that Alaska is planning to offer vaccination for tourists on arrival at the airport starting June 1?
There are (6) key takeaways about how this may help both Alaska – and the world.
Thailand’s cabinet approved a plan to re-open Phuket to tourism July 1, with a path to then re-open Chiang Mai, Krabi, Pattaya, Phang Na, and Koh Samui October 1.
I wrote, though, that you should wait to book travel unless you wanted to quarantine because it seemed likely re-opening would be delayed. Now, just two weeks after the plan to re-open was approved, it’s under consideration for (very likely) delay.
The Maldives has lifted testing requirements for vaccinated travelers, and is preparing to offer ‘vaccine on arrival’ in a bid to boost tourism. Most of the world is far behind Israel, the U.S. and U.K. in vaccination, so this may become an attractive reason to visit from many parts of the world.
Australia has jettisoned its vaccination goals, fearful of clotting risks of the AstraZeneca shot, and now says they could keep borders closed even after everyone in the country has eventually been vaccinated. Their risk-reward calculus is different than most of the world’s, and having kept Covid-19 largely under control they’re desperately afraid of any misstep no matter the cost.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
