Category Archives for Destinations.
It’s clearly time that Europeans should be allowed to enter the U.S. There’s no good virus-related reason to keep them out. But what about letting American’s visit Europe? The European Commission is recommending new guidelines for save travel, and the U.S. is on its way towards meeting their criteria.
In a video shot last year, that only recently went viral, Bali police officers are videotaped extorting a Japanese tourist.
The visitor was driving a motorbike without its headlights on, which is required both day and night in Indonesia. The maximum fine is less than US$7. However the officers demand one million Indonesian Rupees in cash (about ten times the maximum fine). Since the man didn’t have that much, they haggled and accepted a lower amount. And by the way the officers who approached him aren’t even traffic cops.
Dubai is relaxing access to alcohol for foreigners, who are able to purchase it now without a permit just by showing a passport. The move comes as the sheikhdom tries to bolster its tourism sector in the face of c a coronavirus-led depression.
Traditionally economic growth has been expected to lead to greater social liberalism. That hasn’t happened in China, of course. Here it’s economic contraction that’s doing the work.
For anyone going to Disney World, the relevant question is what would they be doing if they weren’t at Disney? In Florida numerous bars remain open despite restrictions, and gyms are open.
Disney is probably a safer activity than alternatives, which means that Disney being open likely reduces spread of the virus.
When the Cayman Islands re-open to tourism in September, they require a negative Covid-19 PCR test from within 72 hours of flying and will offer arriving passengers a choice: quarantine or biobutton to let the government track your vital signs for two weeks.
Earlier in July a Turkish Airlines flight had to abort a landing attempt because runway lights had gone out due to lack of electricity.
The economy has largely collapsed, and the collapse has happened quickly. Perhaps $100 billion is missing from the banking system and the “Lebanese pound has lost over 60 percent of its value in just the past month.”
Uzbekistan has a new “Safe travel GUARANTEED” program to support tourism. They’re willing to pay out $3000 to any tourist who gets Covid-19 during their visit to the country.
The Bahamas is trumpeting their re-opening plan to welcome tourists. Americans can visit with a negative Covid-19 PCR test and filling out a health screening.
The Covid-19 test just has to be within 10 days of travel. That’s convenient given how backed up testing is in the U.S. But it’s also useless – in fact a positive test that’s 10 days old might be better!
Travel doesn’t just face risk from COVID-19, but from the response to COVID-19, and more importantly from changes in that response. In other words regime uncertainty.
The Lt. Governor says the August 1 re-opening date will be pushed back, even though people have bought their tickets and made plans. Instead he says it’ll be postponed indefinitely, until a time that gets announced two weeks prior to re-opening. But it’s ultimately the governor’s decision, and he may or may not have made it yet.
Australia has fewer than 8500 total confirmed cases of COVID-19. The country’s success appears to be a combination of effective policy response and luck.
International arrivals of their own citizens required quarantine. But it’s those quarantine facilities that are the site of a new virus outbreak in Melbourne – and also of a sex scandal. Because the guards were having sex with the passengers being quarantined, and exposing themselves to the virus.
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 »
